Idea for an activities page to go in the GENDER book. What do you think?

Recently-colored footnotes and further resources pages from the GENDER book.

Ideas for resources to add? What are your favorite gender- or trans- related books, videos, articles, websites, and groups? I’d love to hear your ideas. I’m still collecting them myself. You can email me directly at mel@thegenderbook.com. Alternately, you can try leaving comments here, I check those sometimes. 

PS- Don’t mind the footnotes; they will be updated and edited, heavily. I just put some rough text there to play with fonts and such. :)

The inside front cover and title page of the GENDER book have been released for your perusal and feedback. Yes, that is my handwriting on the titles. I also used somewhat brighter, more acidic colors than usual. Fun stuff. **Note to self- put in actual publisher’s info and ISBN there… Just as soon as we find one…

-mel 

(Edited to include the new colors. I like them moar!) 

So… Apparently the mice in Texas like digital coloring tablets as much as I do.     >.< anyone want to donate $72 to help me finish the book, or have an old Wacom lying around somewhere, or want to play with the cord with their sautering iron? Only 5 pages left to color! It’s so frustrating….

Gender Across Communities page from the GENDER book

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(cc) the GENDER book project. in progress snapshot presented for community editing and feedback. Please direct all notes to mel@thegenderbook.com or comment using disqus on the original post to ensure your voice gets heard. Thanks!

Hi friends! Just wanted to let everyone know how the book-making process is going. Fun facts follow!

• There are 70 pages total in the book.
• We have completed illustrations for 60 of them.
• We have (mostly) complete text for 52 of them. 
• The pages left to color are the acknowledgments page, footnotes and further reading, the index, the two pages of glossary, and the inside front cover.
• The pages left to edit are the “Walk in our Shoes” pages I and II, How to Be an Ally, and this page.
• Meanwhile, we have a spreadsheet of short-run printers going that will make the first edition print for us (self-publishing), because
• We haven’t heard back from traditional publishers yet.
• On the plus side, thanks to Koomah we have a fabulous new video that might help with our kickstarter/other fundraiser to pay for that first round of printing.

We are super excited about how near to completion this book is and also entirely aware of how without big beautiful community support this project would go nowhere. Thank you, everyone who’s contributed so far, again, and if you see anywhere in the above where you could help, please get in touch and let’s collaborate together!

In community,

Mel

Transgender & Genderqueer identities page from the GENDER book

Hey Boston, how’s the research going? Remember, as you’re learning about all of these identities, that they are only the tip of the iceberg. It’s okay to identify simply as transgender, as a mix of those identities, none at all, genderqueer like me, or make up something that fits you better! 

Bigender describes those who alternate between two distinct gender roles. May be crossdressers or drag performers.

Intergender describes those who identify between the traditional masculine and feminine genders.

Ambigender describes those who identify to some degree with both the masculine and feminine genders

Genderfluid describes those whose gender behavior and presentation changes depending on the situation or their mood. 

Pangender describes those who identify with all the genders.

Polygender describes someone who identifies with many (though not all) of the genders.

Agender describes those who identify with having no gender or a neutral gender. They may present androgynously or seek to make their bodies more gender-neutral to match their identity. Sometimes also called neutrois.

Third gender describes those who identify with a (often non-Western) gender that is neither masculine nor feminine. See “gender across cultures” on page 6 for more!

Genderqueer describes those whose identities fall outside of the widely accepted gender binaries. Many of the identities [above] could also be described as genderqueer.

They have a great diversity of expression and presentation. An individual who identifies as genderqueer could display few gendered cues to many (potentially conflicting) ones. It’s not really about how they look, though. What genderqueer individuals all share is a nonconforming gender identity and an opposition to gender systems that they perceive as strict or limiting.

ed note: We affirm that labels are starting points for further conversation. A single word can never encapsulate a whole person. You probably have lots of intersecting identities that only scratch the surface of who you are. Gender is one part - what are some others? 

We humbly acknowledge the limited scope of these pages. If you don’t see your identity words here, we empower you to tell us so we may include it in the final version!

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(cc) the GENDER book project. in progress snapshot presented for community editing and feedback. Please direct all notes to mel@thegenderbook.com or comment using disqus on the original post to ensure your voice gets heard. Thanks!

Trans Man page from the GENDER book

Transmen are people whose experience is usually that of being assigned female at birth and socialized as such, to determine at some later point that their gender identity is masculine to the extent that they desire to live full-time in those roles.

Though there is a wide variety of people who identify as somewhat trans-masculine, most who embrace the “transsexual” identifyer usually prefer masculine pronouns, take masculine or androgynous names, and may want to alter their bodies to match their gender  identities.

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(cc) the GENDER book project. in progress snapshot presented for community editing and feedback. Please direct all notes to mel@thegenderbook.com or comment using disqus on the original post to ensure your voice gets heard. Thanks!

Just in case anyone’s curious about how the book is made- especially the illustration and design side of things. Updated the rest of the website too, so if you haven’t been recently, might be worth it to take a look!

-mel

Robin Mack shares a little about the project and asks you to give what you can to help educational outreach and book printing costs for the GENDER book. More information on how you can get involved here: http://www.thegenderbook.com/community. 

or, if you feel so inspired: donate. 

Let’s Play A Game! Fill in the blank! Be in the book!

Fill in the blanks on this page: which famous folks would yo use to illustrate the concept of a feminine man? What would a feminine man say to describe his gender in his own words? We have a few survey responses, but we’re using them elsewhere in the book, so we’d love to open it up to community once more. Bonus points if you ID as a feminine man or metrosexual dude or dandy boy, but it can also be fictional if that is not your experience. :) To play, reblog this image and say

Speech bubble: blah blah blah (your text here), and

You May Have Heard Of…. (name, name, name)

The winner(s) will be credited in the GENDER book. Good luck! 

Drag Queen / Drag King page from the GENDER book 

Drag is conscious, self-referential, often sexy performance of gender for an audience. Traditionally, drag queens represent a caricature of femininity, while drag kings similarly represent masculine archetypes. 

Cross-gender performances have been used in theater for centuries, and is still a huge part of queer culture today. Drag shows can have several purposes: to raise money for a troupemate’s top surgery, to help fund the local queer youth groups, to show audiences a great time, or to make a living.