Customer Reviews

Challenging the androcentric gender dichotomy. - By: , 07 Aug 1999
I quote "This book dispels much of the mysticism around physical sex, gender constructs & the diversity of sexuality. As well as considering gay, lesbian, transsexual & transgendered identities, it also looks at intersex groups such as hermaphrodites & people who identify as androgynous or as being without sex or gender."

In the frontispiece Tracie states "Sex & gender are fluid concepts - can science, knowledge & understanding be developed to suit our needs, or should we suit our needs according to our perceived limitations?"

Dr. O'Keefe is a clinical hypnotherapist, psychotherapist & counsellor who specialisesin sex gender & sexual identities. She is also willing to accept & promote the idea of individual identity & freedom, & that we all have much to learn from each other. She has included the words & stories of some of her clients & others who have attempted to educate us in a world which is all too often hostile to difference.

This book recognises the diversity of individuals & allows them to tell their stories. It is a book which is clearly attempting to explain how prejudice & ignorance have placed those who are different as somehow marginal & as outsiders. It looks at some of the myths & prejudices, & at the development of a pan-identity model, stating that now is the time to "dissolve the male-dominated, straight-jacketed Adam & Eve model of sexuality through the religion of science, by recognising the profusion of human diversity".

Liberation comes through personal & public understanding. I find myself thinking of the work of Carl Rogers - the therapist allowing others to tell their own story & becoming a person; rather than their sole aim being to try to fit "the wrong trousers" to quote a well known cartoon character. All of us are somehow expected to be a stereotypical being by others & ourselves.

Dr. O'Keefe includes over a hundred pages of her papers & eightyin which,in "the stories", she shows she listens to her client's message. She urges clinicians to "listen to the gender community's message". She calls for pop science to be questioned, generalisations to be interrogated & doubted, & for the respect we each deserve & that others deserve, but far too rarely give or receive. This book is not filled with the pomposity of so many of the tomes provided to us by various authors. She provides a much needed voice for minorities.