Kate Bornstein
| Kate Bornstein | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
March 15, 1948 Neptune City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Residence | New York City |
| Occupation | Performance artist |
| Website | katebornstein |
Katherine Vandam "Kate" Bornstein (born March 15, 1948) is an American author, playwright, performance artist, and gender theorist. Having been assigned male at birth and then received gender confirmation surgery in 1986, Bornstein identifies as gender non-conforming, saying "I don't call myself a woman, and I know I'm not a man", and uses the gender neutral pronouns "ze/hir" in place of "she/her" or "he/him". Bornstein has also written about having anorexia, being a survivor of PTSD and being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Bornstein has chronic lymphocytic leukemia and in September 2012 was diagnosed with lung cancer.
Bornstein's partner is Barbara Carrellas. They live in New York City with three cats, two dogs, and a turtle.
Born in Neptune City, New Jersey, into a middle-class Conservative Jewish family of Russian and Dutch descent, 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 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 policies.
Bornstein never felt comfortable with the belief of the day: that all trans women are "women trapped in men's bodies." 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. Bornstein had sex reassignment surgery in 1986.
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