Female MasculinityDuke University Press, 1998 - 329 pages Masculinity without men. In Female Masculinity Judith Halberstam takes aim at the protected status of male masculinity and shows that female masculinity has offered a distinct alternative to it for well over two hundred years. Providing the first full-length study on this subject, Halberstam catalogs the diversity of gender expressions among masculine women from nineteenth-century pre-lesbian practices to contemporary drag king performances. Through detailed textual readings as well as empirical research, Halberstam uncovers a hidden history of female masculinities while arguing for a more nuanced understanding of gender categories that would incorporate rather than pathologize them. She rereads Anne Lister's diaries and Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness as foundational assertions of female masculine identity. She considers the enigma of the stone butch and the politics surrounding butch/femme roles within lesbian communities. She also explores issues of transsexuality among "transgender dykes"--lesbians who pass as men--and female-to-male transsexuals who may find the label of "lesbian" a temporary refuge. Halberstam also tackles such topics as women and boxing, butches in Hollywood and independent cinema, and the phenomenon of male impersonators. Female Masculinity signals a new understanding of masculine behaviors and identities, and a new direction in interdisciplinary queer scholarship. Illustrated with nearly forty photographs, including portraits, film stills, and drag king performance shots, this book provides an extensive record of the wide range of female masculinities. And as Halberstam clearly demonstrates, female masculinity is not some bad imitation of virility, but a lively and dramatic staging of hybrid and minority genders. |
From inside the book
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Page 75
... complex discursive practices into stable notions of identity . ' As we saw with Anne Lister , her understanding of herself as masculine certainly seemed to hint at an identity formation and allows us to think about the emergence of a ...
... complex discursive practices into stable notions of identity . ' As we saw with Anne Lister , her understanding of herself as masculine certainly seemed to hint at an identity formation and allows us to think about the emergence of a ...
Page 102
... complex contradictions , this wild swerving between self - admiration and self - hatred ? We recall that Anne Lister spoke in quite similar terms about her desire to touch her beloved without ever permitting her beloved to do the same ...
... complex contradictions , this wild swerving between self - admiration and self - hatred ? We recall that Anne Lister spoke in quite similar terms about her desire to touch her beloved without ever permitting her beloved to do the same ...
Page 276
... complex relay of gender effects through the drag per- formance . Indeed , male and female masculinities are constantly involved in an ever - shifting pattern of influences . We tend to identify the pattern as moving only in one ...
... complex relay of gender effects through the drag per- formance . Indeed , male and female masculinities are constantly involved in an ever - shifting pattern of influences . We tend to identify the pattern as moving only in one ...
Contents
John Radclyffe Hall and the Discourse | 75 |
Even Stone Butches Get the Blues III | 111 |
ButchFTM Border Wars and | 141 |
Copyright | |
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androgynous Anne Lister argue Barker bathroom become bian binary butch-femme called camp Catherine Opie century chapter cinema club contemporary cross-dressing culinity discourse dominant drag king drag king contest drag king performances drag queen dyke Elvis embodiment essay example female body female masculinity femininity feminism femme film forms Furthermore gay and lesbian gay male gender identity gender variance girl Hall's heterosexual homosexuality identify images invert John kind lesbian feminism lesbian feminist Leslie Feinberg linity lives Loneliness lover male impersonation male masculinity mascu masculine women Miss narrative Newton notion novel obviously perverse play pleasure political produced queer theory Radclyffe Hall relation representation role Routledge same-sex scene seems sexual identity sexual practices simply Sister George social Souline Stephen stereotype Stone Butch Blues suggests tend theatrical tion tomboy tomboy film trans transgender transsexual tribadism University Press woman York
References to this book
G-Strings and Sympathy: Strip Club Regulars and Male Desire Katherine Frank No preview available - 2002 |