Katherine Vandam Bornstein (born March 15, 1948) is an American author, playwright,

performance artist Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

, actor, and gender theorist. In 1986, Bornstein started identifying as gender non-conforming and has stated "I don't call myself a woman, I know I'm not a man" after having been assigned male at birth and receiving

sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associat ...

. Bornstein now identifies as

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

and uses the pronouns they/them and she/her. Bornstein has also written about having

anorexia Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Individuals wit ...

, being a survivor of

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...

, and being diagnosed with

borderline personality disorder Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a pervasive, long-term pattern of significant interpersonal relationship instability, an acute fear of Abandonment (emotional), abandonment, and intense emotiona ...

Biography

Early life

Bornstein grew up just outside of

Asbury Park, New Jersey Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 15,188, a decr ...

, in an upper middle-class

Conservative Jewish Conservative Judaism, also known as Masorti Judaism, is a Jewish religious movements, Jewish religious movement that regards the authority of Jewish law and tradition as emanating primarily from the assent of the people through the generations ...

family of Russian and Dutch descent. Bornstein studied Theater Arts with John Emigh and Jim Barnhill at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

(Class of '69). Bornstein joined the

Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religiou ...

, 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 policy of disconnection.

Transition and post-op

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 The gender binary (also known as gender binarism) is the classification of gender into two distinct forms of masculine and feminine, whether by social system, Culture, cultural belief, or both simultaneously. Most cultures use a gender binary, ...

, which required people to identify according to only two available genders. Another obstacle was the fact that Bornstein was attracted to women. She had

in 1986. Bornstein settled into the lesbian community in San Francisco, and wrote art reviews for the gay and lesbian paper ''

The Bay Area Reporter The ''Bay Area Reporter'' is a free weekly LGBT newspaper serving the LGBT communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is one of the largest-circulation LGBT newspapers in the United States, and the country's oldest continuously published ne ...

''. Over the next few years, they began to identify as neither a man nor a woman. This catapulted Bornstein back to performing, creating several performance pieces, some of them one-person shows. It was the only way that she knew how to communicate life's paradoxes. Bornstein also teaches workshops and has published several gender theory books and a novel. ''Hello Cruel World'' was written to keep "teens, freaks, and other outlaws" from dying by suicide. "Do whatever it takes to make your life more worth living," Bornstein writes, "just don't be mean." In a May 2018 interview with the LGBTQ&A podcast, they said that they no longer have thoughts of suicide since writing the book. Bornstein's partner is Barbara Carrellas. They live in New York City with three cats, two dogs, and a turtle.

Cancer diagnosis

In August 2012, Bornstein was diagnosed with lung cancer. They had surgery which initially seemed successful, but in February 2013 it was found that the disease had returned. Laura Vogel, a friend of Bornstein's, launched a GoFundMe campaign on March 20 to help fund subsequent treatment. In December 2015, Bornstein announced that they had been cancer-free for two years.

Later years

Bornstein made their Broadway debut in July 2018 in the play ''Straight White Men''. Speaking to the LGBTQ&A podcast in July 2021, Bornstein talked about how her view of gender evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic, "Gender became inconsequential to me while I was in quarantine and grappling with old age...This is where you really need to be letting go of shit. I'm letting go of the ability to be cute, in certain ways. I'm too old for that. My face is sagging, my boobs are sagging. Boy, oh boy. They're down to my waist and you let go of that as being necessary to your gender."

Works

In 1989, Bornstein created a theatre production in collaboration with Noreen Barnes, ''Hidden: A Gender'', based on parallels between their own life and that of the

intersex Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binar ...

person Herculine Barbin, starring Bornstein and

Justin Vivian Bond Justin Vivian Bond (born May 9, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and actor, who is transgender. Described as "the best cabaret artist of

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

generation" and a "tornado of art and activism", they first achieved prominence under the pseud ...

. In 2009, Bornstein's ''Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws'' was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist for

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

Nonfiction and Honorbook for the Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature. Bornstein edited ''Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation'' in collaboration with S. Bear Bergman. The anthology won Lambda Literary and Publishing Triangle Awards in 2011. Bornstein's autobiography, titled ''A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A Memoir'', was released May 2012, and in April 2013, they released ''My New Gender Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving World Peace Through Gender Anarchy and Sex Positivity''. Recently, Bornstein has taken part in a theatrical tour in England. She also took part in being a cast member in the reality TV show of I Am Cait.

Books

* * * — winner of a 1999 Firecracker Alternative Book Award * * * * *Bornstein, Kate (2016). ''Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us (Revised and Updated)''. New York: Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. .

Performance pieces

* Documentary, directed by Sam Feder. * ''The Opposite Sex Is Neither'' * ''Virtually Yours'' * ''Hidden: A Gender'' * ''Strangers in Paradox'' * ''y2kate: gender virus 2000'' * ''Hard Candy''

References

External links

* * Interview: * Interview: * Lecture by Kate Bornstein {{DEFAULTSORT:Bornstein, Kate 1948 births Living people 20th-century American artists 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American LGBTQ people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American artists 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American novelists Academics from New Jersey Actors from Monmouth County, New Jersey Actresses from New Jersey American former Scientologists American gender studies academics American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights American LGBTQ novelists American LGBTQ rights activists American non-binary artists American non-binary writers American people of Dutch-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent American performance artists American transgender actresses American transgender artists American transgender women American transgender writers Brown University alumni Former Scientology officials Jewish American artists Jewish American dramatists and playwrights Jewish American non-fiction writers Lambda Literary Award winners LGBTQ people from New Jersey LGBTQ studies academics Memoirists from New Jersey Non-binary dramatists and playwrights Non-binary memoirists Non-binary novelists Novelists from New Jersey People from Neptune City, New Jersey People with borderline personality disorder Transgender dramatists and playwrights Transgender Jews Transgender memoirists Transgender non-binary people Transgender novelists People with post-traumatic stress disorder Transgender people with disabilities Writers from Monmouth County, New Jersey Non-binary Jews Jews from New Jersey