XVI Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Symposium
17 - 21 August 1999, London

Reflections on "Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment" 1969 -1999

New Directions in Transgendering: Gender-Negating, Third Gendering, Gender-Freeing and Pansexualism

Ekins, Richard

Transgender Research Unit and Archive, University of Ulster at Coleraine, UK

This paper combines aspects of the conceptual frameworks set forth in Ekins (1997) and Ekins and King (1999) in order to explore the interrelations between sex, sexuality and gender; self, identity and social world, and the meaning frames of ‘member’, ‘scientific’ and ‘lay’ knowledge (Ekins, 1997: 15-22), with reference to the life and work of pioneering exponents of contemporary cutting-edge transgendering. The philosophy and lifestyle of ‘gender-negating’ ‘male female’ sissy maids, as detailed by writer and publisher Debra Rose is compared and contrasted with the philosophies and lifestyles of ‘gender-negating/gender-freeing’ ‘third gender’ writer and activist Christie Elan-Cane, and ‘transcending’ ‘pansexual’ photographer and film-maker Del LaGrace Volcano, in order to illuminate the extent to which Ekins (1997) and Ekins and King (1999) need to be developed to embrace hitherto unresearched varieties of transgendering.

R. Ekins, Male Femaling: A Grounded Theory Approach to Cross-Dressing and Sex-Changing, London: Routledge, 1997.

R. Ekins and D. King, ‘Towards a Sociology of Transgendered Bodies’. Sociological Review, 1999, 47: 580-602.