Click here to order or visit Leslie Feinberg's site Trangender Warrior.org

Better Read Than Dead
'Drag King Dreams'
is an emotional, significant look at minority issues
Jennifer Tanko
Arts | 3/2/08

Last semester, Towson University was lucky enough to have transgender activist and writer Leslie Feinberg speak on campus. The speech, like Feinberg's books, dealt with social issues from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights to the war in Iraq. At the time, I had a copy of "Stone Butch Blues" (but hadn't read it yet) and didn't know much about Feinberg.

I have since read "Blues," but most recently the novel "Drag King Dreams." The writing in both of these books is just as powerful and empowering as Feinberg's speech, and can be taken as something to get passionate about.

Max Rabinowitz, our protagonist, is a club bouncer and drag king. She deals with an array of confusion in "Dreams," from an impending mid-life crisis and dealing with the death of a friend who has been brutally murdered for gender expression, to her friends being taken by the government because of their middle-eastern racial status in a post-9/11 New York City. Max was once an empowered activist for social change. With her age, she has become disenchanted with her cause due to the lack of affect her efforts have had. The novel traces the emotional journey Max takes as she adapts to the changing political situation in New York and becomes re-inspired.

"Drag King Dreams" was first published in 2006 and details a variety of political issues. From transgender and queer identity to the unwarranted arrest and imprisonment of racial profiling victims, "Drag King Dreams" explores what it is to be a social outcast in modern New York City. In the novel, the gender-neutral pronouns zhi (s/he) and hir (his/her) are explored and used to great effect. This novel is so significant because it explores how structured gender roles are in western culture, and the reader is able to experience the consequences of conforming to neither male nor female standards and expectations through the character of Max. This is primarily a novel about being true to oneself-regardless of the norms and ideals society forces upon you.

"Dreams" does a superior job covering problems that queer people and people who challenge gender norms have to cope with. One of the more heartbreaking storylines follows a friend of Max's with AIDS who receives extremely substandard treatment at the hospital, and the length that a group of friends must go to ensure their friend is properly cared for.

A common theme in Feinberg's writing is the concept that oppression of one group or minority is oppression of them all. Feinberg comments that movements are usually too single-issue, and that to truly make a difference and bring justice to the world, systematic oppression and domination must be challenged and overthrown. "Drag King Dreams" is more than a novel-it is a call to action.