Beyond Trans : : Does Gender Matter?

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Introduction : sex stickers -- The sex markers we carry : sex-marked identity documents -- Bathroom bouncers : sex-segregated restrooms -- Checking a sex box to get into college : single-sex admissions -- Seeing sex in the body : sex-segregated sports -- Conclusion : silence on the bus.
Goes beyond transgender to question the need for gender classification. Beyond Trans pushes the conversation on gender identity to its limits: questioning the need for gender categories in the first place. Whether on birth certificates or college admissions applications or on bathroom doors, why do we need to mark people and places with sex categories? Do they serve a real purpose or are these places and forms just mechanisms of exclusion? Heath Fogg Davis offers an impassioned call to rethink the usefulness of dividing the world into not just Male and Female categories but even additional categories of Transgender and gender fluid. Davis, himself a transgender man, explores the underlying gender-enforcing policies and customs in American life that have led to transgender bathroom bills, college admissions controversies, and more, arguing that it is necessary for our society to take real steps to challenge the assumption that gender matters. He examines four areas where we need to re-think our sex-classification systems: sex-marked identity documents such as birth certificates, driver's licenses and passports; sex-segregated public restrooms; single-sex colleges; and sex-segregated sports. Speaking from his own experience and drawing upon major cases of sex discrimination in the news and in the courts, Davis presents a persuasive case for challenging how individuals are classified according to sex and offers concrete recommendations for alleviating sex identity discrimination and sex-based disadvantage.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Okay submitted by zmclaugh on August 1, 2018, 9:56am Didn't delve as deeply into the topic as I would have liked.

Pragmatic, short, and well-written submitted by chowcy on July 5, 2020, 2:20pm Rather than focusing on how we can help trans folx more easily transition and change their legal markers, the author questions whether sex segregation and identification is even necessary in four case studies: IDs, bathrooms, single-sex colleges, and sports. Drawing on concepts of universal design, which asserts that design that benefits the most disadvantaged also benefits everyone, the author argues for design and policy alternatives to the sex-segregated status quo that everyone could benefit from. For example, not segregating bathrooms would benefit not only trans folx but also parents/chaperones of opposite-sex children. I appreciated how well-researched and well-written this book was. It was brief and had convincing and innovative arguments for why gender doesn't matter in many cases and what we could do instead. By advocating for policies that could benefit everyone, it's easier to persuade others to adopt transfriendly policies even if some people are not transfriendly. This book really opened my mind to a different perspective and approach to gender issues.