# Kate Bornstein
**Kate Bornstein** (born 1948) is an American author, playwright, performance artist, and actor whose books and performances on nonbinary gender, beginning with *Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us* (1994), made her one of the best-known trans authors from the mid-1990s onward. She describes herself as a non-binary femme-identified trans person and calls herself a "gender outlaw"; the NYC Trans Oral History Project lists her pronouns as "as you wish."[1](https://nyctransoralhistory.org/interview/kate-bornstein/) • [2](https://www.slantmagazine.com/interviews/pretty-damn-bowie-kate-bornstein-on-their-broadway-debut-in-straight-white-men/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1948, into a Jewish family; place of birth listed as Neptune, New Jersey[3](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kate-bornstein/hello-cruel-world/) • [1](https://nyctransoralhistory.org/interview/kate-bornstein/) |
| Signature book | *Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us*, Routledge, June 1, 1994; revised edition 2016[4](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kate-bornstein/gender-outlaw/) • [2](https://www.slantmagazine.com/interviews/pretty-damn-bowie-kate-bornstein-on-their-broadway-debut-in-straight-white-men/) |
| Other books | *My Gender Workbook* (1997, updated 2013); *Hello, Cruel World* (2006); memoir *A Queer and Pleasant Danger* (2012)[5](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/57190-a-transformed-world-pw-talks-with-kate-bornstein.html) • [6](https://hyperallergic.com/kate-bornstein-life-through-four-dimensions-of-gender/) |
| Stage work | Solo pieces *The Opposite Sex Is Neither*, *Virtually Yours*, and *On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us*; the play *Hidden: A Gender* (1989)[7](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2815/kate-bornstein/) • [8](https://aperture.org/editorial/gender-playground/) |
| Broadway debut | *Straight White Men*, Hayes Theater, opening night July 23, 2018, as one of the two "Stagehands-in-Charge"[9](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Kate-Bornstein/) • [2](https://www.slantmagazine.com/interviews/pretty-damn-bowie-kate-bornstein-on-their-broadway-debut-in-straight-white-men/) |
| Screen | Appeared in all episodes of Season 2 of the reality show *I Am Cait* with Caitlyn Jenner[7](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2815/kate-bornstein/) |
| Reach | *Gender Outlaw* and *My Gender Workbook* are taught in six languages at hundreds of colleges[10](https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Kate-Bornstein/235249608) |
## Early life and training
Bornstein grew up in a Jewish family on the New Jersey shore and studied acting, training at [Brown University](https://www.edgepedia.org/brown-university) as an undergraduate and at [Brandeis University](https://www.edgepedia.org/brandeis-university) in graduate school before joining the [Church of Scientology](https://www.edgepedia.org/church-of-scientology), a detour that lasted twelve years. She has said she left after concluding that L. Ron Hubbard was embezzling the money members were making for him.[1](https://nyctransoralhistory.org/interview/kate-bornstein/) • [2](https://www.slantmagazine.com/interviews/pretty-damn-bowie-kate-bornstein-on-their-broadway-debut-in-straight-white-men/)
After leaving [Scientology](https://www.edgepedia.org/scientology) she came to terms with the recognition that she was not a man. In the 1980s the available categories were narrow: as she put it, "You were a drag queen, a closeted cross-dresser, or a transsexual." To qualify for gender confirmation surgery she was required to state that she was attracted to men, wanted to marry, and regretted never being able to give birth; the word "non-binary" did not yet exist as an option.[2](https://www.slantmagazine.com/interviews/pretty-damn-bowie-kate-bornstein-on-their-broadway-debut-in-straight-white-men/)
## Writing
**Gender Outlaw (1994).** Published by [Routledge](https://www.edgepedia.org/routledge) on June 1, 1994, the book mixes cultural criticism, dramatic writing, and autobiography to argue that gender, which [Bornstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/bornstein) distinguishes from sex, is a cultural rather than a natural phenomenon. It includes analyses of gender assignment, identity, and roles, and prints the script of her play *Hidden: A Gender*. Kirkus noted her suggestion that "the culture may not simply be creating roles for naturally-gendered people, the culture may in fact be creating the gendered people."[4](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kate-bornstein/gender-outlaw/) In it she coined the paired terms "gender defenders," for those who maintain the existing gender system, and "gender outlaws," for those who contest it.[4](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kate-bornstein/gender-outlaw/) • [11](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235063311_Transgenderism_and_the_Question_of_Embodiment_Promising_Queer_Politics) Bornstein later said the first edition made the mistake of creating a new binary by treating non-binary identity as good and binary identity as bad, an error she corrected in the 2016 revision.[2](https://www.slantmagazine.com/interviews/pretty-damn-bowie-kate-bornstein-on-their-broadway-debut-in-straight-white-men/)
**My Gender Workbook.** The 1997 text, updated in 2013 as *My New Gender Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving World Peace Through Gender Anarchy and Sex Positivity*, combines autobiography and cultural theory with Cosmo-style quizzes. Bornstein has described its message as living one's gendered life consciously, "so that it's you who are gendering you, not some vague cultural commandment."[5](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/57190-a-transformed-world-pw-talks-with-kate-bornstein.html)
**Hello, Cruel World.** First published in 2006 as *101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws*, the book grew out of Bornstein's concern about suicide and homelessness among LGBT youth. A 20th anniversary edition appeared on April 29, 2025 from Triangle Square Books for Young Readers, 288 pages, with 20 new alternatives for a catalog of 121 and a new afterword by Paul Preciado; Bornstein's own website gave the on-sale date as April 8, 2025. The book's single directive is "Don't be mean."[12](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/214002/hello-cruel-world-by-kate-bornstein/) • [3](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kate-bornstein/hello-cruel-world/) • [13](https://katebornstein.com/) The 2006 book earned two citations of honor from the [New York City Council](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-city-council) and propelled Bornstein into advocacy for marginalized youth.[10](https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Kate-Bornstein/235249608)
**Later work.** In 2010 Bornstein co-edited with S. Bear Bergman the anthology *Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation* (Seal Press), gathering essays, poems, and comics from a generation raised with *Gender Outlaw* as a reference point.[14](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781580053082) The memoir *A Queer and Pleasant Danger* appeared in 2012, and the documentary *Kate Bornstein Is a Queer and Pleasant Danger* takes its title from it.[6](https://hyperallergic.com/kate-bornstein-life-through-four-dimensions-of-gender/) • [2](https://www.slantmagazine.com/interviews/pretty-damn-bowie-kate-bornstein-on-their-broadway-debut-in-straight-white-men/)
## Performance and theater
Bornstein's play *Hidden: A Gender* was first performed in 1989, and her solo pieces include *The Opposite Sex Is Neither*, *Virtually Yours*, and *On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us*; she has toured internationally with them.[8](https://aperture.org/editorial/gender-playground/) • [7](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2815/kate-bornstein/) • [9](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Kate-Bornstein/) In the early 1990s she toured one-woman shows with the "Purple Circuit," a collective of theaters that promoted LGBTQ works around the country.[15](https://playbill.com/article/what-it-means-to-be-trans-in-the-theatre) In 1989 she appeared on the *Geraldo* episode "Transsexual Regrets: Who's Sorry Now?", later saying, "I was the one who wasn't sorry."[8](https://aperture.org/editorial/gender-playground/)
Her Broadway debut came in Young Jean Lee's *Straight White Men* at the Hayes Theater, which opened on July 23, 2018, where she and Ty Defoe played the "Stagehands-in-Charge," a framing performance-art device Lee wrote for the performers in each production.[9](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Kate-Bornstein/) • [2](https://www.slantmagazine.com/interviews/pretty-damn-bowie-kate-bornstein-on-their-broadway-debut-in-straight-white-men/) On screen she appeared in all episodes of Season 2 of *I Am Cait* and in the film *Saturday Church*.[7](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2815/kate-bornstein/) • [9](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Kate-Bornstein/)
## Ideas and influence
Bornstein's central claim is that the two-gender system is a cultural construct rather than a natural order, and that gender is relative to context; at a 2014 New America event she argued that geography, religion, and family attitudes all alter how gender functions as a determinant of identity.[16](https://time.com/3672297/future-gender-norms/) The NYC Trans Oral History Project describes her as among the best-known trans authors since the mid-1990s, influencing a generation through her fusion of personal memoir and postmodern gender theory.[1](https://nyctransoralhistory.org/interview/kate-bornstein/) Scholars have engaged her work critically as well: Patricia Elliot's 1998 article in *Atlantis* questions how *Gender Outlaw* theorizes sex, gender, desire, and subjectivity, and later work has examined how the book rearranges the linear transition timeline typical of the trans memoir genre.[17](https://atlantisjournal.ca/atlantis/fr_CA/article/view/1683/) • [18](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08989575.2019.1542820)
Bornstein has also worked as a mentor. In 2024 she was paired with performer Kelindah Bee Schuster in Queer|Art's 13th annual mentorship program, and their collaboration appeared in the exhibition *Flagging the Circle* at Sargent's Daughters gallery in New York.[19](https://www.them.us/story/kate-bornstein-kelindah-bee-schuster-queer-art-mentorship-interview) • [6](https://hyperallergic.com/kate-bornstein-life-through-four-dimensions-of-gender/)
## Personal life
Bornstein divides her time between New York City and the [Rhode Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/rhode-island) shore and lives in [Asbury Park, New Jersey](https://www.edgepedia.org/asbury-park-new-jersey).[7](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2815/kate-bornstein/) She has written about serious illness in her books' prefaces: she was newly diagnosed with leukemia while finishing the first *Gender Workbook*, and composed the final draft of the 2013 update while recovering from surgery for lung cancer.[5](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/57190-a-transformed-world-pw-talks-with-kate-bornstein.html)
## References
1. [Interview of Kate Bornstein, NYC Trans Oral History Project](https://nyctransoralhistory.org/interview/kate-bornstein/)
2. [Interview: Kate Bornstein on Their Broadway Debut in Straight White Men, Slant Magazine (2018)](https://www.slantmagazine.com/interviews/pretty-damn-bowie-kate-bornstein-on-their-broadway-debut-in-straight-white-men/)
3. [Hello, Cruel World review, Kirkus Reviews (2025)](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kate-bornstein/hello-cruel-world/)
4. [Gender Outlaw review, Kirkus Reviews (1994)](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kate-bornstein/gender-outlaw/)
5. [A Transformed World: PW Talks With Kate Bornstein, Publishers Weekly (2013)](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/interviews/article/57190-a-transformed-world-pw-talks-with-kate-bornstein.html)
6. [Kate Bornstein's Life Through Four Dimensions of Gender, Hyperallergic (2024)](https://hyperallergic.com/kate-bornstein-life-through-four-dimensions-of-gender/)
7. [Kate Bornstein author page, Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2815/kate-bornstein/)
8. [Gender Is a Playground, Aperture (2017)](https://aperture.org/editorial/gender-playground/)
9. [Kate Bornstein, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Kate-Bornstein/)
10. [Kate Bornstein, Simon & Schuster author page](https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Kate-Bornstein/235249608)
11. [Transgenderism and the Question of Embodiment: Promising Queer Politics?, GLQ](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235063311_Transgenderism_and_the_Question_of_Embodiment_Promising_Queer_Politics)
12. [Hello, Cruel World, Penguin Random House book page](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/214002/hello-cruel-world-by-kate-bornstein/)
13. [Kate Bornstein official website](https://katebornstein.com/)
14. [Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation review, Publishers Weekly (2010)](https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781580053082)
15. [What It Means to Be Trans in the Theatre, Playbill (2016)](https://playbill.com/article/what-it-means-to-be-trans-in-the-theatre)
16. [How To Shake Up Gender Norms, Time (2014)](https://time.com/3672297/future-gender-norms/)
17. [Some Critical Reflections on the Transgender Theory of Kate Bornstein, Atlantis (1998)](https://atlantisjournal.ca/atlantis/fr_CA/article/view/1683/)
18. [Posttranssexual Temporalities, a/b: Auto/Biography Studies (2019)](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08989575.2019.1542820)
19. [Kate Bornstein and Kelindah Bee Schuster on Art, Parenthood, and Gender, Them (2024)](https://www.them.us/story/kate-bornstein-kelindah-bee-schuster-queer-art-mentorship-interview)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Writers and literary biographies › Playwrights, dramatists, and screen writers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license