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Changing Gender
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Expected 25 Aug 26From the groundbreaking trans scholar Susan Stryker, a provocative, genre-bending call to reconsider the story we tell about gender itself.
That gender is a hotly contested topic becomes ever clearer as antigender ideology continues to be mobilized by the far right and transgender people's lives are increasingly targeted. But what are we talking about when we talk about gender? Where did the concept itself come from, and where might it go?
In Changing Gender, the leading trans scholar Susan Stryker invites readers to ride along on her lifelong quest to uncover what gender means and does. She traces the gender concept's roots in grammar and tells the story of how it transformed into a battleground of the culture wars. From the origins of “Yankee Doodle” to acid trips in Joshua Tree National Park, from nineteenth-century phrenology to present-day anti-trans conspiracy theorists, Stryker finds surprising places to tune in to the origins, idiosyncrasies, and generative possibilities of the gender concept. Along the way, she weaves stories drawn from her lifetime as a pathbreaking historian, filmmaker, activist, and founding figure of transgender studies.
Poignant and deeply researched, lyrical and authoritative, Changing Gender is a book for our fraught time, exposing limiting assumptions about gender across the political spectrum and imagining what life might look like if some of those limitations were lifted. Ultimately, Stryker argues, to change gender is to change what it means to be human—and to change reality itself.
That gender is a hotly contested topic becomes ever clearer as antigender ideology continues to be mobilized by the far right and transgender people's lives are increasingly targeted. But what are we talking about when we talk about gender? Where did the concept itself come from, and where might it go?
In Changing Gender, the leading trans scholar Susan Stryker invites readers to ride along on her lifelong quest to uncover what gender means and does. She traces the gender concept's roots in grammar and tells the story of how it transformed into a battleground of the culture wars. From the origins of “Yankee Doodle” to acid trips in Joshua Tree National Park, from nineteenth-century phrenology to present-day anti-trans conspiracy theorists, Stryker finds surprising places to tune in to the origins, idiosyncrasies, and generative possibilities of the gender concept. Along the way, she weaves stories drawn from her lifetime as a pathbreaking historian, filmmaker, activist, and founding figure of transgender studies.
Poignant and deeply researched, lyrical and authoritative, Changing Gender is a book for our fraught time, exposing limiting assumptions about gender across the political spectrum and imagining what life might look like if some of those limitations were lifted. Ultimately, Stryker argues, to change gender is to change what it means to be human—and to change reality itself.
Audible Audio
Expected publication August 25, 2026
About the author
Susan Stryker
47 books322 followersSusan O'Neal Stryker is an American professor, author, filmmaker, and theorist whose work focuses on gender and human sexuality. She is an associate professor of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Arizona, and is the director of the university's Institute for LGBT Studies. She has served as a visiting professor at Harvard University, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Simon Fraser University. She is an openly lesbian trans woman who has produced a significant body of work about transgenderism and queer culture.
(from Wikipedia)
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 13, 2026
I always enjoy reading Susan Stryker’s work, and CHANGING GENDER might be my favorite yet.
Stryker’s writing style is so accessible; she plunges into the depths of complicated theory and history, and then she explicates it in such a way that it’s actually easy to understand, effortlessly grounding that theory and history in real life and relevancy. The anecdotes she shares are entertaining, and they drive home the point that this thing we call gender has always been in flux, as has our understanding of it. She keeps
I can see myself returning to this in the future as I continue on my academic journey, and I think it could easily become a foundational text for Women, Gender, and Sexuality students. I think this would also be a great read for anyone interested in thinking about gender broadly, but especially those who are interested in deconstructing their ideas of gender for the benefit of their trans* loved ones.
Thank you to Netgalley and Farrer, Straus, and Giroux for the ARC!
Stryker’s writing style is so accessible; she plunges into the depths of complicated theory and history, and then she explicates it in such a way that it’s actually easy to understand, effortlessly grounding that theory and history in real life and relevancy. The anecdotes she shares are entertaining, and they drive home the point that this thing we call gender has always been in flux, as has our understanding of it. She keeps
I can see myself returning to this in the future as I continue on my academic journey, and I think it could easily become a foundational text for Women, Gender, and Sexuality students. I think this would also be a great read for anyone interested in thinking about gender broadly, but especially those who are interested in deconstructing their ideas of gender for the benefit of their trans* loved ones.
Thank you to Netgalley and Farrer, Straus, and Giroux for the ARC!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Susan Stryker lives and breathes trans history. Which makes this book feel like a reckoning.
Changing Gender is a political and intellectual history of the concept, tracing how we came to think about it the way we do, and how it’s been contested, weaponized, liberated, and reclaimed.
I love books like this: exploring not just what happened, but why it exists in the first place.
The refusal to separate the intellectual from the political is much appreciated! She never loses the human in the concept, rendering her discussions in beautiful, almost lyrical prose.
A grounding, devastating, but dare I say hopeful work: this is the historical grounding we need.
I received an early copy courtesy of the publishers via Netgalley. All opinions are mine alone.
Changing Gender is a political and intellectual history of the concept, tracing how we came to think about it the way we do, and how it’s been contested, weaponized, liberated, and reclaimed.
I love books like this: exploring not just what happened, but why it exists in the first place.
The refusal to separate the intellectual from the political is much appreciated! She never loses the human in the concept, rendering her discussions in beautiful, almost lyrical prose.
A grounding, devastating, but dare I say hopeful work: this is the historical grounding we need.
I received an early copy courtesy of the publishers via Netgalley. All opinions are mine alone.
March 24, 2026
This was so thought provoking!! I appreciated learning this history behind gender. There was so much to learn and take in. I thought I knew so much and I learned even more from reading this book. I also appreciated the different ways the author discussed gender and the comparisons that were made. My favorite one was about Yankee Doodle. Additionally, the author provides a good connection to the language aspect when it comes to gender.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews