Kate Bornstein#Works

{{Short description|American author, playwright, performance artist, and gender theorist}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Kate Bornstein

| image = KateBornstein.jpg

| caption = Bornstein (2018) by Morgan Gwenwald

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|3|15}}

| birth_place = Neptune City, New Jersey, U.S.

| occupation = {{hlist|Performance artist|author}}

| education = Brown University (BA)

| website = {{URL|katebornstein.com}}

}}

Katherine Vandam Bornstein{{cite web |url = http://www.salon.com/2012/05/05/my_scientology_excommunication/singleton/ |title = My Scientology excommunication |first = Kate |last = Bornstein |work = Salon |date = 5 May 2012 |access-date = 2012-05-06 |archive-date = 2013-04-16 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130416032656/http://www.salon.com/2012/05/05/my_scientology_excommunication/singleton/ |url-status = live }} (born March 15, 1948){{Cite web|title=LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies|url=http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n93121104.html|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=2018-03-05|archive-date=2019-04-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414224349/http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n93121104.html|url-status=live}} is an American author, playwright, performance artist, actor, and gender theorist. In 1986, Bornstein started identifying as gender non-conforming and has stated "I don't call myself a woman, {{em|and}} I know I'm not a man" after having been assigned male at birth and receiving sex reassignment surgery.{{r|bornstein|page=x}} Bornstein now identifies as non-binary and uses the pronouns they/them and she/her.{{cite journal |last1=Czyzselska |first1=Jane |title=CALL ME Kate |journal=Diva |date=February 2016 |page=54}} Bornstein has also written about having anorexia, being a survivor of PTSD, and being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.{{r|bornstein|page=xi}}

Biography

= Early life =

Bornstein grew up just outside of Asbury Park, New Jersey, in an upper middle-class Conservative Jewish family of Russian and Dutch descent.{{cite web |url=http://lgbtjewishheroes.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Kaye-Bornsteins-Gender-and-Genre-Bending.pdf |title=Kate Bornstein's Gender and Genre Bending |publisher=LGBT Jewish Heroes |access-date=2012-11-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812035308/http://lgbtjewishheroes.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Kaye-Bornsteins-Gender-and-Genre-Bending.pdf |archive-date=2011-08-12 }} Bornstein studied Theater Arts with John Emigh and Jim Barnhill at Brown University (Class of '69). Bornstein joined the Church of Scientology, becoming a high-ranking lieutenant in the Sea Org,{{cite web | url=https://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/04/kate-bornstein-gender-outlaw-queer-and-pleasant-danger-interview | title="A Queer and Pleasant Danger": Kate Bornstein, Trans Scientology Survivor | work=Mother Jones | access-date=August 27, 2012 | archive-date=August 18, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120818080731/http://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/04/kate-bornstein-gender-outlaw-queer-and-pleasant-danger-interview | url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=http://www.religiondispatches.org/books/atheologies/5988/no_longer_at_sea%3A_kate_bornstein_talks_scientology/ | title=No Longer At Sea: Kate Bornstein Talks Scientology | work=Religion Dispatches | access-date=August 27, 2012 | date=2012-06-27 | archive-date=2013-04-15 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415162241/http://www.religiondispatches.org/books/atheologies/5988/no_longer_at_sea:_kate_bornstein_talks_scientology/ | url-status=live }}{{cite web | url=http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780807001653 | title=A Queer and Pleasant Danger by Kate Bornstein – Powell's Books | access-date=August 27, 2012 | archive-date=August 10, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120810052546/http://www.powells.com/biblio/9780807001653 | url-status=live }} but later became disillusioned and formally left the movement in 1981. Bornstein's antagonism toward Scientology and public split from the church have had personal consequences; Bornstein's daughter, herself a Scientologist, no longer has any contact per Scientology's policy of disconnection.{{cite web

|url = http://www.q-notes.com/top2007/top02_092207.html

|title = Kate Bornstein to perform at UNC-Charlotte

|first = David

|last = Moore

|access-date = 2009-06-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024192352/http://www.q-notes.com/top2007/top02_092207.html

|archive-date=24 October 2007 |url-status=dead}}

= Transition and post-op =

Bornstein never felt comfortable with the belief of the day that all trans women are "women trapped in men's bodies."{{cite book|last=Bornstein|first=Kate|title=Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us|year=1994|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415908979|pages=66|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yyYFckiB-tkC&q=bornstein+women+trapped+in+mens+bodies|access-date=2021-04-27|archive-date=2022-05-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507193841/https://books.google.com/books?id=yyYFckiB-tkC&q=bornstein+women+trapped+in+mens+bodies|url-status=live}} Bornstein did not identify as a man, but the only other option was to be a woman, a reflection of the gender binary, which required people to identify according to only two available genders. Another obstacle was the fact that Bornstein was attracted to women. She had sex reassignment surgery in 1986.

Bornstein settled into the lesbian community in San Francisco, and wrote art reviews for the gay and lesbian paper The Bay Area Reporter.{{cite news|last=Piechota|first=Jim|title=Surviving Scientology|url=http://www.bayareareporter.net/arts/art_article.php?sec=books&article=717|access-date=Feb 13, 2013|newspaper=Bay Area Reporter|date=2012-08-09|archive-date=2013-12-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203005710/http://www.bayareareporter.net/arts/art_article.php?sec=books&article=717|url-status=live}} Over the next few years, they began to identify as neither a man nor a woman.{{cite news|last1=Lavelle|first1=Ciara|title=Eileen Myles, the Property Brothers, and Others Coming to Miami Book Fair 2016|url=http://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/eileen-myles-the-property-brothers-and-others-coming-to-miami-book-fair-2016-8740577|access-date=13 March 2018|publisher=Miami New Times|date=September 2, 2016|archive-date=14 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314104531/http://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/eileen-myles-the-property-brothers-and-others-coming-to-miami-book-fair-2016-8740577|url-status=live}} This catapulted Bornstein back to performing, creating several performance pieces, some of them one-person shows. It was the only way that she knew how to communicate life's paradoxes.

Bornstein also teaches workshops and has published several gender theory books and a novel. Hello Cruel World was written to keep "teens, freaks, and other outlaws" from dying by suicide. "Do whatever it takes to make your life more worth living," Bornstein writes, "just don't be mean."{{cite web |url=http://katebornstein.typepad.com/kate_bornsteins_blog/2010/10/dont-be-mean-really.html |title=Don't Be Mean? Really? |author=Kate Bornstein |work=Kate Bornstein Is A Queer and Pleasant Danger—this is her blog |date=2010-10-06 |access-date=2015-09-13 |archive-date=2015-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924080320/http://katebornstein.typepad.com/kate_bornsteins_blog/2010/10/dont-be-mean-really.html |url-status=live }} In a May 2018 interview with the LGBTQ&A podcast, they said that they no longer have thoughts of suicide since writing the book.{{Cite web|title=LGBTQ&A: Kate Bornstein: Gender Is A Playground (5/2/18) on Apple Podcasts|url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kate-bornstein-gender-is-a-playground-5-2-18/id1151561226?i=1000530150658|access-date=2021-12-22|website=Apple Podcasts|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222154858/https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kate-bornstein-gender-is-a-playground-5-2-18/id1151561226?i=1000530150658|url-status=live}}

Bornstein's partner is Barbara Carrellas. They live in New York City with three cats, two dogs, and a turtle.{{cite news|last=Piechota|first=Jim|title=Surviving Scientology|url=http://www.bayareareporter.net/arts/art_article.php?sec=books&article=717|access-date=Feb 13, 2013|newspaper=Bay Area Reporter|date=2012-08-09|archive-date=2013-12-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203005710/http://www.bayareareporter.net/arts/art_article.php?sec=books&article=717|url-status=live}}

= Cancer diagnosis =

In August 2012, Bornstein was diagnosed with lung cancer. They had surgery which initially seemed successful, but in February 2013 it was found that the disease had returned. Laura Vogel, a friend of Bornstein's, launched a GoFundMe campaign on March 20 to help fund subsequent treatment.{{cite news|last=Morgan|first=Glennisha|title=Kate Bornstein, Transgender Activist And Theorist, Receives Support For Cancer Fundraiser|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/22/kate-bornstein-cancer-fundraiser_n_2926015.html|newspaper=Huffington Post|date=2013-03-22|access-date=2020-02-21|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052752/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/22/kate-bornstein-cancer-fundraiser_n_2926015.html|url-status=live}} In December 2015, Bornstein announced that they had been cancer-free for two years.{{Cite web|title=Blame it all on this guy: new scan says I'm cancer-free—that makes it 2 years, no cancer.|url=https://twitter.com/katebornstein/status/672551242237878272|url-status=live|access-date=2021-12-22|website=Twitter|language=en|archive-date=2021-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222154858/https://twitter.com/katebornstein/status/672551242237878272}}

= Later years =

Bornstein made their Broadway debut in July 2018 in the play Straight White Men.{{Cite web|date=2018-08-10|title=Trans performer Kate Bornstein has shut down a Broadway heckler in a moving Facebook post|url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/08/10/trans-performer-kate-bornstein-shuts-down-broadway-heckler-in-moving-facebook-post/|access-date=2021-12-22|website=PinkNews |archive-date=2021-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222154851/https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/08/10/trans-performer-kate-bornstein-shuts-down-broadway-heckler-in-moving-facebook-post/|url-status=live}}

Speaking to the LGBTQ&A podcast in July 2021, Bornstein talked about how her view of gender evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic, "Gender became inconsequential to me while I was in quarantine and grappling with old age...This is where you really need to be letting go of shit. I'm letting go of the ability to be cute, in certain ways. I'm too old for that. My face is sagging, my boobs are sagging. Boy, oh boy. They're down to my waist and you let go of that as being necessary to your gender."{{Cite web|date=2021-07-27|title=Still A Gender Outlaw: Catching Up With Trans Elder Kate Bornstein|url=https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2021/7/22/trans-gender-outlaw-kate-bornstein-interview|access-date=2021-12-22|website=www.advocate.com|language=en|archive-date=2021-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211222154858/https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2021/7/22/trans-gender-outlaw-kate-bornstein-interview|url-status=live}}

Works

In 1989, Bornstein created a theatre production in collaboration with Noreen Barnes, Hidden: A Gender, based on parallels between their own life and that of the intersex person Herculine Barbin,{{cite web |url=http://lgbtjewishheroes.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Kaye-Bornsteins-Gender-and-Genre-Bending.pdf |title=Kate Bornstein's Gender and Genre Bending |publisher=LGBT Jewish Heroes |access-date=2012-11-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812035308/http://lgbtjewishheroes.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Kaye-Bornsteins-Gender-and-Genre-Bending.pdf |archive-date=2011-08-12 }} starring Bornstein and Justin Vivian Bond. In 2009, Bornstein's Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist for LGBT Nonfiction and Honorbook for the Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature.{{Cite web | url=https://www.sevenstories.com/authors/220-kate-bornstein | website=Seven Stories Press | title=Kate Bornstein | access-date=2018-04-17 | archive-date=2018-04-18 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418032410/https://www.sevenstories.com/authors/220-kate-bornstein | url-status=live }} Bornstein edited Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation in collaboration with S. Bear Bergman.{{cite web |url=http://genderfork.com/?p=4721 |title=Interview with S. Bear Bergman |publisher=Genderfork |date=2009-10-29 |access-date=2009-11-13 |archive-date=2022-05-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507193852/http://genderfork.com/2009/interview-with-s-bear-bergman/ |url-status=live }} The anthology won Lambda Literary and Publishing Triangle Awards in 2011.{{cite web |url=http://outfm.org/lgbt/index.php/home/internship-application/34-feedburner/94-triangle-awards-kate-bornstein |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222212503/http://outfm.org/lgbt/index.php/home/internship-application/34-feedburner/94-triangle-awards-kate-bornstein |url-status=dead |archive-date=2015-02-22 |title=Triangle Awards: Kate Bornstein |publisher=Out FM |date=2011-05-06 |access-date=2013-07-19 }}{{cite web

|url = http://gaycitynews.com/articles/2011/06/18/gay_city_news/arts/doc4deff12e07c77397352961.txt

|title = Glam Meets Identity Politics at Lammys: Literary awards fête Edward Albee, Val McDermid; feature Stefanie Powers

|publisher = Gay City News

|date = June 10, 2011

|access-date = 2012-02-23

}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Bornstein's autobiography, titled A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A Memoir, was released May 2012, and in April 2013, they released My New Gender Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving World Peace Through Gender Anarchy and Sex Positivity. Recently, Bornstein has taken part in a theatrical tour in England. She also took part in being a cast member in the reality TV show of I Am Cait.{{Cite journal|last=M. B.|date=October 2016|title=Kate Bornstein|url=http://proxyiub.uits.iu.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=qth&AN=118372377&site=eds-live&scope=site|journal=Out|volume=25|pages=57|via=LGBT Life with Full Text|access-date=2022-05-07|archive-date=2022-05-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507193901/https://idp.login.iu.edu/idp/profile/cas/login?execution=e1s2|url-status=live}}

= Books =

{{cite book |first1= Kate |last1= Bornstein |title= Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us |year= 1994 |publisher= Routledge |location= New York City |isbn= 978-0679757016 |url= https://archive.org/details/genderoutlawonme00born }}
{{cite book |first1= Caitlin |last1= Sullivan |first2= Kate |last2= Bornstein |title= Nearly Roadkill: An Infobahn Erotic Adventure |year=1996 |publisher= High Risk Books |location= New York City |isbn= 978-1852424183}}
{{cite book |first1= Kate |last1= Bornstein |others= Illustrations by Diane DiMassa |title= My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely |year= 1998 |publisher= Routledge |location= New York City |isbn= 978-0415916721 |url= https://archive.org/details/mygenderworkbook00kate }} — winner of a 1999 Firecracker Alternative Book Award{{cite web|url=http://www.readersread.com/awards/firecracker.htm|title=Firecracker Alternative Book Awards|work=ReadersRead.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304133738/http://www.readersread.com/awards/firecracker.htm|archive-date=Mar 4, 2009}}
{{cite book |first1= Kate |last1= Bornstein |title= Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws |year= 2006 |publisher= Seven Stories Press |location= New York |isbn= 9781583227206 |url= https://archive.org/details/hellocruelworld00kate }}
{{cite book |editor1-first= Kate |editor1-last= Bornstein |editor2-first= S. Bear |editor2-last= Bergman |title= Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation |year= 2010 |publisher= Seal Press |location= Berkeley, California |isbn= 9781580053082 |url= https://archive.org/details/genderoutlawsnex00born_0 }}
{{cite book |last=Bornstein |first=Kate |title=A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A Memoir |year=2012 |publisher=Beacon Press |ol=25139467M |isbn=9780807001653}}
{{cite book |first1= Kate |last1= Bornstein |title= My New Gender Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving World Peace Through Gender Anarchy and Sex Positivity |year= 2013 |publisher= Routledge |location= New York |isbn= 978-0415538657}}
Bornstein, Kate (2016). Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us (Revised and Updated). New York: Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. {{ISBN|978-1-101-97461-2}}.

= Performance pieces =

{{cite web |url=https://www.samfederfilms.com/kate-bornstein-is-a-queer-pleasant-danger |title=Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger |date=2014}} Documentary, directed by Sam Feder.
The Opposite Sex Is Neither
Virtually Yours
Hidden: A Gender
Strangers in Paradox
y2kate: gender virus 2000
Hard Candy

References

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite book |last=Bornstein |first=Kate |title=A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A Memoir |year=2012 |publisher=Beacon Press |ol=25139467M |isbn=9780807001653}}

}}

External links

{{official website|http://katebornstein.com|katebornstein.com}}
Interview: {{cite web |title=Kate Bornstein, not a man, not a woman, former Scientologist now non-binary | website=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXvA2NeOKws&t=1146s |date=June 28, 2023}}
Interview: {{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_mVxZ_A3x0 |title=The Second Dynamic: Scientology's Pride & Prejudice - LGBTQ+ Documentary |website=YouTube |date=July 11, 2023}}
{{cite web |title=Dangerous Dreams and Damned Desires |date=March 1, 2007 |url=http://richmond.indymedia.org/newswire/display/12748/index.php |access-date=July 21, 2023 |archive-date=May 13, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513055252/http://richmond.indymedia.org/newswire/display/12748/index.php |url-status=dead }} Lecture by Kate Bornstein

Category:1948 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American artists

Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights

Category:20th-century American Jews

Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people

Category:20th-century American novelists

Category:21st-century American artists

Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people

Category:21st-century American novelists