About the Book

The average lifespan of a transgender person is twenty-three years. Most of the shockingly early deaths are due to violence in its many forms: from police brutality and outright murder to the seemingly banal administration of various state and legal frameworks that invisibly and often perniciously define the most basic contours of our lives. In this structure, which deems trans people an "impossible" category, what guarantees can anti-discrimination, equal access, or equal protection laws actually deliver? This question is particularly critical in the current neoliberal context, where popular social movements are paradoxically centered on appeals for "equality" by the most privileged within marginalized communities. But in the struggle for "comprehensive" justice, we must make urgently needed interventions into dangerous intersectional systems of repression--and demand the most essential of legal reforms--while remaining steadfast on the path toward liberation.

"Gender Is Compliance "is the highly anticipated debut book by Dean Spade, heralded as a deeply influential voice on trans and queer liberation struggles. Setting forth a politic that goes beyond the quest for mere legal inclusion, Spade illustrates how and why we must seek nothing less than the radical transformations justice and liberation require.

Dean Spade is a trans activist, attorney, and educator. He has taught classes on sexual orientation, gender identity, and law at CUNY, Seattle University, and Harvard University. In 2002 he founded the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a collective that provides free legal services and works to build trans resistance rooted in racial and economic justice.

Product Details

Media: Paperback Book, 256 pages

Language: English

Publisher: South End Press

Edition: Unknown

ISBN-10: 0896087964

Publication Date: Dec. 6th, 2011

ISBN-13: 9780896087965

Dimensions: 5.40 x 8.40 x 0.60 inches

Shipping Weight: 0.65 lbs

• Categories: Gender The Law Gender Studies