Book Review: The Transgender Debate
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Review of The Transgender Debate (The Crisis Surrounding Gender Identity) by Stephen Whittle
July 2000
The Transgender Debate (The Crisis Surrounding Gender Identity)
Stephen Whittle, 2000, 68pp Garnet Publishing Ltd ISBN 1 902932 16 1
RRP : UKP £3.50
I’m sure that I could be a much better campaigner if I could only remember half the things I “know” about the issues we so often need to explain to the world.
I’m sure you can picture the scene. There I am … halfway through trying to make the point that trans people have been around a bit longer than the “News of the World” or “Jerry Springer” added together, and suddenly I realise that all the names and dates between Deuteronomy and Dana International have suddenly deserted me! (Incidentally, how CAN trans be both an “invention of the late twentieth century” and the subject of some pretty stern words in the Old Testament?)
Then there’s the point that trans identities turn up in so many and varied civilisations. Who was it who studied the Chukchi of Siberia, and HOW many gender categories was it that they recognise? How do you even SPELL “Wakawawine”, let alone back the surprising revelation of so many different perspectives on human gender identity, without a handy reference to where your sceptical audience can go and read more for themselves?
In short, there are so many times when what I’ve really yearned to have in my bag was a handy little summary of all this sort of information. A book that’s small enough to carry along, but full of the things that the world needs to grasp if it is to fully understand the “trans phenomenon”. The essentials for understanding a community which has so recently, with the aid of the Internet, sprung from obscurity into a fully-fledged worldwide movement with the political objective of freeing itself from the chains of other people’s ignorance, indifference and intolerance.
Enter veteren trans campaigner, Dr Stephen Whittle. A man with the unusual distinction of having co-founded a radical Lesbian Group in the mid 70’s before coming out as a trans man … since which time he has studied and ascended the academic ladder as a lawyer, become father to four young children, taken his government to the European Court of Human Rights, founded the UK Trans Lobby Group Press for Change, appeared on television countless times … and somehow managed to fit in the time to write a shelf-full of books and learned papers too.
Many trans people have found fame simply on account of who and what they are, but Dr Whittle belongs in that far more exclusive club … that handful of trans men and women who are universally known and respected for their encyclopaedic knowledge of a subject and their contribution to making people think.
And it certainly demands a man with this much experience … this consummate a grasp of his subject … to compress so much, so readably, into such a small publication.
The Transgender Debate explains all the things a trans person knows and the rest of the world doesn’t. From a starting point of explaining the most essential of terminology (the difference between sex, gender role and gender identity) Whittle goes on to introduce the people, in all their diversity. One word, half a million very different personalities. From here we journey through the facts and figures, historical and anthropological perspectives, to arrive at the issues confronting trans people today; The imperatives which thrust them together to make a campaigning community. Finally, Whittle charts the history of that movement, through a hundred years of conceptual evolution to the present day.
So often as a campaigner I feel like saying to people, “Go away … have the manners to read up about my subject and then come back for an informed discussion”. The problem is that if they have to read half a library full of references to get to that point then you know they won’t. And that’s the delight of this little book, part of a “Behind the Headlines” series which sets out to explain the essentials of topics like Northern Ireland, Homelessness and Food Safety in a format that you can comfortably polish off in the space of one morning’s commute.
I am biassed, of course. The author is not only a campaigning associate but also a man I am pleased to count as a friend. But this is no empty eulogy. I bought my review copy myself, and I’ll be buying spare copies too … to use as a way to demand that the people I talk to as a campaigner read up about me and my people first. Stephen’s people. Our community.
Over the years I’ve bought many books about trans, and borrowed many more. This is first I’ve wanted to buy in bulk to give out.
Christine Burns,
Vice President, Press for Change
For those of you who would like to order Stephen’s book online, you can do so through PFC’s Amazon bookshop using the direct link below:
Ordering through Amazon can not only save you money and precious time trudging round the bookstores, but it also earns the campaign a small percentage commission on every item you order (and that goes for any other books, CD’s, Videos and DVD’s in Amazon UK’s catalogue too). To earn PFC that commission, however, you MUST enter the store via one of the links provided on the PFC web site (see http://www.pfc.org.uk/amazon/index.htm) … otherwise Amazon won’t know that we sent you to them.
In this latest quarter Press for Change has earned UKP 25 in commission on the books, DVD’s and Videos you have bought through our link-up … which goes a little way towards the cost of UKPFC-News, our Forum and Web site. (A VERY small way, unfortunately … but every bit helps!)
Alternatively you can purchase direct from Press for Change. Enclose an A5 envelope and a cheque or postal order to the value of £4.00 (which includes P&P) and send your order to:
Press for Change
BM Network
London WC1N 3XX