Stone Butch Blues Analysis

Eileraas, Karina. “The Brandon Teena Story: Rethinking the Body, Gender Identity and Violence Against Women.” Quod.lib.umich.edu, University

As I have mentioned, for the first time and one of the first recorded, everyone at Compton’s Cafeteria riot that night unite to fight back against police discrimination. 50 years ago, LGBTQ community of the Tenderloin District has been abused and targeted by the San Francisco Police Department with unlawful arrest (violating the city’s anti-cross dressing). The film ends on a high note. Even though time has changed, however, they still suffer and face discrimination. But, it shows the transformation of transgender activism in just two short years.

Everyone goes through changes in life, especially ones that define who you are. In David Kaplan’s short story “Doe Season,” he portrays a young tomboyish girl that metamorphosis into a young woman over a short hunting trip. Not only does the young girl enjoy spending time with her father, but she enjoys the things that he does – shooting, camping, hunting. This is not typical of your average girl, or even a 9-year-old girl. Throughout the story there are symbols that show the audience Andy’s conflicts with herself and her gender or sexuality. It is also clear that she struggles with herself and her gender role in society.

The main setting of Trans-Sister Radio is within the small town of Bartlett, Vermont. The primary focus is set on Dana, a chromosomal-male college professor who is in the process of transitioning into the female gender. As a male, Dana is well-received by her community, even though she is perceived as strange and effeminate. She forms normal romantic relationships with women, has a fulfilling career, and is admired by those surrounding her, however she still feels incomplete. Unfortunately, what is missing from Dana is not externally noticeable, it is intrinsic happiness. From a young age, Dana suffered from gender dysphoria, a mental disorder that causes individuals to experience serious distress due to frustration with the sex and gender assigned at birth (APA, 2013). To alleviate the traumatic pain that has burdened her for decades, Dana makes the bold decision to partake in complete gender reassignment surgery. Trans-Sister Radio challenges the prototypical ideologies of character growth, morality, and relationships through its descriptive insight on transsexuality and thus gender.

Growing up in America in the 50s and 60s was brutal for young trans people, let alone an transgender orphan born into poverty. Her mother killed herself when Sylvia was just three; her biological father was already long gone. Sylvia’s forbidding Venezuelan grandmother took her in, but despised Sylvia’s

In conducting this investigation, the author utilized “a larger ethno- graphic study…of self-identified trans people of color in the USA… (along with) 31 formal interviews, (and) hundreds of hours of informal interviews” (5). The interviewees were 12 trans women and 19 trans men, aging from 21-52, ethnically diverse and all with some “college education” (5). The topics

Elizabeth Blevins quoted Neil Carpathios in an article saying “’ [Stacey Waite] dares to explore and write about the often complicated terrain of gender, sexuality and societal perceptions of the self, the body and desire.’” Waite is slowly helping everyone break away from the idea that gender is a solid tangible concept. In “The Kind of Man I am at the DMV” written by Stacey Waite, traditional gender roles are being challenged by explaining that transgender people are the same as everyone else and pointing out the ignorance that some have towards less commonly recognized genders.

Jess’s identities throughout the book - from Butch to man to woman to Jess - are not each of themselves incorrect. They are real and valid at the time that they exist. Jess’s change over time, from where she starts to where she ends up, is what defines her as a person, not the labels that tried to give her an unchanging definition over time (Feinberg 322,

Gender norms surround every person in every culture, even though they have variety in each culture, they are still real and still impact individuals who stand out from the norms. Leslie Feinberg's book “Stone Butch Blues” shows how hard it is to challenge gender in the 1960’s when homosexuality and the transgender movement was something that was just starting up. Leslie shows the reader that just by existing in a transphobic environment ze is challenging what it means to be a man or a woman, and more importantly, what’s in between. Leslie shows that gender isn’t just black and white, it’s a spectrum of colours.

Although this work of fiction opens up an aspect of sexuality that would not have been recorded in its own time period, it allows for a miss-categorization of a historically underrepresented minority. If we attempted to place the modern-day label of transgender onto this historical stage, it could never truly be an accurate representation. Lowe’s movement between the genders of male to female is not completely clear. Although, at the end of the novel, he says he now wears women’s clothing he is called by both female and male gender pronouns and does not note his preference, but simply wishes to be called Lowe (Powell 241). Lowe’s lack of preference leads to the conclusion that his gender is performative and possibly fluid.

Imagine, you go to work in your dress shoes, black suit, buzz-cut hair, red power tie, and nobody pays you a second look. But, the second you get home, you kick off your shoes, and don high-heels, the suit is replaced with a dress, your short wig is taken off, and you let your long curls fall, and your tie is in the closet, with a necklace in its place. Such hiding of true feelings is not an unheard concept in the transgender world. Millions of transgender people will never express their true feelings in their lifetime. This is similar to The Intruder by Andre Dubus, Kenneth Girard a

Approximately 3.5% of the adult american population identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender (Gates 1). Almost everybody knows at least one queer person, whether they have openly identified themselves or not. It is impossible to escape or deny the LGBT population in America. However, our society is still unaccepting toward this minority. In the short story, “Am I Blue” by Bruce Coville, Vince’s eyes are opened to the realities of the LGBT community.

This piece is based upon a 12-bar blues pattern. When rehearsing this piece, have the students identify repeated measures; 3-15 are identical to measures 25-27, 327-39, 41-43 and 45-47. Start by playing this three-measure phrase, and point out the need to lift the bow before the second and third measures.

Looking at Jessica will allow you to gather the obvious; she is a teenage girl with brown hair and brown eyes. What is not evident though, are her fascinating traits found below the surface. Jessica is a highly motivated girl; in fact, she is taking three advanced placement courses this year, in addition to math analysis, German four, and drawing and painting. The advanced placement class she feels the most passionate about is psychology though. Particularly, she is interested in the role people play in society because, “It’s interesting learning why society is the way it is and what causes an idea to become so popular and iconic throughout it.” Later she explains, “I want to know how we as individuals contribute to society as a whole and how

The section of silence that punches you in the heart, when you finally look in the mirror and realize the peak of who you are has been whittled down to this static mist. I am sin, I say to myself. I am shattered, and thrown all over the room, attempting to pick up each piece. There is never enough glue.