Heath Fogg Davis is Director of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia. He is the author of The Ethics of Transracial Adoption."
"We will soon be reading books that are truly new, indeed
revolutionary, in arguing that the future of gender will be the end
of gender binaries altogether.How can future writers debate &
essential sex differences when there are more than two sexes, or
when some women and men who choose to become the other, and when
some people want to be both or neither?Heath Fogg Daviss Beyond
Trans: Does gender matter?, one of the first among many that I am
sure are in the pipeline, invites readers to question why we care
so much about labels and categories on drivers licences, passports
and bathroom doors, and in sports and schools."
*Times Literary Supplement*
"Both clear-eyed and eye-opening, Beyond Transchallenges all of
usgender-nonconforming and cisgender, trans and gender-conforming,
individuals and organizationsto ask ourselves why and how we are
using sex classifications, what harm they might be doing, and just
how theyre even defining & sex. A provocative and compelling
book."
*Joshua Gamson,author of Modern Families: Stories of Extraordinary
Journeys to Kinship*
"In a lively and accessible style, Davis questions the
administrative and social practices of labeling individuals sex or
gender solely in correspondence with the binary categories of
female or male. He challenges the validity of sex-identifying
documents and sex-segregated facilities or institutionseven
competitive sportsas solutions to privacy, safety, or equality.
This is a thought-provoking and highly relevant subject, perfect
for todays political and cultural debates."
*Jamison Green,author of Becoming a Visible Man*
"Whyand whenis it important to say whether somebody is a man or a
woman? Those are the provocative questions Heath Fogg Davis poses
in this informative exploration of gender markers . . . But even
more provocative are the questions of how we determine what counts
as & man and & woman in the first place, and why we imagine there
can be only two genders. This is a great book for students and
specialists alike who are interested in the profound transformation
of gender we are all experiencing in the early twenty-first
century."
*Susan Stryker,co-editor of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly and
author of Transgender History*
"In another major book about our current gender moment,Beyond
Trans: Does Gender Matter?Heath Fogg Davis, a professor of
political science at Temple University and a transgender man, makes
the argument that the modern trans rights movement shouldnt be so
heavily invested in integrating trans and gender-nonconforming
people into our existing gendered institutions. Instead, Davis
suggests, we should use the so-called & transgender tipping point
to explode our bureaucratic definitions of gender altogether."
*BuzzFeed News*
"In this important and original book, Davis argues that most
bureaucracies should get out of the business of administering sex
by classifying people as Female or Male. Drawing on a number of
case studies, including identity documents, bathroom bills, college
admissions, and sex-testing for athletes, Davis shows most policies
for sex classification are not rationally related to legitimate
government interests. Drawing on a range of literatures and
methods, including critical race scholarship, feminist theory,
auto-ethnography, and doctrinal legal analysis, Beyond Trans is
applied political theory at its best."
*Paisley Currah,co-editor, TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly*
"This highly recommended work offers clear, real-world discussions
of issues facing transgender people, along with practical
applications and solutions."
*Starred Library Journal*
"Davis challenges readers to consider why binary sex identity
categories are used so pervasively in our everyday lives, and
whether such routine categorization is needed . . . The author, a
transgender man of color, approaches this topic as both an expert
scholar and an individual whose own identity has been subject to
hostile scrutiny"
*Starred Publishers Weekly*
"Davis argues that current precedent that restricts discriminating
against people on the basis of gender could be used to challenge
laws or practices that discriminate against people perceived as
falling outside the gender binary. More broadly, we can all work
toward a change in perspective. Demanding that people conform to
stereotypes of masculinity or femininity does everybody harm. So
instead of trying to fit more people into societys preexisting
categories, we might try rethinking whether we need those
categories at all."
*Quartz.com*
"[R]efreshing.Davis situates the struggle for transgender dignity
and rights squarely within the larger framework of personal freedom
and privacy concerns, and shows how removing institutional barriers
to living beyond the gender binary can help everyone live fuller,
freer lives."
*Reason Magazine*
"Daviss solution-orientedBeyond Transis a necessary voice in
current debates about the administration of sex and transgender
identity. From the infamous bathroom bills to cis citizens
objection to financing the medical expenses of trans military
personnel (the specter of which Donald Trump backhandedly invoked
during his transgender ban tweets), to womens colleges determining
that sex-segregation and defining the boundaries of womanhood were
necessary to a feminist project of education, Daviss book offers
applicable solutions and applies the knowledge gained from the
positionality of trans, intersex, and non-binary viewpoints."
*Los Angeles Review of Books*
"Reading Beyond Transis like having ones window shades thrown open
after arising from a long night of sleep: the sunlight burns the
eyes, but it awakens them . . .Beyond Transfeatures accessible,
clear prose and direct argumentation. Anyone with an interest in
trans rights and the public application of gender theory would
benefit from Davis book.Beyond Transis as much a call to remediate
the harm done to trans, intersex, and gender non-conforming
individuals as it is a plea for good reasoning."
*Popmatters.com*
"Davis's book is the quintessential transgender issue primer."
*Plentitude Magazine*
"Arefreshingly intersectional perspective on sex identity. . .takes
a perhaps seemingly singular topic and makes it approachable
through passionate and relevant analysis of modern issues. Davis
time and again shows the importance of understanding transgender
rights as a matter of all rights, and does so in a challenging,
memorable, and accessible way."
*Foreword Reviews*
"Davis constantly challenges the value of forcing people to adhere
to a binary, successfully arguing that the problems far outweigh
the benefits."
*BUST.com*
"Readers may not agree with all of Davis's conclusions, but his
method of discerning rational relationships provides a helpful way
to create conversations about whether a particular instance of sex
segregation is legitimate or problematic. It encourages us to
become far more reflective about when and why we believe sex needs
to be marked and managed."
*Christian Century*
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