Transgender Warriors : Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman

Thanks to Amazon turning 3 crowns in 1 I'm sending this to countaract - hmmm...

Ref: Reader from USA, 23 July 99: Sorry, haven't read all the books avail on Joan of Arc yet, but so far she put her clothes (male, if you so wish) back on in prison although they offered her a dress - maybe you wanna do a search on Joan of Arc at Amazon - just a suggestion...

Back when I've read this book (three crowns to influence average rating as little as poss - sorry).

While Dennis Rodman certainly qualifies as "transgendered", Joan of Arc certainly does not: her own statements (as listed in the record of the trial in 1431 and as quoted by several witnesses at the retrial from 1455-1456) make it clear that she only wore her boyish costume because she was being subjected to attempted rapes and other abuse while in prison, and was constantly in danger of the same while travelling through enemy territory. She wore a dress during the entire rest of her life, and at the trial she begged her judges to allow her to be buried in a dress in the event that she should die from illness while in prison, since she was afraid that they might decide to bury her in her male attire instead (hardly the position that would be taken by a transvestite). Similarly, her armor was not "masculine" in any sense (there's a surviving image of it at St. Denis, and it's quite feminine in appearance, as was the case with the many other suits of armor worn by women during this period: armor was never considered to be a purely masculine form of dress, no more than a bullet-proof vest is today, and noble women wore armor whenever circumstances forced them to take nominal command of their families' armies). None of this is in dispute, and it seems that the author needs to learn a bit more about the 15th century.

As a committed dialogue-oriented queer theorist and socialist, I value any contributions from new voices in social theory. Leslie Feinberg's book is an exemplary work in this regard, and as a pakeha academic in a postcolonial country myself, I am especially impressed by hir respect for indigenous cultures, sovereignty issues, and gender variation as part of that. I recommend this as an important introductory resource that should be in all queer studies curricula.

I'm a 20-year-old female-to-male transsexual. Five years ago, I didn't even know other people like me existed. Now, thanks to this book, I know people like me have been around as long as human beings from the more ordinary walks of life.

You might think that being transsexual, I'd be pretty open-minded, but I must confess that this book really got me thinking about my own chosen gender and what exactly I want do with my transsexuality. Do I want to blend in with all the genetic XY guys after all, leaving no trace of my 'abnormal' gender? Do I really care if people know I don't have a penis? Must I be 100% male 100% of the time? And what is 'male' anyway?

Leslie presents a very personal history of transgenderism. Hir short autobiography echoes that of the many people who don't fit into the male OR female ONLY roles society has pushed us into over the centuries. Being transgendered, I could really emphasise with hir life story, and that of all the other trans* people who have a part in this book.

I'd recommend this book not only to other trans* people, but anyone who is interested in something else other than the traditional gender roles we are given. This is such a different prism to look at history and gender through. I want to major in History now. ::grin::