Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue

Although readers familiar with Feinberg's earlier books will not find much new material here, this collection of hir (this transgendered author's pronoun of choice) speeches, presented with a few essays by other transgendered writers, serves as a good introduction to Feinberg's ideas about the complexities of gender expression and to hir vision for a future "beyond pink or blue." As someone who faces oppression, incomprehension, and violence every day on the basis of hir appearance and the refusal to adhere to a rigid gender designation (Feinberg was once denied emergency medical treatment for endocarditis by a doctor who dismissed hir angrily as "a very troubled person"), Feinberg is in an excellent position to refute the shallow assumptions of the medical establishment and the mainstream media, as well as the more extreme views of the political and religious right. Most compelling are hir arguments on the importance of a broad-based multi-issue coalition among gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people, an alliance that could easily extend to other progressive groups. "Everyone who is under the gun of reaction and economic violence," Feinberg contends, "is a potential ally." --Regina Marler