Quotes by Kate Bornstein

About Kate Bornstein:

Katherine Vandam "Kate" Bornstein is an American author, playwright, performance artist, and gender theorist. Having been designated male at birth and then received sex reassignment surgery in 1986, Bornstein identifies as gender non-conforming, saying "I don't call myself a woman, and I know I'm not a man", and prefers the gender neutral pronouns "ze/hir" in place of "she/her" or "he/him". Bornstein has also written about having anorexia, being a survivor of PTSD and being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Bornstein has chronic lymphocytic leukemia and in September 2012 was diagnosed with lung cancer.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

It's easy to fictionalize an issue when you're not aware of the many ways in which you are privileged by it.

Kate Bornstein

Instead of saying that all gender is this or all gender is that, let's recognize that the word gender has scores of meaning built into it. It's an amalgamation of bodies, identities, and life experiences, subconscious urges, sensations, and behaviors...

Kate Bornstein

Let's stop pretending that we have all the answers, because when it comes to gender, none of us is fucking omniscient.

Kate Bornstein

While railing against the manufactured prerequisites of womanhood or manhood, we need to avoid manufacturing our own prerequisites. The non-operative journey and the objection to it illustrate just one area in which we need to open our thinking to ot...

Kate Bornstein

We can't ignore right-wing demagogues who insist that the word of the doctor who proclaims a child's sex at birth somehow holds more sway over the reality of the body than the word of the person who inhabits it. - Gwendolyn Ann Smith

Kate Bornstein

When we talk about my gender as though it were a performance, we let the audience - with all their expectations, prejudices, and presumptions - completely off the hook. - Scott Turner Schofield

Kate Bornstein

The first question we usually ask new parents is : “Is it a boy or a girl ?”. There is a great answer to that one going around : “We don’t know ; it hasn’t told us yet.” Personally, I think no question containing “either/or” deserves ...

Kate Bornstein

I see fashion as a proclamation or manifestation of identity, so, as long as identities are important, fashion will continue to be important. The link between fashion and identity begins to get real interesting, however, in the case of people who don...

Kate Bornstein

Never fuck anyone you wouldn't want to be.

Kate Bornstein

Drag queen is a gender like no other, and with practice I'd learned to rise to it.

Kate Bornstein

Disney will never make a movie about my life story, and that's a shame--I'd make a really cute animated creature.

Kate Bornstein

Some actors wear their roles like clothing," he said. "No matter what part they're playing, you can always easily see who it is beneath the costume." "It's how drag queens do women, darling," volunteered the elegant Miss X. [...] "The really amazing ...

Kate Bornstein

Safe gender is being who and what we want to be when we want to be that, with no threat of censure or violence. Safe gender is going as far in any direction as we wish, With no threat to our health, or anyone else’s. Safe gender is not being pressu...

Kate Bornstein

…gender is not sane. It's not sane to call a rainbow black and white.

Kate Bornstein

Author Bio

  • NameKate Bornstein
  • DescriptionAmerican author, playwright, performance artist, and gender theorist
  • BornMarch 15, 1948
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionActor; Choreographer; Author
  • AwardsLambda Literary Award