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Future Investments: Gender Transition as a Socio-economic Event

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Book cover The Post-Fordist Sexual Contract

Abstract

Gender transition is one of the most significant events in the lives of transsexual women. In fact, many women assert that undergoing gender reassignment literally renders their lives possible. Gender transitioning, however, does not occur in a vacuum. It is a social process that often involves medical and legal interventions, as well as periods of adjustment amongst family, friends, networks and communities. At the same time, as I elaborate across this chapter, transition constitutes a public engagement that enables feminist scholars to acquire a deeper understanding of assemblages of governance that frame particular societies. After all, gender is a negotiated category whereby one’s intelligibility as a proper man or woman is earned by proving to others an adherence to hegemonic aesthetic and behavioural standards.

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Authors
  1. Dan Irving
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Newcastle, Australia

    Lisa Adkins

  2. University of Tampere and University of Turku, Finland

    Lisa Adkins

  3. University of Technology Sydney, Australia

    Maryanne Dever

Copyright information

© 2016 Dan Irving

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Cite this chapter

Irving, D. (2016). Future Investments: Gender Transition as a Socio-economic Event. In: Adkins, L., Dever, M. (eds) The Post-Fordist Sexual Contract. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137495549_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137495549_2

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57759-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-49554-9

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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