Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1997

Abstract

Federal antidiscrimination law (Title VII) and most state antidiscrimination laws do not apply to discrimination against transsexual persons. The standard legal analysis is that such discrimination is not discrimination on the basis of "sex." This article employs a narrative method in order to raise the reader's consciousness about the lives of transsexual and transgendered persons. Specifically, the article focuses on the stories of female-to-male transsexuals (FTMs) and other females who have embraced male attributes (e.g., butch lesbians). The very existence of many FTMs who are part-male and part-female challenges the bipolar nature of our current sex jurisprudence which assumes that each individual is either male or female. The article concludes with some suggestions for improving legal doctrine to comport with the reality that both sex and gender are more fluid than current law assumes.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.