The Appeal of Stone Butch Blues

Stone Butch Blues is an important novel, not only because of its significance to gay/lesbian/transgender studies, but also because the story of Jess Goldberg is everyone's story.

Anyone who has struggled with his or her identity, with feeling alienated, or with the desire to be accepted and loved can relate to this tale. Author Leslie Feinberg shines a light into the closet of the transgendered world, only to reveal the class oppression, sexism, and homophobia that permeate all of American society.

Jess Goldberg is a compelling protagonist. She is both tough and tender. Jess is the survivor of the most unthinkable abuse; yet she refuses to be broken. Throughout her life, she's asked: Are you a boy or a girl? A man or a woman? With every word and gesture she answers back: What does is matter? Stone Butch Blues explores the gray areas of gender with both intelligence and compassion, dismantling the myth that one is either wholly masculine or feminine.

The story begins with a love letter, in which Jess relives the memories of her early days as a baby butch. She remembers falling in love on the dance floor in gay bars. She remembers the sense of belonging she found among the other butches, the way they protected each other, supported each other, and how they survived abuse and rape at the hands of law enforcement. She remembers the fights, the way the women turned on each other when the shame and insecurity about their own identities was too much to bear alone.

Jess is a woman of complex identity; she is a woman who breaks tradition, sufferes horrific consequences for her authenticity, and still manages to adhere to her own personal moral code. By examining the complexity of female identity in the lesbian/transgendered community, author Leslie Feinberg successfully dismantles stereotypes associated with butches and femmes. These women are not freaks; they are not criminals, nor are they necessarily promiscuous, immoral, sinful, or mentally ill. They are just women seeking authenticity, love, and connection.

While Stone Butch Blues gives the reader a glimpse into both the history of the LGBTQ community and the personal narrative of a very realistic transgendered character, this novel is as much about class, politics, and sexism as it is about homophobia and heterosexist oppression. Jess experiences outrageous discrimination in the workplace. As a factory employee during the rise of workers' unions, she is harassed, fired, and sabotaged in the workplace. She even loses a finger in an industrial accident as the result of the actions of a vicious coworker.

Feinberg addresses the problems of the competitive, male-dominated workplace with such accuracy, it's hard to imagine anyone--male or female, gay or straight--who cannot relate to Jess' experiences.

So, who should read Stone Butch Blues? Butches? Femmes? Lesbians? Or is this a story for everyone? As a student of English, I believe that you can learn everything about being human by reading literature.

The struggle to form a self-concept, to find work that sustains you and love that makes all the rest of it worthwhile, is everyone's struggle. Ultimately, Stone Butch Blues goes way beyond the category of queer narrative; this is a story about being human.