Female MasculinityMasculinity without men. In Female Masculinity Judith Halberstam takes aim at the protected status of male masculinity and shows that female masculinity has offered a distinct alternative to it for well over two hundred years. Providing the first full-length study on this subject, Halberstam catalogs the diversity of gender expressions among masculine women from nineteenth-century pre-lesbian practices to contemporary drag king performances. Through detailed textual readings as well as empirical research, Halberstam uncovers a hidden history of female masculinities while arguing for a more nuanced understanding of gender categories that would incorporate rather than pathologize them. She rereads Anne Lister's diaries and Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness as foundational assertions of female masculine identity. She considers the enigma of the stone butch and the politics surrounding butch/femme roles within lesbian communities. She also explores issues of transsexuality among "transgender dykes"--lesbians who pass as men--and female-to-male transsexuals who may find the label of "lesbian" a temporary refuge. Halberstam also tackles such topics as women and boxing, butches in Hollywood and independent cinema, and the phenomenon of male impersonators. Female Masculinity signals a new understanding of masculine behaviors and identities, and a new direction in interdisciplinary queer scholarship. Illustrated with nearly forty photographs, including portraits, film stills, and drag king performance shots, this book provides an extensive record of the wide range of female masculinities. And as Halberstam clearly demonstrates, female masculinity is not some bad imitation of virility, but a lively and dramatic staging of hybrid and minority genders. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - amberluscious - LibraryThingI learned quite a bit from this book, especially the distinction between androgyny and masculinity. These two presentations of being are not equal, and for me this was an important point in ... Read full review
Female masculinity
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictHalberstam (literature, Univ. of California, San Diego; Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters, Duke Univ., 1995) presents a unique offering in queer studies: a study of the ... Read full review
Contents
The Androgyne the Tribade the Female | 45 |
John Radclyffe Hall and the Discourse | 75 |
Even Stone Butches Get the Blues III | 111 |
ButchFTM Border Wars and | 141 |
A Rough Guide to Butches on Film | 175 |
Masculinity and Performance | 231 |
New Masculinities | 267 |
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Common terms and phrases
activity Anne appearance argue attempt become body butch-femme called camp century chapter claims clothing club communities completely construction contests course cross-dressing culture describes desire directed discourse discussion dominant drag king dyke emergence essay example expression feel female masculinity femininity feminist femme film finally forms gender George girl give Hall heterosexual homosexuality identify identity images impersonation invert John kind lesbian lives look lover male masculine women mean misogyny Miss narrative nature notion novel obviously particular passing performance play pleasure political position practices present Press produced queen queer question Radclyffe Hall relation representation represents role scene seems sense sexual simply social stone butch studies suggests tend theory tion tomboy transgender transsexual turn University various woman women York
Bibliographic information
| Title | Female Masculinity Female Masculinity, Jack Halberstam Gender studies Gender studies/Gay and lesbian studies/Cultural studies |
| Authors | Judith Halberstam, Jack Halberstam |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Duke University Press, 1998 |
| ISBN | 0822322439, 9780822322436 |
| Length | 329 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |