Feminists of the past two and a half decades have been influential in the
debates about the meaning of womanhood. Transsexualism as a state of being,
and transsexuals themselves, have periodically presented challenging issues
to the discussion. As a result, the boundaries of womanhood are being
questioned and membership in sex and gender categories are being contested
by transsexuals and non-transsexuals within feminist debates.
Conflicts arise when questions of transsexuals' womanhood come to the
forefront, and one controversy centres on whether sex and gender statuses
change for transsexuals. Do male-to-female transsexuals become women (if
ever)? Do male-to-female transsexuals become female (if ever)? Should
transsexual women be included in women-only events? The last question
stirs the debate that has been brewing in feminist communities since the
1970s. And because women-only events are largely organized and attended by
lesbians, lesbians have often been at the forefront of feminist debates about
the womanhood of transsexual women. There has been much lively debate
in the 1970s and again in the 1990s on the topic of transsexualism, however
there has been little research specifically looking at feminist attitudes about
transsexuals.
To expand our knowledge in these areas, the concepts of womanhood
is explored from a feminist perspective. A context is provided with a review
of radical feminist, radical lesbian feminist and lesbian separatist theories.
Feminist literature on the issue of transsexualism is presented to show the
many sides of the debate. Praxis of radical feminism is illustrated using the
Michigan Womyn's Music Festival as an example of women-only space, a
model of feminist-separatist utopia and a site where transsexual women have
not been welcome. With this foundation, analysis of survey question results are presented to determine whether feminist attitudes, as presented in the
literature, aptly reflect non-lesbian and lesbian feminist perspectives on
transsexuals' womanhood. This thesis concludes with a discussion of the
findings and suggestions for further study. / Graduate / 0626
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVIV.1828/5377 |
| Date | 07 May 2014 |
| Creators | Kendel, Monica Phillipina Rose Marie |
| Contributors | Devor, Holly |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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