1. An introduction to female masculinity: masculinity without men -- 2. Perverse presentism: the androgyne, the tribade, the female husband, and other pre-twentieth-century genders -- 3. "A writer of misfits": John Radclyffe Hall and the discourse of inversion -- 4. Lesbian masculinity: even stone butches get the blues -- 5. Transgender butch: butch/FTM border wars and the masculine continuum -- 6. Looking butch: a rough guide to butches on film -- 7. Drag kings: masculinity and performance -- 8. Raging bull (dyke): new masculinities
Summary
Through detailed textual readings as well as empirical research, Halberstam uncovers a hidden history of female masculinities while arguing for a more nuanced understanding of gender categories that would incorporate rather than pathologize them. She also explores issues of transsexuality among 'transgender dykes' - lesbians who pass as men - and female-to-male transsexuals who may find the label of 'lesbian' a temporary refuge. Halberstam also tackles such topics as women and boxing, butches in Hollywood and independent cinema, and the phenomenon of male impersonators. Female Masculinity signals a new understanding of masculine behaviours and identities, and a new direction in interdisciplinary queer scholarship
Notes
Includes index
Bibliography
Filmography: pages [319]-321
Includes bibliographical references (pages [307]-317) and index
