While primarily a scholarly work, this seventeen year analysis (to the present day) of cross dressing and sex-changing, has much to offer the interested lay reader. However, anyone put off by academic works would do well to steer clear, as much of the book is taken up with social theory and can be a turgid read. Hidden within, however, there are many interesting stories, analysis, and a well thought out theory, showing the many and varied practices of men challenging the male role.
Richard Ekins spends much of the book explaining his 'grounded theory' approach, again, important to researchers/students, less so for the rest of us, and can be mainly skipped (as the author himself suggests). As its name implies, grounded theory demands 'intimate appreciation of the arena studied.... (written up) in terms of theoretical analyses.' Moreover, there is an acknowledgement of the theory emerging in 'interplay between the researcher and the data.' Ekins thus, over nearly 2 decades, entered the transgender community, forming bonds and having interactions with thousands of 'male femalers'.
The concept 'male femalers' allows Ekins to cover all aspects of cross dressing and sex changing, the male becoming 'female' in all its various guises and differing social contexts. This is subdivided into 'body femaling', 'erotic femaling' and 'gender femaling', and their 'inter-relations in terms of the various facets of sex, sexuality and gender'. This lends itself to the widest interpretation of this transgressive act, and most 'male femalers' will find stories they can identify with.
What impressed me about the research was the mix of real life stories with analysis, concerning the chronological stages 'male femalers' go through. This isn't seen as fixed, more a set of fluid dynamics, one can return to again and again. As such they are divided into beginning/fantasising/doing/constituting and consolidating male femaling. It is here one gets to the 'meat' of the book, meeting many men going through difficult and liberating transitions in their own identity. As this constitutes most of the book, I had a real sense of insight (and empathy) into a fringe activity which is becoming more mainstream, and hopefully, with the publication of this book, more respected, both as a topic worthy of more research and in its importance for men in general.
For men exploring their sexual and/or gender identity, the book gives much encouragement and information on the communities and help available. These are real people going through sometimes permanent changes (e.g. transexual operations). The book has real value in its intimacy with the men's stories, sometimes told over many years. For those wanting an easier, more glamorous reading of the subject, I'd recommend 'Drag Diaries' by Chermayeff, David and Richardson (this doesn't include transexuals). However if you want to learn about the inner lives of 'male femalers', then come prepared with a students head, it's worth the effort.
David Urmson
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