Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity

Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity

Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity
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Book Summary Information

Editor: Matt Bernstein Sycamore
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-11-06
ISBN: 1580051847
Number of pages: 250
Publisher: Seal Press

Book Reviews of Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity

Book Review: Just Who Are We?
Summary: 5 Stars

Sycamore, Matt Bernstein. "Nobody Passes; Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity", Seal Press, 2006.

Just Who Are We?

Amos Lassen

Matt Bernstein Sycamore's anthology "Nobody Passes" has a diverse group of contributors. There is an Arab-American, transgender people, a former political prisoner, a sex worker and a host of others. Each gives his/her personal views on the evolving notions of gender identity, race, class and sexuality. Unlike many other anthologies, each essay is interesting and engaging. The quality of writing is high and many of the essays seem to be candid conversations as the authors discuss identity and community. If there is an overall theme here it is personal frustration in dealing with competing identities, We get no easy solutions but the book does allow us to reflect on the nature of just we are.
Dealing with "passing" in America is no easy job and "Nobody Passes" brings the contradictions of our complex identity ideas to the fore as we look at the major components of our identities. We are reminded that personal authenticity is integral to the concept of human liberation and allows us to imagine a world in which there is no need to pretend to be what we are not. It dares to ask id we can fight for the rights of those whose lives and experiences do not fit into our existing paradigms and whose professions are not redeeming morally. The contributors toss out the old, tired, familiar concepts of gender and identity and belonging and, in turn, give us a corrective to those narratives that have passed and still pass for social justice.
The entire concept of belonging is carefully examined by looking at the intersections of personality, identity, categorization and community. Countercultural norms and societal mores are challenged as the essays explore and criticize the different systems of power used in "passing". The book tries to eliminate the pressure to pass and in doing so it shoes the opportunities for transformation. We need not be confined by gender, race, sex or sexual preference. The book is, by its nature, controversial but it is also challenging. We are all passing to a certain degree and we need to know if there are options if for no other reason then to allow us to be who we really are.

Summary of Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity

Nobody Passes is a collection of essays that confronts and challenges the very notion of belonging. By examining the perilous intersections of identity, categorization, and community, contributors challenge societal mores and countercultural norms. Nobody Passes explores and critiques the various systems of power seen (or not seen) in the act of "passing." In a pass-fail situation, standards for acceptance may vary, but somebody always gets trampled on. This anthology seeks to eliminate the pressure to pass and thereby unearth the delicious and devastating opportunities for transformation that might create.
Mattilda, aka Matt Bernstein Sycamore, has a history of editing anthologies based on brazen nonconformity and gender defiance. Mattilda sets out to ask the question, "What lies are people forced to tell in order to gain acceptance as 'real'." The answers are as varied as the life experiences of the writers who tackle this urgent and essential topic.

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