Global female masculinities

Abstract

In this essay, I discuss the subtle discursive shifts which have made transgenderism in the USA and Europe into simultaneously a mark of the historically specific definitional cleaving of homosexuality from gender variance, a trendy and stylistic shift from gender androgyny within lesbian communities to gender variance within gender-queer communities, a sign of an internal split within feminism between the stabilization of the category of woman and the undermining of the coherence of the category within queer theory. At the same time, I show how transgenderism has been installed within a “global gay” system as part of the hegemony of US taxonomies – the addition of “T” to the acronym “LGBT” allows for the neat division and explanation of a very wide range of translocal phenomena in terms of the US model. So, how are we to understand and explain the impact of transgenderism upon not only traditional gendering but also upon queer communities and even on the ebb and flow of sexual and gender definition globally?

The Social, Political, and Judicial Contexts of Queer Marriage in the United States

“…The primary strategy then would be to increase visibility and select the right cases that would eventually end at the U.S. Supreme Court. In this vein, one might argue that all attempts to legalize SSM at the state level have been pawns (politicians) in a larger chess game, to use an analogy by an influential queer theorist (Halberstam, 2012).…”

Intersections and evolution of ‘Butch-trans’ categories in Puerto Rico: Needs and barriers of an invisible population

“…There is an ongoing debate in the scientific literature regarding differences and similarities between trans men and butch lesbians (Halberstam, 1998; Hale, 1998). Halberstam (1998) and Hale (1998) have described the semantic tensions between these gender categories as ‘border wars’ (Cromwell, 1999).…”

“…Halberstam (1998) and Hale (1998) have described the semantic tensions between these gender categories as ‘border wars’ (Cromwell, 1999). The debate is in part due to the overlap of identity constructions and social characteristics between both.…”

“…Trans men often self-identify as men and butch lesbians as women (Cromwell, 1999). Halberstam (1998) stresses that trans men are associated with a desire for ‘re-embodiment’, while butch women are associated with a playful desire for masculinity and gender deviance.…”

Gendered performances in sport: an embodied approach

“…In the case of women players, they are performing "expected" sporting behaviours that are heavily influenced by historical, social formulations of traditional masculinities that are considered appropriate within the context of competitive sports, rather than in the way Halberstam (1998) talks about (broader, social discourses of) female masculinities. In the "on-court" sporting context, men and women adopt similar embodied strategies such as strutting about the court, pumping their clenched fists and acting aggressively towards their opponents.…”