The Transsexual Empire

Last updated

The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male
Janice Raymond - The Transsexual Empire.jpg
Cover of the first edition
Author Janice Raymond
LanguageEnglish
Subjects Gender dysphoria, Trans people, radical feminism
Publisher Beacon Press
Publication date
1979
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardcover and paperback)
Pages220
ISBN 0-807-02164-4
OCLC 4529467
301.415
LC Class RC560.C4

The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male is a 1979 book about transgender people by American radical feminist author and activist Janice Raymond. The book is derived from Raymond's dissertation, which was produced under the supervision of the feminist theologian Mary Daly. [1] It has been criticized by LGBT and feminist writers as transphobic and dehumanizing. [2]

Contents

Summary

Raymond investigates the role of transgender people in society—particularly psychological and surgical approaches to treatment of transgender people—and argues that transgender identity reifies traditional gender stereotypes. Raymond also writes about the ways in which the medical-psychiatric complex medicalizes gender identity and about the social and political context that has helped spawn gender-affirming treatment and surgery as normal and therapeutic medicine. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Raymond maintains that the notion of transgender identity is based on the "patriarchal myths" of "male mothering" and "making of woman according to man's image". She claims this is done in order "to colonize feminist identification, culture, politics and sexuality", adding, "All transsexuals rape women's bodies by reducing the real female form to an artifact, appropriating this body for themselves ... Transsexuals merely cut off the most obvious means of invading women, so that they seem non-invasive." [7] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Publication history

In 1979, the first edition of The Transsexual Empire was published by Beacon Press, a nonprofit publisher in Boston run by the Unitarian Universalist Association. In 1980, the book was published in the United Kingdom by The Women's Press. [8] In 1994, a second edition was published by Teachers College Press. [9]

Reception

The Transsexual Empire was well-received in mainstream media upon its publication[ citation needed ], with psychiatrist Thomas Szasz commenting that "[the book] has rightly seized on transsexualism as an emblem of modern society's unremitting—though increasingly concealed—antifeminism." [10] In a 1980 review, the philosopher Sarah Hoagland called it a "fecund discussion of patriarchal deception". [11] However, Raymond's views on transgender people have been criticized by LGBT and feminist writers as transphobic, and constituting hate speech against transgender people. [12] [13] [14] [15]

In 1980, lesbian trans feminist Carol Riddell wrote the first feminist critique of the book, a pamphlet titled Divided Sisterhood: A Critical Review of Janice Raymond’s The Transsexual Empire, which became heavily cited in trans studies. [2] [16] In it, Riddell builds on the earlier work of trans feminists and argues the book ran counter to the emphasis placed upon subjectivity in feminist consciousness-raising, criticized its portrayal of gender identity clinics as an empire rather than institutions marginalized by the medical patriarchy which force transsexuals to conform to gender roles and suffer, and stated the book is "dangerous to transsexuals because it does not treat us as human beings at all, merely as the tools of a theory." [2] Riddell argued in 1996 that The Transsexual Empire "did not invent anti-transsexual prejudice, but it did more to justify and perpetuate it than perhaps any other book ever written." [17]

The Transsexual Empire included sections on Sandy Stone, a trans woman who had worked as a sound engineer for Olivia Records, and Christy Barsky, accusing both of creating divisiveness in women's spaces. [18] These writings have been criticized as personal attacks on these individuals; [19] Raymond sent a draft to Olivia Records with the intention of outing Stone, apparently unaware that she had disclosed her trans status before joining Olivia Records. The collective returned comment that Raymond's description of Stone's place in and effect on the collective was at odds with the reality of the collective's interaction with Stone; after publication, the other members of the Olivia Collective defended Stone in various contemporary feminist publications. [20] In 1987, Stone wrote "The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto", a foundational text of transgender studies, in response to The Transsexual Empire. [21] [22]

Natalie Washington called The Transsexual Empire a "book [...] so influential on modern anti-trans movements, in which [Raymond] suggests 'the problem of transsexualism would best be served by morally mandating it out of existence.'" [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other social divisions such as in race, class, and sexual orientation. The ideology and movement emerged in the 1960s.

The word cisgender describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth, i.e., someone who is not transgender. The prefix cis- is Latin and means on this side of. The term cisgender was coined in 1994 as an antonym to transgender, and entered into dictionaries starting in 2015 as a result of changes in social discourse about gender. The term has been and continues to be controversial and subject to critique.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transphobia</span> Anti-transgender prejudice

Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to social gender roles. Transphobia is a type of prejudice and discrimination, similar to racism, sexism, or ableism, and it is closely associated with homophobia. People of color who are transgender experience discrimination above and beyond that which can be explained as a simple combination of transphobia and racism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transfeminism</span> Branch of feminism

Transfeminism, or trans feminism, is a branch of feminism focused on transgender women and informed by transgender studies. Transfeminism focuses on the effects of transmisogyny and patriarchy on trans women. It is related to the broader field of queer theory. The term was popularized by Emi Koyama in The Transfeminist Manifesto.

Janice G. Raymond is an American lesbian radical feminist and professor emerita of women's studies and medical ethics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is known for her work against violence, sexual exploitation, and medical abuse of women, and for her controversial work denouncing transsexuality.

Sheila Jeffreys is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.

The Sex Orientation Scale (SOS) was Harry Benjamin's attempt to classify and understand various forms and subtypes of transvestism and transsexualism in people assigned male at birth, published in 1966. It was a seven-point scale ; it was analogous to the Kinsey Scale as it relates to sexual orientation, which also had seven categories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandy Stone (artist)</span> American artist (born 1936)

Allucquére Rosanne "Sandy" Stone is an American academic theorist, media theorist, author, and performance artist. She is an Associate Professor Emerita at the University of Texas at Austin where she was the Founding Director of the Advanced Communication Technologies Laboratory (ACTLab) and the New Media Initiative in the department of Radio-TV-Film. Stone has worked in and written about film, music, experimental neurology, writing, engineering, and computer programming. Stone is transgender and is considered a founder of the academic discipline of transgender studies.

Womyn-born womyn (WBW) is a term developed during second-wave feminism to designate women who were assigned female at birth, were raised as girls, and identify as women. The policy is noted for exclusion of trans women. Third-wave feminism and fourth-wave feminism have generally done away with the idea of WBW.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transmisogyny</span> Intersection of transphobia and misogyny, experienced by transfeminine individuals

Transmisogyny, otherwise known as trans-misogyny and transphobic misogyny, is the intersection of transphobia and misogyny as experienced by trans women and transfeminine people. The term was coined by Julia Serano in her 2007 book Whipping Girl to describe a particular form of oppression experienced by trans women. In a 2017 interview with The New York Times, Serano explores the roots of transmisogyny as a critique of feminine gender expressions which are "ridiculed in comparison to masculine interests and gender expression."

Feminist views on transgender topics vary widely.

Transgender studies, also called trans studies or trans* studies, is an interdisciplinary field of academic research dedicated to the study of gender identity, gender expression, and gender embodiment, as well as to the study of various issues of relevance to transgender and gender variant populations. Interdisciplinary subfields of transgender studies include applied transgender studies, transgender history, transgender literature, transgender media studies, transgender anthropology and archaeology, transgender psychology, and transgender health. The research theories within transgender studies focus on cultural presentations, political movements, social organizations and the lived experience of various forms of gender nonconformity. The discipline emerged in the early 1990s in close connection to queer theory. Non-transgender-identified peoples are often also included under the "trans" umbrella for transgender studies, such as intersex people, crossdressers, drag artists, third gender individuals, and genderqueer people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TERF (acronym)</span> Acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist

TERF is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. First recorded in 2008, the term TERF was originally used to distinguish transgender-inclusive feminists from a group of radical feminists who reject the position that trans women are women, reject the inclusion of trans women in women's spaces, and oppose transgender rights legislation. Trans-inclusive feminists assert that these ideas and positions are transphobic and discriminatory towards transgender people. The use of the term TERF has since broadened to include reference to people with trans-exclusionary views who are not necessarily involved with radical feminism. In the 2020s, the term "trans-exclusionary radical feminism" is used synonymously with or overlaps with "gender-critical feminism".

Feminist metaphysics aims to question how inquiries and answers in the field of metaphysics have supported sexism. Feminist metaphysics overlaps with fields such as the philosophy of mind and philosophy of self. Feminist metaphysicians such as Sally Haslanger, Ásta, and Judith Butler have sought to explain the nature of gender in the interest of advancing feminist goals.

<i>Transgender Studies Quarterly</i> Academic journal

TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering transgender studies, with an emphasis on cultural studies and the humanities. Established in 2014 and published by Duke University Press, it is the first non-medical journal about transgender studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. Riley Snorton</span> American scholar, author, and activist

C. Riley Snorton is an American scholar, author, and activist whose work focuses on historical perspectives of gender and race, specifically Black transgender identities. His publications include Nobody is Supposed to Know: Black Sexuality on the Down Low and Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity. Snorton is currently Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago. In 2014 BET listed him as one of their "18 Transgender People You Should Know". Snorton is a highly sought after speaker and considered one of the leading voices in Black studies and cultural theory.

"The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto" is a 1987 essay written by Sandy Stone. Stone's essay is considered to be the founding text of transgender studies in academia, with other critical transgender works emerging after it. The essay examines how transgender women have historically been viewed, studied, and treated by the western medical establishment.

Gender-critical feminism, also known as trans-exclusionary radical feminism or TERFism, is an ideology or movement that opposes what it refers to as "gender ideology". Gender-critical feminists reject transgender identities and consider the concepts of gender identity and gender self-identification to be inherently oppressive constructs tied to gender roles. They believe that sex is biological, immutable, and binary, and that people should only be identified based on their biological sex rather than their gender identity.

Carol S. Riddell is a British feminist and socialist sociologist and transgender lesbian who was active in the UK Women's liberation movement in the 1970s. She is known for authoring Divided Sisterhood, the first feminist critique of Janice Raymond's book The Transsexual Empire.

The Evaluation of Transsexual Surgery was a report published by the National Center for Health Care Technology (NCHCT) under the United States Department of Health and Human Services in 1981. The report drew on a paper from Janice Raymond on the "social and ethical aspects of transsexual surgery" which the NCHCT had commissioned from her in 1980. The report concluded, based on Raymond's work, that transgender surgeries were "experimental" and "controversial" and recommended they not be covered by public insurance. This was formalized in a National Coverage Determination (NCD) banning it for Medicaid in 1989, which remained in force until 2014. The report and exclusion of trans healthcare that resulted from it are thought to have shortened the lifespans of transgender people in the United States.

References

  1. ↑ Highleyman, Liz (January 7, 2010). "Feminist theologian Mary Daly dies". The Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Caslin, Sam (January 15, 2024). "Trans feminism and the women's liberation movement in Britain, c . 1970–1980". Gender & History. doi: 10.1111/1468-0424.12767 . ISSN   0953-5233.
  3. 1 2 Roth, Nancy L. (1997). "The Transsexual Empire". Women and Language. 20 (2). Urbana, WI: Organization for the Study of Communication Language and Gender: 66–67. ISSN   8755-4550. ProQuest   198810578.
  4. 1 2 Culter, Connie (July 12, 1980). "The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male". Gay Community News . 7 (50). Boston: The Bromfield Street Educational Foundation: 11. ProQuest   199398282.
  5. 1 2 Coston, B. Ethan (May 2023). "Looking Back: Intimate Partner Violence in Transgender Populations". American Journal of Public Health . 113 (5). Washington, DC: American Public Health Association: 474–476. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2023.307262. ISSN   1541-0048. OCLC   01642844. PMC  10088961. PMID   36926968. ProQuest   2802096630.
  6. 1 2 Partridge, Cameron (2018). ""Scotch-Taped Together": Anti-"Androgyny" Rhetoric, Transmisogyny, and the Transing of Religious Studies". Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. 34 (1). Indiana University Press: 68–75. doi:10.2979/jfemistudreli.34.1.09. ISSN   8755-4178. JSTOR   10.2979/jfemistudreli.34.1.09. S2CID   150084493. ProQuest   2048052511.
  7. ↑ Raymond, Janice. (1994). The Transsexual Empire, p. 104
  8. ↑ Raymond, Janice G. (1980). The Transsexual Empire. London: Women's Press. p.  iv. ISBN   978-0-7043-3857-9.
  9. ↑ Raymond, Janice G. (1994). The Transsexual Empire: The Making Of The She-Male. New York: Teachers College Press. p.  iv. ISBN   978-0-8077-6272-1.
  10. ↑ Thomas Szasz (June 10, 1979). "Male and Female Created He Them". The New York Times. p. 3. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  11. ↑ Sarah Lucia Hoagland (1980). "The Transsexual Empire: The Making of a She-Male. Janice G. Raymond". Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 5 (3): 537–538. doi:10.1086/493740.
  12. ↑ Rose, Katrina C. (January 1, 2004). "The Man Who Would Be Janice Raymond". Transgender Tapestry (104): 56–57. ISSN   1083-0006. Moreover, it is not hyperbole to say that Empire has been responsible for the deaths of untold numbers of transsexuals. If the anti-equality forces of the 198O's which picked up her transphobia...
  13. ↑ Serano, Julia (March 8, 2016). Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity . Seal Press. p. 234. ISBN   978-1-58005-154-5. [...]Janice Raymond (who, in addition to writing the anti-trans screed The Transexual Empire, tried to convince the National Center for Health Care Technology to deny transsexuals the right to hormones and surgery)[...]
  14. ↑ Namaste, Viviane (December 15, 2000). Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People. University of Chicago Press. pp. 33–35. ISBN   978-0-226-56810-2.
  15. ↑ Heyes, Cressida J. (June 2003). "Feminist Solidarity after Queer Theory: The Case of Transgender". Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society . 28 (4): 1093–1120. doi:10.1086/343132. S2CID   144107471. The Transsexual Empire has become the archetypal articulation of radical feminist hostility to transsexuality and has had a persistent influence on feminist perceptions of transgender.
  16. ↑ Stryker, Susan; Bettcher, Talia M. (May 1, 2016). "Introduction". TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. 3 (1–2): 5–14. doi:10.1215/23289252-3334127. ISSN   2328-9252.
  17. ↑ Hines, Sally (February 17, 2019). "The feminist frontier: on trans and feminism". Journal of Gender Studies. 28 (2): 145–157. doi:10.1080/09589236.2017.1411791. ISSN   0958-9236.
  18. ↑ Raymond, Janice. (1994). The Transsexual Empire, pp. 101–102.
  19. ↑ Hubbard, Ruth (1996). "Gender and Genitals: Constructs of Sex and Gender". Social Text (46/47). Duke University Press: 157–165. doi:10.2307/466851. ISSN   0164-2472. JSTOR   466851.
  20. ↑ "TERF hate and Sandy Stone". August 16, 2014.
  21. ↑ Carlos, Matthew Steven (2005). "Stone Publishes a "Posttranssexual Manifesto."". LGBT History, 1988-1992. Great Neck Publishing. pp. 78–81. ISBN   9781429800037.
  22. ↑ Stryker, Susan; Bettcher, Talia M. (May 1, 2016). "Introduction: Trans/Feminisms". TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. 3 (1–2): 5–14. doi: 10.1215/23289252-3334127 . ISSN   2328-9252.
  23. ↑ Washington, Natalie (October 5, 2021). "Who's included? Views of the report on transgender participation in sport". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved May 23, 2022.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.