Manifesto

Political science

Empire

History

Camera Obscura Feminism Culture and Media Studies

Dr. Burou is being visited by journalist James Morris. Morris * dgets in an anteroom reading Elle and Paris-Match with something less than full attention, because he is on an errand of immense personal import. At last the receptionist calls for him, and he is shown to the inner sanctum. He relates:Exit James Morris, enter Jan Morris, through the intervention of late twentieth-century medical practices in this wonderfully “oriental,” almost religious narrative of transformation. ' e passage is from Conundrum, the story of Morris’ “sex change” and the consequences for her life. Besides the wink for luck, there is another obligatory ceremony known to male-to-female transsexuals which is called “wringing the turkey’s neck,” although it is not recorded whether Morris performed it as well. I will return to this rite of passage later in more detail.

The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto