Trans Technologies

by Oliver Haimson

How technology creates new possibilities for transgender people, and how trans experiences, in turn, create new possibilities for technology.

Mainstream technologies often exclude or marginalize transgender users. Trans Technologies describes what happens when trans people take technology design into their own hands. Oliver Haimson, whose research into gender transition and technology has defined this area of study, draws on transgender studies and his own in-depth interviews with more than 100 creators of technology—including apps, games, health resources, extended reality systems, and supplies designed to address challenges trans people face—to explain what trans technology is and to explore its present possibilities and limitations, as well as its future prospects.

Haimson surveys the landscape of trans technologies to reveal the design processes that brought these technologies to life, and to show how trans people often must rely on community, technology, and the combination of the two to meet their basic needs and challenges. His work not only identifies the role of trans technology in caring for individuals within the trans community, but also shows how trans technology creation empowers some trans people to create their own tools for navigating the world. Articulating which trans needs and challenges are currently being addressed by technology and which still need to be addressed; describing how trans technology creators are accomplishing this work; examining how privilege, race, and access to resources impact which trans technologies are built and who may be left out; and highlighting new areas of innovation to be explored, Trans Technologies opens the way to meaningful social change.

Genres: Nonfiction, LGBT, Queer

296 pages, Paperback

Published February 25, 2025

Reviews

[CLAIRE KEYES]

Much needed and well documented new book, being published in Feb 2025.

[Charley Rains · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book belongs in every University and College library!

[camille! · Rating 5 out of 5]

BANGER!!! i especially loved chapter six

[neens · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book is an impressive feat at condensing hours of interviews the author gathered with creators of "trans technologies" circa 2021 to 2023. haimson defines these as either being malleable/conducive to ambiguity (thus, "trans") or addressing problems concerning trans people practically, e.g. via voice-training apps. the themes he identified were interesting and he neatly lays out his point about the ambivalence inherent to trans tech, e.g. separatist vs. inclusionist tech, individualist vs. community-based/participatory design processes, capitalist vs. anticapitalist funding. he also references hil malatino's "trans care" and dean spade's concept of mutual aid. the book is critical of the exclusion of marginalized groups, whose problems designers aim to address, from the actual design process and voices some of the creators' qualms about the implications of their own technologies, e.g. accidentally creating new norms or only offering temporary relief from structural issues.

unfortunately, the book barely breaks out of an academic format; when reading large chunks at a time, the overview-quote-paraphrasing block structure of the chapters becomes tedious. i wish haimson had dedicated more of the book to setting up a wider theory of trans technology. at one point, he says that a more detailed discussion would warrant an analysis of labor he cannot provide. here, i wish he had brought in people from other fields to elaborate on points that fell short due to a mostly hci lens.

some of what i was missing from the book was remedied by the last chapter that presents outlooks on future trans tech and touches on murkier cyborg visions i was expecting in true paul-preciado fashion when going into the book. finally, he also points out the fragility of many highlighted projects and that many creators were (re-)inventing things that had already existed in the past. i would love to see more of a historical account of that, e.g. since hormone diaries or trans podcasts have been around since well before the 2020s. i also would've loved for the figures and screenshots in the book not to be grayscale, considering the book is, after all, about design.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A vital, timely, and piercing account of trans technologies. I’m withholding a longer review for various reasons including to pique the curiosity of potential readers. Also, please do give money and resources to trans creators if you have the bandwidth. Good luck to my friends in the states.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book about trans technologies, it's academic but very accessible and touches elegantly on a wide range of connected topics, illuminated by the author's extensive process of interviewing trans tech creators.