FE/MALE

The analysis in this book elicits and "teases out"
contemporary logics of gender and sexuality from
modern psychiatric texts on transsexualism. There is
an explicit focus on found asymmetries of gender and
sexuality with regard to biological females vs.
males. Two amalgam psychiatric statements are
particularly investigated. Firstly, that of the
female-to male transsexual having an easier
transition to man, than the male-to female
transsexual to woman; and secondly, that of FTMs
being of homosexual orientation before
transition, whereas MTFs are seen as having
backgrounds with more sexual variety. These
depictions are analysed in connection with the
construction of the fe/male body, concluding an over-
all symbolic logic of "the male accommodates the
female, but the female does not accommodate the
male". It is further suggested that this reveals a
phallic core operating within still vivid
active/passive paradigms being used to construct
masculinity and femininity. This theoretical work
will be of interdisciplinary interest to scholars
and others working within feminist, women's, gender,
queer, transgender and masculinity studies.

Autorentext

Ann Kroon holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Uppsala University. She currently lives and works in Managua, Nicaragua, carrying out her post-doctoral research project about women in policing. In addition to the sociology of gender, Dr. Kroon has a keen interest in visual sociology, material studies and contemporary urban archaeology.

Klappentext

The analysis in this book elicits and "teases out" contemporary logics of gender and sexuality from modern psychiatric texts on transsexualism. There is an explicit focus on found asymmetries of gender and sexuality with regard to biological females vs. males. Two amalgam psychiatric statements are particularly investigated. Firstly, that of the female-to male transsexual having an "easier" transition to man, than the male-to female transsexual to woman; and secondly, that of FTMs being of homosexual orientation before transition, whereas MTFs are seen as having backgrounds with more sexual variety. These depictions are analysed in connection with the construction of the fe/male body, concluding an over-all symbolic logic of "the male accommodates the female, but the female does not accommodate the male". It is further suggested that this reveals a phallic core operating within still vivid active/passive paradigms being used to construct masculinity and femininity. This theoretical work will be of interdisciplinary interest to scholars and others working within feminist, women's, gender, queer, transgender and masculinity studies.