Gender Shock

Gender Shock:
Exploding the Myths
of Male and Female

Phyllis Burke

1996, Anchor Books

254 Pages plus Notes



From the Cover

In Gender Shock, Phyllis Burke explores the many myths surrounding our rigid gender system of male and female. Analyzing the latest research in psychology, genetics, neurology, and sociology, Burke finds that gender is not the result of one's biological sex, and that gender and sexuality are separate elements of the self. Looking through three lenses of gender identity - behavior, appearance, and science - Burke challenges the notion that men and women are from different planets. By revealing how there are more variations within each sex than there are between the two, Burke urges the embrace of a "gender independent culture," one in which individuals develop their best traits traditionally associated with both sexes, e.g., strong and nurturing, rational and empathetic. An artful combination of investigative journalism, personal stories, and cultural criticism, Gender Shock liberates men and women alike from the prison of gender by envisioning a new and healthier understanding of our lives.

"[Phyllis Burke] translate basic principles underlying queer ivory-tower-speak into plain English and explains why it's important, in practical terms, to rethink beliefs about gender." - The Advocate

"Gender Shock does add something to the growing body of work on the subject of gender by not only tracking how our notions of gender evolve, but how they evolve fallaciously." - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"[Phyllis Burke] relies more on anecdote and example than on theory and sustain argument, thereby giving current discussions of gender a wider audience - and a human face." _ Kirkus Reviews

"Thought-provoking reading on the creation of gender identity for anyone who has a child, or who has ever been one." - Publishers Weekly
Table of Contents

BEHAVIOR
Becky
Jerry
The Feminine Boy Project at UCLA - Kraig
Blaming the Parents
The Creation of a Mental Illness
Hospitalizing the Child - Kit, Jamie, Daphne Scholinski
The Analysts - Stanley
The Domestic Sphere - Robert
Taboo Domestic Behavior

APPEARANCE
Outfits, Costumes, Uniforms and Disguises - Diane Torr's "Drag King Workshop", Miss Vera's Finishing School For Boys Who Want To Be Girls, Stefan Lynch
The Body as Evidence
The Body, Gender Identity and Sexuality
Seeing Male, Seeing Female

SCIENCE
Are Boys and Girls Different?
Sexuality
All Girl, All Boy?

GENDER INDEPENDENCE