The Transgendered Philosopher

M. Gilbert

Contemporary gender theorists have applied social construction theory to the binary gender system, and argue that the very division of the world into two distinct genders correlated to two distinct sexes is an artifact of social practice and political institutions and can and ought to be modified. Notable thinkers such as Judith Butler and Marjorie Garber view the gender rule breakers as the very proof that gender is a variable and not a constant, that one can change one_s gender, construct one_s sex, or maintain a status not directly identifiable as one or the other classic gender. Most of the discussions on this subject have focused on two main groups. The first are transsexuals who move entirely from one gender/sex locus to the other, and the second are drag queens and kings who, by and large, identify as their birth-designated sex, but who play at or perform at the opposite gender. More or less lost in this formula is the run-of-the-mill cross dresser who periodically adorns himself in women_s clothes and participates in activities ranging from hiding timidly in a drapes-drawn home to marching boldly into public shops and restaurants.