ABSTRACT
Allowing a degree of eccentricity is possibly society's way of ensuring most people conform. Normative gender coercion has consequences for individuals and for society. Susan Brownmiller notes that alterations to the female body to exaggerate femininity are restricting or disabling and exaggerate vulnerabilities, whereas alterations to the male body, such as weightlifting, are enabling and empowering. In this chapter, the author explores the possibility that her experiences can shed some light on the operation, consequences or usefulness of identity tropes, especially gender and sexuality identities. These identities are used to both describe categories and prescribe behaviour, and consequently support the normative social world. Sheila Jeffreys purports that transgenderism causes acute distress for partners and family members of those who transgender, "These include psychological distress, grief and loss, social exclusion, humiliation and financial problems". Both Janice Raymond and Tania Lienert speak of transsexual women enjoying male privilege.
