Book Review
Sons of the Movement
By Andrea Zanin
Sons of the Movement is the latest from Jean Bobby Noble, one of Canada’s FTM academic stars and the author of Masculinities Without Men?(2004).
Part memoir, part theory, part queer cultural archive, Sons veers in tone from highly academic to conversational, and in subject matter from Noble’s own surgical experience of gender transition to the significance of “boy” imagery in pop culture to anti-racist politics to Toronto’s drag king scene to femme cultural representation. Somehow, despite the jumping around and the lack of a discernable and coherent thesis, the book remains an intelligent and engaging read. And perhaps coherence isn’t really the point—after all, the book’s subtitle is FtMs Risking Incoherence on a Post-Queer Cultural Landscape.
In addition to painting a thoughtful and rarely-seen picture of Toronto’s drag king culture (with photos!) and reflecting on the meaning of various queerly-gendered films, texts, and works of art, Noble makes challenging theoretical points on a number of fronts. His ideas about the “productive incoherence” of (FtM) trans identity alone are food for thought, and he certainly doesn’t stop there—he tackles theories of whiteness, of masculinity and more with equal gusto. Light summer reading this is not, but if you like your queer theory quirky and Canadian, you may well enjoy Noble’s work.
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