What do you think?
Rate this book
Transgender Journeys
""No matter how you identify yourself on the wide spectrum of gender--and some people find themselves in significantly different locations on that spectrum from day to day--if you're Christian and you care about issues of gender, transgender, and justice, this book is for you."" --from the Introduction Based on their own journeys as transgendered Christians, Mollenkott and Sheridan have created an inspiring book about hope, opportunity, struggle, joy, difficulty, and transcendence. They offer information and inspiration while sharing real-life experiences about the joy and pain of being both Christian and gender-variant to illustrate how each person's enactment of their authentic self helps to create an environment that moves toward moral justice for all persons. Those who identify as gender-variant or are struggling with their own identity will find this book a useful companion on their journey. It is also a valuable resource for those seeking to help their communities take the next steps toward a more just society. Chapter topics - Equipping for the Journey - Reordering Our Travel Priorities - Virginia Ramey Mollenkott's Gender-Variant Journey - Vanessa Sheridan's GenderVariant Journey - What Does It Mean to Walk a Transgender Christian Pathway? - Reclaiming Our Territory, Mapping Our Pathway - Developing a Theology for the Transgender Journey - Coming Out as an Act of Faith - Wilderness Pilgrims and Prophets - Steps that Lie Ahead Virginia Ramey Mollenkott is Professor Emeritus of English at the William Paterson University of New Jersey and the author of thirteen books, including A Trans-Religious Approach (The Pilgrim Press, 2001), which won a Lambda Literary Award in 2002. She lives in Hewitt, New Jersey. Vanessa Sheridan is active within the transgender community as a speaker and writer on issues related to spirituality. She is the author of Crossing Liberating the Transgendered Christian (The Pilgrim Press, 2001). She lives in the greater Twin Cities area of Minnesota.
184 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2003
43 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 18, 2008
i have a lot of thoughts on this book and they are put into bulleted form as follows:
* there are no definitions in this book to talk about the various types of gender variant people presented. this is disturbing as the authors continually refer to cross-dressers and other folks without explanation. in a book that say in its intro that it is intended for straight allies as well this is a dangerous oversight. i'm not saying they need to go into the science and biology of it all, or do some long treatise, but some key words and their meanings would be helpful.
* it also doesn't help that neither of these authors are medically transitioning. one is a gender variant lesbian and the other, i believe, is a cross-dresser in a heterosexual marriage. again, this is my bias coming out, but i get really annoyed at this transgender umbrella being used. i'm not saying people shouldn't claim that title for themselves, and i do believe that there should be freedom for all people to transgress and fuck with gender however they see fit. but i don't agree that my needs as a transsexual are the same as the needs of gender variant people on a political level in a lot of ways. and i get annoyed at being continually spoken for by people who claim the transgender label for themselves.
* the constant digs on the religious right get old. i mean, i am no fan at all, but still, keep it in check. don't demonize the people you are critiquing. it's just constant jabs throughout the book and it's too much.
* they keep referring to transgender people as transgenderists which i find really offensive. it's this assumption that trans people are performing something. as steph pointed out when you tack ist onto a word it's something you do, like being a botanist or a pharmacist. the idea that gender is only performed is making it's way into the book in a myriad of ways and i find it obnoxious.
* i am finding that when mollenkott talks about trans people, while in her mind she is including transsexual people, in reality she is not. it is clear throughout all of her writing that i have read that she does not understand the particular needs of transsexual people and so she is offensive towards them without meaning to be. for instance, in this book there is a whole large section about coming out and how important it is to be out. that somehow you are not living openly unless you are out. which might be true for people who are gender variant, but not for transsexual people. i mean, if i am being perceived as male, and i know myself to be male, then i am being honest about who i am. there is no need for me to come out. it's just frustrating that the assumption she is making is that transsexual people are lying by not being out. which to me is the same as saying i am lying by saying that i am male. not okay.
* i also think in general this book is quite trite in how it deals with theology. it's very surface level and repeats a lot. i am not finding it to be well-written at all, which is a separate issue from the disagreements listed earlier. i know it's written for a lay audience, but there is no reason for the book to be so surfacey.
* there are no definitions in this book to talk about the various types of gender variant people presented. this is disturbing as the authors continually refer to cross-dressers and other folks without explanation. in a book that say in its intro that it is intended for straight allies as well this is a dangerous oversight. i'm not saying they need to go into the science and biology of it all, or do some long treatise, but some key words and their meanings would be helpful.
* it also doesn't help that neither of these authors are medically transitioning. one is a gender variant lesbian and the other, i believe, is a cross-dresser in a heterosexual marriage. again, this is my bias coming out, but i get really annoyed at this transgender umbrella being used. i'm not saying people shouldn't claim that title for themselves, and i do believe that there should be freedom for all people to transgress and fuck with gender however they see fit. but i don't agree that my needs as a transsexual are the same as the needs of gender variant people on a political level in a lot of ways. and i get annoyed at being continually spoken for by people who claim the transgender label for themselves.
* the constant digs on the religious right get old. i mean, i am no fan at all, but still, keep it in check. don't demonize the people you are critiquing. it's just constant jabs throughout the book and it's too much.
* they keep referring to transgender people as transgenderists which i find really offensive. it's this assumption that trans people are performing something. as steph pointed out when you tack ist onto a word it's something you do, like being a botanist or a pharmacist. the idea that gender is only performed is making it's way into the book in a myriad of ways and i find it obnoxious.
* i am finding that when mollenkott talks about trans people, while in her mind she is including transsexual people, in reality she is not. it is clear throughout all of her writing that i have read that she does not understand the particular needs of transsexual people and so she is offensive towards them without meaning to be. for instance, in this book there is a whole large section about coming out and how important it is to be out. that somehow you are not living openly unless you are out. which might be true for people who are gender variant, but not for transsexual people. i mean, if i am being perceived as male, and i know myself to be male, then i am being honest about who i am. there is no need for me to come out. it's just frustrating that the assumption she is making is that transsexual people are lying by not being out. which to me is the same as saying i am lying by saying that i am male. not okay.
* i also think in general this book is quite trite in how it deals with theology. it's very surface level and repeats a lot. i am not finding it to be well-written at all, which is a separate issue from the disagreements listed earlier. i know it's written for a lay audience, but there is no reason for the book to be so surfacey.
Displaying 1 of 1 review