"The Empire Strikes Back" - an elegant response to an inelegant attack

I cannot help but think back to that first day in class when we chose about which article we were going to blog. I can admit I selected this one simply for its slightly misleading title, but on reflection I am glad I did because transsexualism is likely the topic with which I am least familiar on our syllabus. Very early in the reading (and the title) it states that this text is a counter-argument to another text, so wanting to get both sides of the story, I also read The Transsexual Empire: the Making of the She-Male by Janice Raymond. While the authors are clearly at odds on some issues, surprisingly more often that not common ground could be found between the two.

            Sandy Stone is a transgender scholar often credited as a founder of modern transgender studies. Additionally, she established the ACTLab here in the unversity’s Radio-Television-Film department in 1993. Stone’s work with Olivia Records, an all-women recording company is that with which Raymond takes offense. As a very adamant lesbian-feminist, she says in no uncertain terms “transsexuals are not equal to women and are not our peers” (Raymond 117) and quotes a male-to-female transsexual several times throughout who claims that being “free from the chains of menstruation and child-bearing, transsexual women are obviously far superior” (Raymond 117). Whereas Raymond’s text came across as something that should be shouted from a pulpit while banging one’s fist repeatedly (an image she is partly responsible for creating by relating modern day medical procedures for gender reassignment surgery to the medical practices of Nazi Germany), Stone’s text identifies many of the same problems Raymond highlights but presents them in a less off putting manner.

            Common to both texts is that society is largely at fault for creating a feeling of gender dysphoria. Because gender roles are so rigidly enforced, one is not allowed to express gender inappropriate behavior. Stone highlights this by presenting four (auto)biographical cases of transsexual transformation. In each, a “binary, oppositional mode of gender identification” (Stone 225) is reinforced. Raymond takes this a step further and presents studies that show “transsexuals are more what the culture expects women to be than are those who were born female” (Raymond 80). It is precisely this behavior with which Raymond takes the most offense; she believes that rather than attempting to combat sex-role stereotyping, those than undergo gender reassignment only serve to further and perpetuate such stereotypes. Stone acknowledges this is a problem, especially in a group whose ultimate goal is to “pass” or blend into society in their new role without being discovered, thus ending any further discussion to be had. Stone visualizes a future in which transsexuals allow themselves to be known so that a discourse could be opened challenging socially accepted gender norms. Raymond has a much more pessimistic outlook, believing that because it is so difficult to affect change on a social level, transsexuality is focused on as an individual problem which prevents the large-scale change for which feminists hope.

            Stone concluded with a powerful statement to this effect, “although individual change is the foundation of all things, it is not the end of all things. Perhaps it’s time to begin laying the groundwork for the next transformation” (Stone 232). I could not help but think of the slogan “we’re here, we’re queer, get used to it” while reading Raymond’s book. While both texts raised legitimate concerns, Stone’s positivity allowed for a much more honest connection with what she had to say than I could establish with Raymond’s. It truly is a credit to Stone’s character that she could respond with an argument so elegantly without having to stoop to vicious rhetoric and personal attacks; if I had to side with one or the other with regards to who had transcended stereotypical bickering that surrounds a divisive issue in society, I would without a doubt side with Sandy Stone.  

Works Cited

Raymond, Janice. The Transexual Empire: the Making of the She-Male. Boston: Beacon Press, 1979. Print

Stone, Sandy. “The Empire Strikes Back”. The Transgender Studies Reader. Ed. Susan Stryker and Stephen Whittle. New York: Routledge, 1987. 221-235. Print.