Sex Change, Social Change: Reflections on Identity, Institutions, and Imperialism

by Viviane Namaste

Sex Change, Social Change: Reflections on Identity, Institutions, and Imperialism provides readers with an authoritative introduction to contemporary transsexual politics in Canadian and Québécois contexts. Through different case studies relating to the law, human rights, health care, and prostitution, Dr. Namaste exposes readers to the complex issues involved in how transsexual politics and feminism interrelate. Written in accessible language, and including interviews, essays, and political speeches, Sex Change, Social Change will appeal to academics and to activists in the community, as well as to the general reader. The second edition has been thoroughly updated with five new chapters and includes new commentary on the readings from the first edition.

Genres: Queer, Transgender, Nonfiction, LGBT, Feminism, Gender, Gender Studies

170 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

Reviews

[duck reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

Important institutional critiques buried in conflation of unchecked privilege with nonbinary identities and accusations that identity-driven politics and existing movements in trans rights activism are to blame for institutional problems facing trans folks. Weird, weird, and since my book club meeting on the subject is now past I am not putting in the effort to take deep breaths and clam myself through the aggravating parts to get at the good stuff that is actually pretty obvious (though may well have been groundbreaking when the book was published I guess? I do not know). There was a chapter on PASAN being awesome that was good. I stopped reading before the argument that identity politics would lead to Arnold Schwarzenegger infiltrating the TWB, but I am told it happens. Here there be dragons and strange, strange logic.

[Adri · Rating 2 out of 5]

read for a paper i was writing. this book pissed me the fuck off for a number of reasons. some important and good points made but an ridiculous amount of unnecessary jabs at any trans person who isn’t trying to get a sex change and live stealth. not to mention the way nonbinary people are spoken about. and other trans activists. make your points about sex work and healthcare but don’t drag everyone else down.

[Ayanna Dozier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is an insightful and, I would argue, mandatory read for anyone who conducts research on the materiality of sex and gender, regardless if you're focus is on trans people or not. What Namaste conveys, quite clearly, is that theory serves a purpose and bodies of theory can only further theoretical progression/understanding if their positionality/identity are taken seriously and incorporated into the theory and do not merely serve a purpose to reach another point. To be it bluntly, gender and queer theory has a bad habit of examining trans embodiment to negotiate or unfold cis people's sexuality. This is mainly seen within the work of Judith Butler, which Namaste heavily critiques. My only issue concerns the polemic nature of the book. While, I whole-heartily argue with Namaste's critique, at times if feels like there are two many structures that she goes after. This is not to suggest that she doesn't handle intersectional politics well (concerning race, class, and sexuality in addition to one's gender), because she handles that quite masterfully. But rather to draw attention to the role of language within this criticism. I completely agree with critiquing the Anglo-American tradition of English that is passed throughout academia but I'm not sure if positioning French above that is the way to go. Of course Namaste is speaking from standpoint of a Quebecois and, yes, in that context it makes perfect sense but when she positions the language problem as an international problem and only speaks attends to French as an alternative is feels lacking and defensive, to me, at least. Of course she is advocating for multicultural understanding of one another and language but I felt like she couldn't unpacked that area a bit more to state the nuance more directly rather than to have readers interpret it.

[Ryry · Rating 5 out of 5]

definitely recommend this book to counter a lot of the trans politics that seems to be around some of the 'trans' [read: middle class white transmasc] scenes i see around me in melbourne. although its in a canadian setting its still really relevant. i'm really bad at remembering precisely what i liked about books and just remember they were good, but yeah good critiques about mainstream trans politics, about the dominance of anglophone activist paradigms and links to colonialism, the dominance of more middle class trans people in trans activism and of trans men who have had political training in lesbian communities and are often college educated and have more formal skills taking up jobs/space in activism and support networks that were set up around communities that were centred on trans women sex workers (and trans women of colour and working class trans women)
also good critique of trans day of remembrance and the appropriation of the murders of trans women of colour who work as sex workers as purely victims of transphobia when often it was actually their sex worker status that led to their murder (including intersections between the ways they were forced to do sex work by criminalization and marginalization due to race and class)
also good critique of the more anglo-culture term transgender becoming an umbrella term and the loss of perspective that transsexual people face compared to all peopple who fall under the term transgender, or even the problems with enforcing this english language anglo cultural construct of transgender onto other communities and ignoring their own terms etc?
anyway you should read it instead and i should stop trying to explain it coz im not doing the authors justice at all!!

[6655321 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Viviane Namaste is kind of confusing in a good way. Years before it became *the* trans toast of the town she was making criticisms of the imperialism of US concepts of trans as an umbrella to cover the world and pointing out that drug addicts and sex workers are recipients of horrible discrimination, among other really well argued points about the limitations of what was (and to an extent remains) high theory [for example: attempts to remove GID from the DSM4 without acknowledging that it was there in the first place even *if* many diagnosticians are shitty it is sort of imperative to have that diagnosis for health insurance to cover things]. Probably a core reason she is less popular than her contemporaries (who tbh made very weak arguments about political engagement) is that she wavers around the kind of not great argument that transsexuality and transgender identity are separate (which makes intuitive sense in a lot of ways) but makes the somewhat dated and probably uncharitable followup that transsexuality is an authentic existence and transgender identity is the product of privilege.

[Ty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book, written by a sex+, sex work+ bilingual author. It really hits to the heart of why Canada is no closer to having a country wide trans advocacy group than it was 20 years ago and is likely to in 20 years from now.

My only qualm with it is the (all too predictable) MTF-centrism. FTMs seem to be a footnote in her thoughts and are, as all too common in trans discourse, rendered largely invisible or relegated to a more general choice of words rather than directly acknowledged and recognized.

None the less her points about the coutner-productiveness/harm of gains made in English Canada that are dependent on language (specifically the English meaning of gender vs. the French genre) are poignant and need to be better understood and known by anyone outside of Québec who wants to consider themselves a true trans advocate.

[Jacob Hale · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review of this book is forthcoming in Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy 23:1 (Winter 2008). Thanks to Talia Bettcher, Miqqi Alicia Gilbert, and Susan Stryker for their help with this review.

[Zach]

It's okay. Pretty repetitive, but some good points about the distinctions between transgender and transsexual politics. I used this for an academic paper, and the novel-esque cover was a little embarrassing to carry.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book highlights the failure of the mainstream of the Canadian trans movement tendancy to ignore the struggles the trans people on the margins (First Nations, Quebecois, Asian, People of Colour, sex trade workers, homelessness and people with special needs).

[Caleb]

Every time I re-read this text I find more things I take issue with. I'll write more about this later.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was clearly an academic piece, but it didn't feel like it while I read it! Very informative about current trans related issues.