PEOPLE ARE STILL HAVING SEX (NOT JUST GENDER!): A chapter-by-chapter look at Jay Prosser’s Second Skins: The Body Narratives of Transsexuality, as promised.

The first thing to say is that although Prosser’s style is hyperacademic–this was his dissertation–he’s much clearer than most people who write like this. I mean yeah, “somatic” is really the only word for somatic, but I’m still not convinced that he also needs “anaclitic” and “imbricated” and “cathexis.” But even so, Prosser’s very dry humor is actually funny and not strenuous, and he has a few word choices which are genuinely elegant: One-off uses of “redress” and “duplicity” come to mind.

And I apologize in advance for any portion of Prosser’s arguments which I misconstrue. In general he is exceptionally good at layering quotations and examples to make his points, and so this post is necessarily a lot less persuasive than his book; I’m hoping to interest you guys enough that you read it (it’s out of print, but I got a used copy on Amazon Marketplace fairly cheaply) but I certainly can’t replicate the experience of reading it.