ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with Judith Butler's discussion of the diagnosis of gender identity disorder before turning to Judith Halberstam's intervention in the border wars between butch and female-to-male transexual (Ftm) identities. It examines two examples from the transgender queer perspective that appear to substantiate Viviane Namaste's critique and discusses strategies for challenging the rift. Without promoting what Namaste calls transsexual political agendas to the neglect of transgender agendas, the chapter suggests non-trans feminists adopt a broader stance that recognizes the needs and goals of both, and that understands where and why they conflict. This position contests Bernice Hausman's refusal to support either side on the grounds that neither lives up to the feminist goal of giving up on gender. The discourse of transgender warriors and outlaws that was developed by Leslie Feinberg and Bornstein and promoted by queer theorists clearly creates a hierarchy where transgressive transgender identities are valued more highly than the more conventional transsexual identities.
