BOOK GROUP SELECTION FOR JANUARY-- GROUP MEETS ON JANUARY 10 AT 7:00PM. ...When Deborah Rudacille learned that a close friend had decided to transition from female to male, she felt compelled to understand why. Coming at the controversial subject of transsexualism from several angles-historical, sociological, psychological, medical-Rudacille discovered that gender variance is anything but new, that changing one's gender has been met with both acceptance and hostility through the years, and that gender identity, like sexual orientation, appears to be inborn, not learned, though in some people the sex of the body does not match the sex of the brain. Informed not only by meticulous research, but also by the author's interviews with prominent members of the transgender community, "The Riddle of Gender" is a sympathetic and wise look at a sexual revolution that calls into question many of our most deeply held assumptions about what it means to be a man, a woman, and a human being.

CHARIS READING GROUP SELECTION FOR SEPTEMBER-- DISCUSSION ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 AT 7:00PM. "Femme" seeks to redress the ways that femme identities have been elided, idealized, or not fully historicized in a productive reconsideration of lesbian and butch-femme history, of feminism, and of queer thought. As femme sexual politics provide a liberatory model, "Femme" as a feminist project offers an alliance between many communities of women previously passed over by feminism. This collection argues that femmes have been causal to shifts within feminism, the creation of queer theory, and the shaping of butch-femme and lesbian history. At this time, it is imperative to listen to femme voices as they speak to the intersections between--and push the envelope of--queer, feminist, and lesbian thought. "Femme" is divided into three sections, --Histories, Generations, and Futures. Contributors write about femme in terms of: sexuality, gender, race and ethnic communities, class experience, national borders, bisexuality, body image, incest survival, aging, bar culture, heterosexuality, activism, transgender and transsexual desire, and feminism. The book portrays femmes as contestatory lesbian identities, radical feminist positions, and subversive queer models. As the authors focus on femme, they discuss the ways that they use femme for strategic passing across, translating, connecting, and complicating various boundaries of identity. "Femme" offers writing that is both personal and theoretical; provides histories of femmes in 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s as well as contemporary representations of femme; and contains a diversity of femme identities and practices. Contributors: Leah Lilith Albrecht-Samarasinha, Barbara Cruikshank, Madeline Davis, Heather Findlay, Jewelle Gomez, KellyHankin, Leslie Henson, Amber Hollibaugh, Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, Mabel Maney, Katherine Millersdaughter, Joan Nestle, Lisa Ortiz, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Rebecca Ann Rugg, Gaby Sandoval, Marcy Sheiner, Alex Robertson Textor.

CHARIS READING GROUP SELECTION FOR JULY-- DISCUSSION ON JULY 26 AT 7:00PM. Part coming-of-age story, part mind-altering manifesto on gender and sexuality, coming directly to you from the life experiences of a transsexual woman, Gender Outlaw breaks all the rules and leaves the reader forever changed.26 black-and-white illustrations.