When Men Are Women: Manhood Among the Gabra Nomads of East Africa

In this fascinating exploration of the cultural models of manhood, When Men Are Women examines the unique world of the nomadic Gabra people, a camel-herding society in northern Kenya. Gabra men denigrate women and feminine things, yet regard their most prestigious men as women. As they grow older, all Gabra men become d'abella, or ritual experts, who have feminine identities. Wood's study draws from structuralism, psychoanalytic theory, and anthropology to probe the meaning of opposition and ambivalence in Gabra society. When Men Are Women provides a multifaceted view of gender as a cultural construction independent of sex, but nevertheless fundamentally related to it. By turning men into women, the Gabra confront the dilemmas and ambiguities of social life. Wood demonstrates that the Gabra can provide illuminating insight into our own culture's understanding of gender and its function in society.

Many new and unique articles & reports from the UK and ALL around the world. 336 pages.

Originallypublished in 1967, this is the autobiography of the first world-renowned transsexual. In the months after her sex reassignment surgery, Jorgensen became a nationally known entertainer throughout America and befriended many celebrities. But behind the public image was a woman who simply strove for respect and dignity. With an introduction by Susan Stryker.

New in paperback.

Donald McCloskey, a renowned economist and historian, husband and father, crossdressed for years without ever wanting more. But at the age of fifty-two, he felt that he was denying his true identity and decided to transition from male to female. Crossing is the powerful and moving memoir chronicling her transition. A 1999 New York Times Book Review Book of the Year.

Robert Hunt, the 15-year-old narrator of Matthews's (Stiks and Stoans) look at British teens coming to grips with gender roles, could have stepped out of a Nick Hornby novel, with his clever observations addressed directly to readers. Rob confesses he's "sorted now, but I lost it for awhile and I want to understand why." He tells readers about his time as a self-styled "Kurt Cobain, retro-grunge" type-until he discovers he enjoys wearing women's clothes and makeup while performing in his English class's gender-bending look at Shakespeare's As You Like It, playing Rosalind to classmate Milena's Orlando. Milena's unexpected support of Rob's fondness for dress-up in drag brings the two closer together. "We're sisters under the skin, Rob," says Milena. "Or is that brothers?" But the relationship founders when the two, after attending a cross-dressing party, exchange a kiss and are discovered by Rob's father; the incident churns up uneasy feelings about the nature of their attraction. Matthews lays bare the ambiguities that often accompany budding sexuality, and handles well a subplot involving Rob's best friend, Kev, coming out to him. The author makes clear that everyone needs to, as Rob says, find his or her "own style." While American teens may not be as appreciative of the British tradition of gender-bending (from Shakespeare to David Bowie), the uplifting message translates across the Atlantic. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.