Although a masculine heterosexual male, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and found it applicable to my own life. Feinberg's examination of the restrictive ideas of sexuality and gender are insightful, and have made me think a lot more about being more open in all areas of my life.
I also think it's important that Feinberg notes that while advocating individuality, s/he also supports unity and the right for everyone's expression-whether they be what is socially acceptable or the most radical, looked-down upon revolutionaries. I also like the fact that she saw this unity as necessary, because anti-transsexual/transgender attitudes are not "special" but related to ALL forms of oppression, including homophobia, racism, sexism, classism, and discrimination based on physical disabilities. Feinberg looks at the manifestations of all this oppression-from gang rape and beatings, to refusal of medical care and cutting of social support institutions-explores how these attitudes developed, and suggests how they can be combated. Overall, a very good read whether you know about transgenderists or transsexuals, are only vaguely familiar with them, or know nothing about them at all, for it is valuable in becoming aware of the myriad forms of oppressive norms, laws, and behaviors that we are daily subjected to.
I also think it's important that s/he recognizes that labels and circumstances do not define who you are, but actions. Feinberg makes a significant and not too frequently voiced claim that Democrats are no better than Republicans-they are basically Republicans in disguise.
Feinberg's writing style is not boring. Even those who do not care much for political or social reading might enjoy this. While many of the issues cover violence and emotionally rending accounts of discrimination, there is also humor in the text, and optimism. Feinberg also frequently uses literary devices such as metaphor, making the text less dry, with such colorful phrases as: "To me, gender is the poetry each of us makes out of the language we are taught."
The brief essays by other people are useful portraits of a diversity of people and the different hardships they endure.
My one complaint is that I wish there was more on what to actually do in order to actively combat these attitudes. While some attention is given to this subject, ideas far overshadow specific suggestions for how to fight discrimination in daily life. I think a more thorough exploration of the moral implications of such issues-and the possible consequences toward social attitudes-would have been a great addition.

I've read all of Les's books, this is the best so far. S/he goes beyond gender roles as they are currently constructed because those roles cripple us all in the long run.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in gender.

While this book is suppose to be a novel, it definitely reads like the author lived it. I have read, and re-read this book several times.
This book tells the story of a very butch lesbian woman named Jess, who lives in the blue collar world of factories during the 1950's..
She knows she's different almost from the day she is born. It makes it impossible for her to fit in until she finds the bars in Buffalo.
There she finds her way with the aid of Butch Al, an older butch, who is her mentor. There Jess fits in, falls in love, but also endures the horror of the bar raids. She is brutalized, raped, traumatized by the male cops who haul in the butch "kings" and their counterparts the "drag queens."

It gets harder and harder for Jess to cope. She makes the decision to "become a man." Her decision leds to the break-up of her lesbian relationship.

At first life seems easier as a man, but ultimately it leads to a devastating loneliness. She meets a straight woman, and sleeps with her, managing to convince her, she is a man--but it is a risk. When she is confronted by the woman's homophobia, Jess realizes it isn't going to work

When she returns to the lesbian world, however, she finds it has changed and left her behind. Butch/femme is no longer politically correct---no longer welcome in the lesbian bars.

Much of this book is gut wrenching in the agony of human loneliness the heroine experiences, as well as the physical horrors she endures from the "so called normal" world.
The ending does, however, give both the reader and the heroine hope of a brighter, more tolerant future..

I found Stone Butch Blues to be a truly amazing novel; I too had a hard time putting it down. As a heterosexual male from the SF Bay Area, I have been exposed to homosexuals, but have never really been "behind the scenes" of the struggle for gender equality. Stone Butch Blues was a gripping and consistently sad account of the life of a tough yet sensitive "butch" and I learned quite a bit from it.
Jess definitely had to "walk a difficult path" in life as was prophecized early on by her neighbors and caretakers. The ever present emotional and physical struggles involved in Jess' life were heartbreaking and most of the time she found herself "drowning in loneliness." It is interesting to read the literary talent on display when Feinberg describes the first time Jess sees Rocco, or Jess' first dance, or when she asks Theresa to marry her. Feinberg has the ability to clearly describe these characters, create memorable scenes, and simultaneously lift your heart rate.
I thoroughly enjoyed this eye and mind opening book and in the process gained an insight that formerly didn't exist.

Author Leslie Feinberg has done a remarkable thing in the writing of Stone Butch Blues. The author has opened her soul to anyone who reads and exposed us each to our own fears of being different no matter how slight it may be. Being a gay male, reading this book was recommeded to me by a lesbian friend. At first I was reading it out of respect for my friend, but I found myself unable to put the book down. The story is endearing to anyone who desires to know more about the human spirit and the need and will to survive. I laughed, cried and saw myself in so many of the fears, questions, lonley times and good times experienced by Jess, the Stone Butch. Thank you Leslie Feinberg for the way you gave us a piece of your soul in the book and allowed us to become a little more accepting of our differences and of who we are.

Leslie Feinberg is a radical trans in men's clothing. This book is written with the typical radical political slant. Her statements and "facts" are called into question by her bias. Would you believe a book about Hitler's Germany written by a right wing fascist? In a similar fashion one has to take Feinberg's book with many grains of salt. Her objective is to justify any and all types of transsexual, transgender BEHAVIOR. Yes, it's a BEHAVIOR. No one forces this type of BEHAVIOR on those that would obsess themselves with trying to become the opposite sex.
The theme of the book is that transsexuals have always fought, that they are fierce; they have an attitude of rebellion. We can still see that today with the Gay Pride parades that shove their BEHAVIOR in your face! Unfortunately, you can't have it both ways. When you have an attitude and you shove it in someone's face many times they shove back. Stop trying to justify your BEHAVIOR by desperately searching through history and rewriting stories like Joan of Arc to justify your BEHAVIOR.

Those interested in transgenderism have long been teased by all-too-brief descriptions of its existence in times past. If mentioned at all in previous works, transgendered history has been soft-pedaled into vague meanderings on Native American "two-spirits".

Leslie Feinberg not only provides comprehensive documentation of the roles of transgendered people in ancient societies, but also interprets these traditions and their decline by deconstructing our current views of gender as the result of patriarchy. Feinberg also weaves into the interpretation elements of socialist theory and class oppression.

These theoretical passages are interspersed with personal vignettes from the Feinberg's life which flesh out the explanation. Even if one doesn't fully buy into Feinberg's views, the book takes you on a fabulous journey and forces you to re-examine your beliefs about gender.

Although not scholarly,the book serves the important purpose of contributing one volume that consolidates documentation of many of the instances of transgenderism that previously were splintered throughout the literature.

The book is a quick read, which is both refreshing and disappointing. Perhaps in the near future Feinberg or others will branch off this pioneering work and continue to re-discover the robbed tradition of transgenderism throughout the world.

Of course this book is personal. Of course it is passionate. It is an important attempt by a recognized trans author and amateur historian to catalyze a larger project of tracing authentic patterns of gender expression that don't conform to the binary that has been forced upon society since the rise of class divisions (i.e., since the collapse of "primitive" or "tribal" collectivism). And the book thereby contributes to efforts to demystify the notion that "two sexes" are a scientific fact and historical truth.

Hopefully others will pick up where Feinberg leaves off and apply other methodologies to uncover what has really been going on throughout human history where it comes to gender.

What the book lacks in traditional academic rigor it more than makes up for with its first-person self-consciousness, originality and plausibility in the interpretation of historical data. It is richly illustrated, literate, contemporary and very relevant to today's discourse.

This book doesn't come anywhere close to Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue and it won't have you crying yourself to sleep like Stone Butch Blues. It is well written and interesting as a deeper look at Feinberg's politics and how they developed. It's just what it says it is, a call to revolution, and it is good, but if you've already read Feinberg's other stuff you won't really find anything new here.