Gender Shock

Burke, who adheres to the school of thought that gender is a social construct rather than a natural characteristic, argues that Gender Identity Disorder (GID) should be abolished as a diagnostic category. Very young children and preadolescents whose behavior is deemed gender-inappropriate--""tomboyish"" girls, ""effeminate"" boys--are forced by their parents, school psychologists and psychiatrists to undergo therapy for GID. Treatment can include behaviorism, drugs, psychoanalysis, close monitoring of voice, posture, gait and activities, even hospitalization. Burke presents numerous case histories to illustrate the damaging emotional effects such therapy can have on children who are straitjacketed by rigid gender stereotypes. In support of her thesis that masculine and feminine identities are artificial social constructs, Burke marshals studies of perceived physical attractiveness, then takes us inside workshops for male and female cross-dressers. She not only maintains that gender, sex and sexuality are three distinct domains but also asserts that ""gender independent"" individuals, people free from society's sexist stereotyping, are more flexible, and more accepting of their masculine and feminine components. (July)