Julia Epstein

Of interest at least as much as a cultural studies piece on the state of gender studies and queerness in popular, legal, and academic culture in the late 80s/early 90s as for the intended content. Much of the content is out of date, and some of the articles are misguided and/or offensive from a contemporary perspective (ie, persistently using pronouns assigned at birth to discuss historical trans* folks). The pieces at the end of the book were the most relevant and readable, especially Sandy Stone's "The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto" and "The Ambiguities of "Lesbian" Viewing Pleasure: The (Dis)articulations Black Widow" by Valerie Traub, both of which are also anthologized elsewhere. Interestingly, the Publisher's Weekly blurb on Amazon highly praises the most objectionable essay in the book - the one I reference above re: pronoun misuse, replicating said pronoun misuse in the blurb.… (mehr)