The Orbis

    While meandering across campus one afternoon with my partner, the subject of sex change operations (what I now know as sex reassignment surgery) arose, stimulating a general discussion about transpeople and transgenderism. Soon came an epiphanic realization that I knew virtually nothing about these topics, thus beginning a quest to rectify that condition. Our trans-section is one result of that quest, and I hope it at least serves as a starting point for the curious.This investigation into trangenderism happened to dovetail nicely with the annual Lambda Drag Show, which I believe is one of the most important events on campus. The show is not only loads of fun, it is a tremendous fresh breath of diversity at Vanderbilt, especially when juxtaposed to the usual weekend lineup of gender-role enforcing events like frat parties, formals and football games. And as UC Santa Barbara sociologist Verta Taylor points out, drag shows are also a form of political street theater that seek to break down the oppositional binary gender system, a degradation that may be painful but is absolutely necessary.

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