Trans-activist Kate Bornstein will make you question your gender

Kate Bornstein leans back in her chair, legs spread, teal-painted fingernails and tattooed hand partially covering the girly design on her baby-tee top. A black and white wrist cuff with anarchy symbols and a gigantic, silver watch peek out under a sheer white sleeves. The 61-year-old, male-to-female transsexual writer and performance artist is surrounded by framed photographs of local leaders in the still-empty Alumni Room at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. But she’s grinning about a different set of trailblazers.

“I was just at a drag king extravaganza in Tucson and I had my mind blown,” she says, eyes sparkling behind glasses with pink, plastic frames, her lip piercing shifting as she chuckles.

Not that Bornstein hasn’t blown some minds herself. Her 1994 book, Gender Outlaw — a witty retelling of her own journey from man to woman and wry attack on the binary that shackles us all to male or female — has become required reading in many college classes. In the intervening 15 years, she’s appeared on talks shows and stages around the world, making people question the construct of gender. And this week, Bornstein is in Kansas City, adding some spice to UMKC’s TransFest, a series of events put on by the college’s Queer Alliance.

Honestly, I arrived at UMKC yesterday with a neat set of questions for a Q&A. But, I should have known better. Bornstein isn’t the type of gal who answers inquiries in a few sentences. She slides backwards, hands on her head, and answers in a deliberate but mischievous tone, like she’s sensuously sucking on a piece of candy. Talking to Kate Bornstein, I discovered, is like an intellectual strip-tease you don’t want to cut off.