A comparison of legal struggles of transsex and intersex individuals, this article suggests that the two groups are not necessarily at odds. “Transsex individuals often desire the future body that they should have, while intersex individuals often mourn the body they had before an unwanted normalizing surgery…” (usually at birth or in early childhood). The author explains that transsex individuals are seeking a positive liberty (i.e. Medicaid coverage of adult transsex surgeries) based upon gender identification, while intersex individuals (or those advocating for them) are seeking a negative liberty (i.e. protection from intrusive sex assignment surgery). The author argues that the two groups could avoid contradicting each other by basing their claims to liberty on a premise of “gender identity as an inner-self that is distinct from the body,” rather than medical conceptions of gender.

This collection of essays explores legal, historical and political dimensions and implications of the transgender movement, and it anticipates, “a dramatic widening of the cultural and social imagination.” Contributors include law professors, attorney advocates, transgender activists and interdisciplinary scholars concerned with gender and sexuality theory.