Michael Gilbert

Michael Alan Gilbert (born 1945), also known by his femme alter ego Miqqi Alicia Gilbert, is an American-Canadian argumentation theorist, cross-dresser, author, academic, activist and professor emeritus at York University's Department of Philosophy.
His first field of research is the interdisciplinary area of argumentation theory that cuts across philosophy, linguistics, social psychology, and communication theory. His approach emphasizes and demands credibility for non-logical modes of communication, rooted in the belief that information, particularly in arguments, is exchanged "not through statements, but through messages which include familiar meaning, context, bodily communications, power relations, and intuitions". His most notable work is on models of argumentation that challenge logical, dialectical, and rhetorical traditions. He developed the theories of multi-modal argumentation and coalescent argumentation to showcase and address the mechanisms used by interlocutors to argue in the marketplace.
Gilbert's second area of research is gender studies, examining the foundation and nature of the socially constructed gender binary, and its implementation across institutional and social settings. He explores the role of gender diversity as a catalyst for disrupting the norm and unsettling the binary. As a life-long cross dresser, he studies the practice both as Michael and Miqqi Alicia Gilbert, his femme alter ego, to re-establish cross-dressing as an "opportunity for personal growth and exploration."