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
Results 1-3 of 91
Page 58
... women over time must have re- jected conventional femininity in favor of healthy bodies . For this reason , the female athlete almost inevitably becomes the object of intense gen- der scrutiny and surveillance . An obviously athletic female ...
... women over time must have re- jected conventional femininity in favor of healthy bodies . For this reason , the female athlete almost inevitably becomes the object of intense gen- der scrutiny and surveillance . An obviously athletic female ...
Page 101
... female body , her status as female and her masculine bearing . Esther Newton sees the scene as an expression of Stephen's " alienation from her body " ( " Mythic Mannish Lesbian , ” 570 ) , an alienation that she covers with men's ...
... female body , her status as female and her masculine bearing . Esther Newton sees the scene as an expression of Stephen's " alienation from her body " ( " Mythic Mannish Lesbian , ” 570 ) , an alienation that she covers with men's ...
Page 104
... female body inadequate to bearing the subject's desire " in the masculine mode " ? Whereas male masculinity all too often depends on the functionality of the penis and its ability literally to be phallic ; the masculine woman , on the ...
... female body inadequate to bearing the subject's desire " in the masculine mode " ? Whereas male masculinity all too often depends on the functionality of the penis and its ability literally to be phallic ; the masculine woman , on the ...
Contents
John Radclyffe Hall and the Discourse | 75 |
Even Stone Butches Get the Blues III | 111 |
ButchFTM Border Wars and | 141 |
Copyright | |
3 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
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 |