True Sex: The Lives of Trans Men at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

by Emily Skidmore

The incredible stories of how trans men assimilated into mainstream communities in the late 1800s. In 1883, Frank Dubois gained national attention for his life in Waupun, Wisconsin. There he was known as a hard-working man, married to a young woman named Gertrude Fuller. What drew national attention to his seemingly unremarkable life was that he was revealed to be anatomically female. Dubois fit so well within the small community that the townspeople only discovered his "true sex" when his former husband and their two children arrived in the town searching in desperation for their departed wife and mother. At the turn of the twentieth century, trans men were not necessarily urban rebels seeking to overturn stifling gender roles. In fact, they often sought to pass as conventional men, choosing to live in small towns where they led ordinary lives, aligning themselves with the expectations of their communities. They were, in a word, unexceptional. In True Sex, Emily Skidmore uncovers the stories of eighteen trans men who lived in the United States between 1876 and 1936. Despite their "unexceptional" quality, their lives are surprising and moving, challenging much of what we think we know about queer history. By tracing the narratives surrounding the moments of "discovery" in these communities - from reports in local newspapers to medical journals and beyond -- this book challenges the assumption that the full story of modern American sexuality is told by cosmopolitan radicals. Rather, True Sex reveals complex narratives concerning rural geography and community, persecution and tolerance, and how these factors intersect with the history of race, identity and sexuality in America.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, LGBT, Queer, Transgender, Gender, Gender and Sexuality

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 19, 2017

About the author

Emily Skidmore's research interests are U.S. women's and gender history, cultural history, and queer studies. Her book, True Sex: The Lives of Trans Men at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, will be published by NYU Press in the fall of 2017. She has presented her research at numerous national conferences, including the Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, the National Women's Studies Annual Conference, the Annual Meeting of the American Studies Association, and the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians. Her work has also been featured on the NPR podcast, “Backstory."

Dr. Skidmore's article, "Ralph Kerwineo's Queer Body: Narrating the Scales of Social Membership in the Early Twentieth Century," appeared in a special issue of GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, titled “Queering the Middle: Race, Sexual Diasporas, and a Queer Midwest,”in early 2014. This article was awarded the 2016 Audre Lorde Prize, which recognizes an outstanding article on LGBT history published in the preceding two years.

Dr. Skidmore’s work has also appeared in Feminist Studies, and she has been invited to publish book reviews in The Journal of the History of Sexuality, Journal of American History, and the Journal of American Ethnic History.

Prior to joining the faculty at Texas Tech, Dr. Skidmore earned a B.A. in History and Urban Studies from Macalester College in 2004, and a Ph.D. in History at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2011. Dr. Skidmore is thrilled to be a part of the Texas Tech community, and excited about developing her broad teaching interests, offering courses in U.S. History, and histories of gender and sexuality.

Reviews

[Sleepless Dreamer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is just very cool. Even if it's written a little too densely, it's just so fascinating that the writing style doesn't matter that much. True Sex describes the lives of trans men in the 19-20th centuries. Skidmore digs deep into newspapers from all across the country in order to tell their story. And let me tell you, their lives were absolutely fascinating.  

This book is split into 5 chapters. The first two chapters discuss trans men in rural areas. Skidmore suggests that trans men assimilated in small rural communities, precisely because of the close ties there. It was such an interesting claim, as we're all so used to hearing about cities being better queer environments. However, these men decided to live away from any kind of queer community, living what appears to be very normative lives. 

Skidmore makes a compelling argument about the way these men were accepted in their communities. Even after they were outed, since they were well known as hardworking members of their society, their communities stood by them. This influenced the way they were described in the news, for example, or the way they were buried.

The next chapters discuss white privilege. The men who were accepted were all very much in line with the image of a successful man in America. They were socially "forgiven" for being trans since they were white middle class men. As it turns out, being trans and not white was much harder. Skidmore shares the stories of several immigrants and the way they were treated after they were outed and it is definitely different. 

In the end of the book, Skidmore mentions that history can be a type of activism and truly, this book makes a captivating case that trans people have been around even in conservative rural America. What's fascinating is to consider that all of the trans men described here were outed after something out of the ordinary happened, from being arrested to their own peculiar deaths which led to autopsies. This means that potentially there could have been any number  of trans men who were living at this time and died without anyone knowing. 

Since I'm reading The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race, and American Identity at the same time, I found it so interesting to see the similarities. Like heck yeah, when Republicans romanticize the past, the should also remember that trans men and minorities were also part of the picture. Old day America had trans men of color, just like modern day America.

Additionally, Goldstein claims that Jews were able to be successful in America in the same years by convincing everyone that they're "part of the white family". In a similar vein, Skidmore tells us about several trans men of color who had attempted to present themselves as white (or as different, more assimilated ethnicity). In order to be able to be accepted, trans men had to fit precisely into what America considers a successful man. 

In some ways, this felt very contemporary. Even in 2020, there's still this expectation from trans people to conform to a specific type of gender. As a nonbinary person, it took me a long time to figure out what were the things that made me uncomfortable because they didn't feel like me versus the things that I felt like I couldn't do because they were hurting my "legitimacy" as a queer person. Which is very silly and yet, I was absolutely haunted by this. 

My one problem with this book is that Skidmore never engages with the idea that these could be lesbians. I mean, for some of these men, it feels very obvious that they identified as men (like the guy who said he would commit suicide if he had to dress like a woman). However, for others, certain pieces of evidence that she presents make it seem that they were lesbians who had enjoyed better work due to presenting themselves as men. Now, if Skidmore says they're trans men, I assume she does have the knowledge to base this but by not mentioning this at all, it comes across as though she doesn't. Her argument would have been stronger by refuting those claims.
 
Sometimes it feels like we're not making enough progress in regards to queer issues. I mean, the trans army ban and the bathroom laws are very real and very contemporary. Reading this made me feel like there's quite a bit that has been done, in terms of medical care and such. Of course, there is still much more to do but progress is also real.

All in all, this is such a good book. I think it could have been written a little bit better but it's so interesting that it didn't matter that much (after reading Amartya Sen, nothing can hurt me anymore). Definitely recommended for anyone who's curious about trans history! And happy pride month! 

What I'm Taking With Me
- JK Rowling, what would you say to these men who absolutely suffered because of medical care that couldn't fathom that they didn't have the "right" anatomy? Isn't that enough of a reason to say people who menstruate instead of women?
- Willie Ray, who flirted with another man's wife, got into a physical fight, got sued and then came out as being trans during a trial as a way to make his opponent look bad for hitting a "woman". He then promptly continued to live with said man's wife while that guy went to prison. This deserves a movie. 
- Apparently in Wisconsin there was a law where you could sue your husband if he was not able to provide for the family (this was called Lazy Husband Law, isn't that wild?). This woman sued her husband which led to him coming out as trans in order to avoid a prison sentence. 
-  It's really nice to think that essentially all of these men were happily married. I get the feeling that marriage is something that makes trans people nowadays somewhat anxious (like, personally, I've felt concerned about changing parts of my body and not having the support of whoever I'd be with because they wouldn't be able to understand). 
- Skidmore points out that marriage was one of the only things trans men could do to affirm their gender. There's something really wholesome about picturing them living these happily married lives in small towns around the states.

[Emmkay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imbues trans history with specificity and counters today’s often over-simplified narratives, by which transness is a recent invention of the urban coastal elite, or, to the extent it’s always existed, had always previously been viewed as illness or sexual deviance. To the contrary, as the author shows in this academic study of cases of trans men that were covered in American newspapers from the 1880s through the 1920s. In fact, while newspapers often greeted these cases with some puzzlement, Skidmore shows that coverage was fairly positive, at least in the cases of white trans men who pursued the indicia of productive citizenship (taking care of family, earning a living).

Skidmore also shows that many trans men led productive, prosocial lives embedded in smaller communities, the members of which were generally pretty unfussed when their neighbour’s “true sex” was revealed. Intriguingly, Skidmore notes that one can expect the stories that made the paper to represent only the tip of the iceberg: there were very likely trans men living across the US in communities of every size, often with community and family support, and sometimes in marriages with women. So interesting!

Just one example: Kenneth Lisonbee worked as a barber and was arrested in the 1920s in a small California city with his girlfriend, Stella Harper when his true sex was discovered. It was also discovered that he’d previously been married to another woman. Lisonbee had grown up on a ranch in Utah, a grandchild of a Mormon founding father. Press stories sympathetically covered this “tomboy ranch girl” who reportedly was “the best son his dad ever had.” Judicial officials saw no harm or damage in what Lisonbee and his girlfriend had done, and noted that these days it couldn’t be said that there was any exclusively male or female attire anymore. They returned to Utah and moved in with his parents, with Lisonbee reverting to his female birth name for a while. Later, the pair moved back to the same small city in California, this time with his parents, and Lisonbee resumed working at the same barber shop. He was arrested once more in 1940 in a traffic stop because of the name on his driver’s licence. News coverage was uniformly sympathetic and charges dismissed, with Lisonbee noting he would keep on wearing men’s clothes, that everyone knew him as Ken, and that the board of Barber Examiners knew he was born a woman but were happy to issue his annual licence in a man’s name. Fascinating!

[Lexxi Kitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and New York University Press in exchange for an honest review.

This is a nonfiction book that attempts to examine the history of a segment of the LGBT rainbow that tends to get ignored, lumped in with other things, and/or assumed to ‘match up’ with ‘the rest’ of the found history. Specifically this is an examination of the T in LGBT. Though it is entirely fixated on FtM without even a hint that MtF exists – unlike L and G, which at least get a mention here and there – both in terms of similarities and differences inherent in what has been found by researchers. B? I? A? Not even mentioned.

The general idea of LGBT history research, or, I should say, the general narrative that has been found through research, is that ‘queer people’ are allowed to ‘blossom’, to really become themselves when they go the cities and join LGBT communities. With some exceptions here and there, like research that has been done about the American Western Frontier, the ‘best’ places for gay and lesbian individuals would be found within cities. It’s the ‘rural’ vs. ‘urban’ mythos. And an assumption was made that this would hold true for all LGBT peoples.

The author of this nonfiction book, though, has found that transgender history, at least as it relates to FtM (or female to male), is different than expected. Research has found that there has been a large number of, as the author puts it, ‘Trans Men’ who had found rich rewarding lives ‘being themselves’ in rural communities. There are certain reasons for that, which the author elaborates upon in the book. Though it is stressed… right.

Through mention of other histories and research done on the era (1870-1930), plus extensive research among many newspapers, the author presents her findings through, as noted, mention of other research, plus case studies. Mostly those found through newspaper articles from the era in question, plus a few sexology … case studies (I shouldn’t have used case studies before since it actually is ‘case studies’ there for the sexology thingie).

There are five chapters and many Trans Men are identified, described, and examined. Two things are immediately of importance – regardless of how the individuals identify themselves, the author focuses more on the Trans Men than anyone else they might be cohabitating with (though mention of girlfriends, wives, etc. occurs; including any husbands the Trans Men might have had along the way). Oh, and the second thing of immediate importance, there is an assumption being made, whether I’m reading into things or not I’m not sure, but an assumption made by the author that if a woman dresses up like a man, is found out and reported on in the news, then regardless of their own words, they are trans men (instead of, say, women who found that it was easier to find work and continue working while dressed men and putting themselves out there as men). Many of the same news articles I saw that had the trans men saying things like ‘I dressed like a man for work, but I plan to never again wear men clothing’ had later news reports about the same trans men who, oddly enough despite their own words, found themselves again ‘found out’ wearing men’s clothing. So there is evidence that what their own words say, they mean something else to themselves (especially since so many of them find it easier to present themselves in certain ways in the press to help with public opinion and/or court cases).
Right, so. Five chapters. And both a long extensive introduction, and a long extensive notes section (the book itself ends, the part before the end notes I mean, at about 70% into the ARC kindle file). Except for a chapter on marriage and what it meant over time; the chapters follow a progression, starting with chapter one set in the earliest years in the 1870s/1880s. And traveling through time up to chapter 4 and the 1920s/1930s. With chapter five concentrating on, as noted, the concept of marriage throughout the years.

There were many interesting tidbits of information gained along the way. One of which is that many of these stories would make good books. Which, in its own way, is quite important – as the impression given is that two women just couldn’t have any kind of relationship with each other ‘before’ a certain date. Just couldn’t be done. They’d be shunned by society. Then I read this book and I see couples that had 10, 20, 30 year marriages (and yes, some of these were legally sanctioned marriages – granted, one of the people in the marriage was dressed as a man and proclaiming themselves to be a man, and the other was dressed and acting like a woman when they got married). Opened my eyes, that did. Then there were more eye-opening moments.

Eye opening moments: it appears, from the extensive research conducted by the author of the book, rural communities were actually a lot more accepting of same sex unions involving two women. There’s many a story wherein the ‘true sex’ of the ‘female husband’ was found out and the local community responded positively towards the couple. True sex – that’s one of the things newspapers just loved to do: 1) act shocked and horrified when it is found out that the husband’s ‘true sex’ was actually that of a ‘biological woman’ (with wording that indicated that this was like the first time this has ever happened or been seen; then a similar story would pop up the next day with no links being made to the prior days story, odd, eh?); 2) call the husband in the relationship that involved a trans man a ‘female husband’ – sometimes positively, sometimes negatively.

But I was talking about rural communities. It seems, after research, that many rural communities were actually quite accepting of two women living together in a marriage like setting as long as: 1) one took on the role of husband; 2) the husband was hard working and a positive benefit to the community; 3) white (or, at least, ‘white enough’ depending). And no, they didn’t then pretend that it was man and woman; many a story had comments that indicated that yes they knew that that dude walking around in pants and who had a wife was 'in fact' a woman in men's clothing, they just didn’t care because both were fine upstanding members of the community. And stuff. And this was repeated all over the country. Fine upstanding member of the community? Fine, be woman-woman household (as long as one dresses and acts like a man); not upstanding member of community? Depends, but unlikely to be accepted. Likely to end up being punished and/or put in an insane asylum (as happened to one woman, though there is an indication that that specific woman did have some mental issues).

I mentioned white – well, there were ways to get around that. Like one trans man whose father was an ambassador to the US from Mexico and had fought in a war against the US as a general – that specific individual used certain names that pushed away connections to Mexico; played up connections that make them appear ‘better’ (like, in some news accounts, play up the fact that they come from a long line of proud military – without including which country those family members fought for). Or another trans man who lived in Milwaukee – which, apparently, had an interesting diverse mix going on at the turn of the 20th century. That specific individual in that Milwaukee case played up being from South America (which was a lie, but meh) to both to separate themselves from the black community, and to explain their darker skin – and then later, when being from South America turned into a liability, they next turned to playing up Native connections (as in native American), as that’s still better than being thought of as being a member of the black community. Basically there’s a presumption of innocence if you are white, and a presumption of guilt if you aren’t white, and just who is considered white fluctuate (like when WWI rolled around and that same one above with the Mexican General in their background suddenly got taken as a German spy despite never claiming anything to do with Germany; it’s just that any and all Germans were now suspect; course heaven forbid if you happened to be Asian, just . . . don’t be).

Well, the book will not actually get published for another month, so I’ll think about other things I might add. I might not have anything else so I’ll leave things as: this was a very interesting, informative

I suppose I could add: 1) marriage before a certain date was a more local matter. It’s the kind of thing that if you moved into the area, said you were husband and wife, lived as husband and wife, the local community weren’t going to demand proof, they’d just accept it (unless there’s some reason not to, like if someone else turns up saying they are ‘that’ person’s husband, or wife); 2) then, due to various reasons – fear of immigrants, etc., regulations regarding Marriage became more of an issue and lots of people got involved, including eugenics people who wanted to control who could marry, when, how, etc. etc. (they also wanted to sterilize certain people, but that’s somewhat linked, but separate), so it became more than just two people moving in and saying ‘we are married’; 3) so the question comes up, why did so many trans men put their lives at risk (legal lives not physical lives) by going through with a sanctioned marriage, a regulated marriage? Because, even with the laws in place (like blood tests and the like that started going onto the state legal statutes), if they can get a legally recognized marriage certificate, then they are doing one of the few things they can do to ‘prove’ that they are a man – at the time there were no hormone treatment, body transition surgery, or the like – proclaiming yourself a man on a legally recognized document and having it be accepted . . . well, that’s huge.

Let me look at my extensive notes before I actually depart this review box. Well Microsoft word but whatever.

1) Newspapers fluctuated on coverage (both between local and national, and between how the story got told). Depending on the people involved, whiteness, community benefit, etc., they either held the trans man up as someone attempting to ‘do right’, to be a productive member of society in the only way they know how, even if that means putting on men’s clothing and getting a job they would otherwise not be able to be employed to do; or they held the person up as a dangerous deviant.
2) Somewhere around 1883, sexologists started releasing studies which were known, but not necessarily accepted by local communities – but just by being known they might have had an impact, these ideas that they stressed being of a binary mindset, and their ideas of a ‘natural woman’ consisted of: a natural woman is one who is a) asexual (isn’t actually interested in sex); b) ‘naturally’ matched up with a man. And all who do not follow this ideal are deviant perverts. And that would include women who like sex with men. Not just women who like sex with women, or women who believe that they are actually men.

Rating: 4.55

Publication Date: September 19 2017

August 15 2017

[Morgan M. Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's nothing I love more than historical stories about trans men running afoul of the law, courting beautiful women into doomed marriages, and living their lives openly as men, and Emily Skidmore's True Sex gives these to you in spades. Skidmore analyses local and national newspaper coverage of over sixty trans men between the 1870s and 1940s, providing a fascinating look at a handful of these men's lives and the often surprising ways they were covered by various media outlets. In doing so, Skidmore highlights the ways in which these men counter the standard narrative that LGBT people had to leave rural towns in order to form urban communities, and even the idea that trans people necessarily wanted or needed to form communities at all. Skidmore provides a lot of insightful context - ranging from eugenics laws to the local politics of race in particular cities - that helps make sense of why some (mostly white) trans men received positive media coverage and avoided charges, while others (mostly not white) unfortunately did not. Easily one of my favourite books on trans history to date. I'm wild about it - and about a half dozen of these dudes who, if they were alive today, would probably wander into and out of my boudoir, let's be honest.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

True Sex: The Lives of Trans Men at The Turn of the Twentieth Century is a fascinating and tantalizing exploration of women passing as men in American society from the 1870’s-1930’s. Authored by Dr. Emily Skidmore, assistant professor of History and Gender Studies at Texas Tech University, this impressive book unfolds like a novel. There were 65 true life stories studied, recorded from historical local and national newspapers with extensive social and cultural research included.

It was totally surprising to learn that American “transmen” ( women we recognize today that identified as men) during this time period were not hidden, closeted, low profiled, rejected and scorned by their families, communities, and society. In fact, they were usually highly respected contributing members of their local communities. Many transmen had wives, children, and family responsibilities. They worked hard, voted, owned property, businesses, attended church and to civic duties. If their “true sex” was actually publically recognized, it was typically discovered and disclosed at the time of death, or as in the (1902) case of Harry Gorman, 32, of Buffalo, N.Y., when he was hospitalized from a fall that broke both his legs!
Due in part to the American Civil War (1861-65) there was a shortage of marriageable men. The rates of unmarried women rose steadily throughout the 19th century. An 1880’s era NYT article suggested that same sex marriage or the “female husband” was a suitable option to the problem. Although not all marriages during this time were legal or registered, marriage was the ticket not only to legitimacy, but provided respectable status and stability for transmen.
German Sexologist R. von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902) studied patterns of homosexuality and labeled his findings as “sexual inversions”. Women in the Victorian era were believed to be asexual and incapable of sexual passion, lesbianism was also unheard of. Newspapers were forbidden to print explicit or details of any sexual behavior/practice, though hints and suggestions could be briefly implied. Medical authorities were occasionally cited as experts in news articles: Dr. P.M. Wise (Alienist/Neurologist) published “A Case of Sexual Perversion” after Reverend Joseph Lobdell’s admission to the Willard Asylum for the Insane (1880). The concern wasn’t that the reverend was presenting as male, but rather he was identified as a nuisance for public preaching (religious excitement was diagnosed as a mental derangement), he was also unable to provide shelter for his wife, and considered a vagrant.

There were many interesting facts that Dr. Skidmore presented in her book, for example the “myth” that that small town life was a hostile environment for transmen, and the benefits of “white privilege” in a male dominated capitalist society. The newspapers were a reflection of society, and although the right for women to vote was largely supported, much bias and stigma against women remained. Frank Woodhill was admitted to the U.S. from Ellis Island (1908). It wasn’t an issue that Woodhill cross-dressed and falsified his “true sex” on the ships manifest. The newspaper’s praised his work ethic, he was ideal for law abiding citizenship, and also unlikely to become pregnant and request public aid or services. Women immigrants were more likely to be denied entry over men. Chinese women in particular were viewed as a risk for prostitution. Passing as white, if possible, was the preferred option for minority and non-white transmen. Facing terrible discrimination, they were often deemed unfit for personhood.

With the recent proposal of President Donald J. Trump’s ban on transgender citizens for military service (2017), this book couldn’t have come at a better time. “True Sex” raises awareness and encourages us to examine LGBT history and compare what we know today to the 19th and 20th century cultural and societal norms and attitudes when less knowledge and factual information was available. Great photo's included!
**With much appreciation and thanks to New York University Press via NetGalley for the direct e-copy for the purpose of review.

[Isaiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.

I got an ARC in return for an honest review on NetGalley.

I am a huge nerd when it comes to queer anything. I am sadly lacking in my knowledge of FtM and trans man history as it doesn’t seem to be the topic of choice ever. When I saw this book up for grabs I freaked out. Finally a book that focused on my history. I wasn’t going to be just a footnote in a book that is supposedly about trans people, but focuses on MtF people for 99% of the book.

The book was easy to follow, but a bit dense. It was clearly an academic piece. It was written at a level where it was just slightly above the reading level that I can tear through. It took me two sessions to finish, instead of my customary one when it comes to queer books. I was expecting more of a Transgender Warriors, but I was very happy with the book.

The book followed the lives of trans men as they were outed in the media in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The author used the local and national newspapers to piece together the stories of the lives of the men and to match up to current theories around gender, race, and identity. I appreciated the note that author had about terminology, but I hate the term “true sex”. The implications are pretty nasty. If the author hadn’t put it in quotation marks every time it was used, I would have abandoned the book assuming that it was transphobic. Thankfully the author made the language clear up front and showed a great deal of respect for the men she was discussing. My favorite sign of her respect was she constantly referred to the men as he and as men. She never took away their dignity. She had none of the issues I generally have with academic work done by someone who isn’t trans (maybe she is trans, I don’t know. I have not asked). Don’t get me started on my issues with psychology research!

The book taught me a great deal and made me reevaluate the way I see smaller cities. This book gave me validation in my views of port cities (did I ever mention how much I hated living in the SF area despite the large queer presence?). I much prefer the smaller cities or towns. According to this book I might just be following the footsteps of many trans men. I doubt the academic work was meant to make me feel less alone, but somehow this book did just that.

[Emily]

This one's an academic book and I was much more interested in the life stories of these men than the argument for what it all means, so I did a fair amount of skimming. I did appreciate on the academic side, though, the correction to what is often presented as queer history (people moving to big cities to find each other). The stories in this book stand out as being both completely wild (I gasped and laughed out loud at some of the more bold ones, and also at the fragility of cis masculinity on display) and utterly normal at the same time. Also love the understanding that these were only the trans men who were interesting enough to show up in newspapers, and for each of them there were probably ten more just living life.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a ARC of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

It is an interesting book to read since it is real history. It is interestingly written teaches something about trans history. I don't think many people know about this part of history anyhow influential it is to the trans community now. Everybody who want to understand the trans community better or is interested in history should read this book.

[Kim Eshleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Susie Dumond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! This was a thorough and fascinating study of trans men/gender deviance at the turn of the 20th century. I really appreciated all of Skidmore's areas of focus and theses. The book does a great job of applying recent queer theory to historical perspectives and includes a lot of new concepts as well. This is a great read for anyone interested in LGBT history or gender studies.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remained slightly off-put through reading the reading of this. I think it would have been an interesting series of short biographies about trans men but her theory is really lackluster. A keyword search through newspaper archives does not a cohesive thesis make.

My first and most important issue is that until trans men are allowed to research and write our own histories and have them taken seriously, others profiting off our history will always feel disingenuous and awkward.
While Skidmore does use the correct pronouns for writing about men in at least parts of their history she seems unsure of how to speak about trans men in general and it comes across awkward in several places.

She conflates masculinity and whiteness as a protective factor. Whiteness has been and remains a much more protecting identity than perceived masculinity. Her book makes clear (through multiple arrests and forced outings) that the male privilege of trans men is always conditional and temporary whereas whiteness for most of these men was permanent, and that difference should be noted and discussed when writing about racism and transness.
She also paints a picture of acceptance when it's really more like highly conditional tolerance. Not running someone out of town is not the same as accepting them in the community and the quotes from some neighbors in this make it fairly clear that these men were tolerated more than accepted.

[RavensScar · Rating 4 out of 5]

What made me want to read this book was that it's part of history that I know nothing about. It's a part of history that's not talked about. I think most people do not know about this part of history. I think it's a book that can educate people on the transgender history. I really enjoyed reading this book and it made me aware of this part of history.

I received a ARC of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't rate this book highly enough. Not because it's perfect - frankly, I don't feel that I can be objective there - but because I feel as though it gave me my history. I always assumed cases of historical transmasculinity were covert and isolated; if you asked me, I could name Alan Hart and almost nobody else. In True Sex, Skidmore exposes a rich history of assigned female individuals living as men in the rural US. She also details her (painstaking) methodology clearly enough that I was able to search a local news archive and find a trans man who lived in my hometown in the 19th century.

[Andreas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A refreshing and touching book for me to read as a transmasc person. The author draws on newly digitised newspaper articles from around the US to present the lives of transmasculine people living as men in the 19th and 20th centuries. I loved reading about their lives and I was especially happy to see that many of their life stories did not have tragic endings, and many even continued to live happy lives as men after being outed.

One minor complaint: structure-wise the book read more like a long essay and was somewhat repetitive so I did skim parts.

[nervousyoungsam · Rating 5 out of 5]

a must read!

[Simón · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected much more from this scholarship. First, props to this scholar for using newly scanned local newspapers to identify people who were assigned female at birth and passed as or lived as men. I'm grateful to have access to these articles even in an edited account.

I should have known that someone who sidelines Foucault wouldn't be up my alley. I still expected more queer theory to emerge from this trove of information about people who passed as men and then were "found out" mostly by law enforcement.

One issue I had with the scholar's approach was in their decision to use the phrase "trans men" (with a space) and he/him pronouns to refer to all 65 subjects. Actually, I was open to hearing a perspective on rejecting a butch lesbian/masculine woman framing that other historians have offered to pre-lesbian people and romantic/sexual relationships between people of similar genders. And in some cases, there are interview quotes where the subjects do articulate their dysphoria specifically around clothing, and identify as men. But lots of other cases were open ended. The male or trans men identification opened up interesting avenues of thought on male privilege in the form of voting, whiteness, citizenship, economic mobility, economic independence. But I think that accessing male privilege itself would have been an interesting take.

Isn't there a way to proliferate queernesses and genders without relying on contemporary lenses of transness, passing politics, or homosexuality?

I wanted to see a historical project tackled with Butler, Halberstam, Menon, Ahmed to produce new queer theory. But I got a reductive assessment that flowed like a bunch of index cards stapled together with clumsy sentences.

My favorite parts were the ones that reminded me of "The Invention of Heterosexuality." The parts about the Lazy Husband law and eugenics. The parts that strayed from the almost pathological treatment of the subjects (esp. the words 'anatomy' and 'masculine parts' seemed transphobic) to using these accounts to examine the development of marriage as a tool of the state to produce normative subjects who contribute to the economy and criminalize deviance of non-procreative sex, singlehood, hobohood, disability, immigration, etc.

Finally, I want to agree with one of the other reviewers that I'm skeptical of the author's positionality because they don't reflect on their queerness, cis status, rural resident, etc. Are they trans or nonbinary? Is their partner? What lived experience do they have with queer embodiment? Without this crucial piece, I have that feeling that, yet again, 'queer' history is being produced with a power imbalance, preventing a transgender guy or afab nonbinary person from doing this scholarship. This is likely respectability politics at a Texas university, but still.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I do not completely agree with all the author's premises, I do agree with the main premise, i.e. that the existence of queer individuals (trans men, in this case) in rural areas in the late 19th and early 20th century was probably greater than most historians have previously assumed. That queer individuals routinely sought out urban enclaves where they could associate with other queers may well be true, but not for all queers. Some of them seem to have been successful at establishing themselves in rural communities and achieved a relatively healthy acceptance by the members of those communities.

What surprised me were the number of trans men that not only successfully passed as men but who also married women. I had always assumed that same-sex marriage was always taboo, and especially so in rural and small town areas. Some of the trans men covered in this book not only married, but some, even after their "true sex" was exposed, continued to live in those communities with almost no negative consequences, even in some cases staying with their spouses. Where this seemed especially the case, it appears that the local community assumed that the couple were not sexually involved, which somehow gave them a pass.

It is interesting to note that the majority of the trans men covered in this book say that the reason they presented themselves as men was dso they could financially support themselves, as the better jobs at that time were only available to men. By their own accounting, very few of these trans men seem to be saying they present themselves as male gendered because they perceive that gender to be more true to themselves. This may be because such a concept had not yet been articulated by psychologoists and sexologists. At the time, such women would have been viewed by sexologists as lesbian, what today might be called "butch" lesbians, and would have been seen as having a psychological pathology. Interestingly, very little of that thinking seemed to have entered the press at that time when stories of these trans men became public, although the national press sometimes did present these cases as examples of sexual perversion.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history in this book is fascinating, as Skidmore uses newspaper accounts to reconstruct information about trans men living in the 19th/20th Century crossover period. Our interpretation of the present will always inform the past, and as for many years these experiences were understood as women attempting to earn a living in a deeply sexist time, with the visibility of trans men, today's reading looks to a deeper experience of lived gender. Skidmore groups the experiences into themes, looking at the impact of rural social norms; the law; and the ever-present issue of racism and racial lens. She argues that these stories were used to *affirm* white masculinity, by recognising the value of the performative nature, as well as the role these men played in their community.
The sources are limited to public accounts, which is at times frustrating, but Skidmore has found a wealth of detail by comparing accounts in different newspapers. At times, her tendency to reiterate how her research challenges the urban-is-liberation tenets of LGBTI studies, which feels a little like straw people (without knowing anything), gets irritating. In the end, it hardly seems surprising that people were able to live supported lives in small communities if they were white, and in public, adhered to needed gendered roles. The prevalence of this, and the extent to which others faciliated it, is a welcome reminder that people can be far more accepting of people they know than rhetoric often has us believe.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

"True Sex" deals with a very interesting subject matter and the case studies were all well-researched.

I liked learning more about the lives of trans men during the era and it was fascinating to see how liberal the rural ears these men occupied were for the most part.

Unfortunately, the arguments got rather repetitive, especially towards the end, and, for me at least, this study lacked supporting statistics. The author's arguments are mostly based on her case studies, but she makes claims for those to be representative of the rural trans community and experience. I think for this claim it would have been interesting to get some numbers: how many trans men actually lived, as far as we know today, in these rural areas and how many lived in the cities? How many trans men did the author actually research for this book? These numbers would have helped me place the author's arguments in a larger context.

Overall, "True Sex" gave me a new perspective on the lives of trans men in the early twentieth century and the case studies were, for the most part, really fascinating.

[Wendy Rouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

True Sex helps fill in important gaps in our understanding of trans history by uncovering significant individual stories of the lives of trans men in the early twentieth century. This book addresses important issues and challenges some of the standard interpretations of LGBTQ history. The focus on the lives of trans men in the rural United States challenges the narrow focus on urban queer communities. Skidmore employs a unique research method in analyzing media coverage of individual stories as they evolved from the local to the national level. This approach reveals the ways in which trans men experienced a surprisingly wide degree of acceptance in rural communities in contrast to the supposedly more tolerant urban areas. True Sex also considers the ways in which an individual's race and class privilege likewise afforded them greater social tolerance and acceptance into normative citizenship. This is a must-read for students and scholars of LGBTQ and gender history.

[Jen Juenke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a little hesitant to begin to read this book. As soon as I began to read, I was hooked! I could not put this book down. The author did an amazing job of describing the sexual norms, the newspaper coverage, and the general lives of the transmen that she wrote about. I, like many people, believed that trans people would only be found in urban areas at the turn of the 1900's. Yet the author demonstrates that this was not the case. Some transmen would be found in rural areas, leading "normal lives".
The author did a great job including rural, urban newspaper accounts, sexologists thoughts, and thoughts from the individuals themselves. This book let me have a deeper understanding of transmen in the late 1800's and early 1900's. BRAVO to the author.

[Madelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first piece of queer scholarship ! This piece challenges the narrative I have always heard: that Americans in the past, particularly those in rural areas, made no room for queer people in their communities. True Sex shows that this is not true and proposes that American history, especially rural American history, is far more complex and queerer than we assume. Great book, great scholarship, though I think it would have benefited from more discussion of how trans men of color and trans women’s experiences mirrored or contrasted the experiences of the trans men covered in the book.

[U. H. Swanson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm glad that Skidmore could expand her work on Ralph Kerwineo into a larger thesis on gender and US history, but I'm still disappointed by TRUE SEX. It felt weirdly reductive in how I the reader was drawn in to view trans survival and kinship through white homonormativity. The personal is political sure, but saying that the seeds of a politics based on demobilizing liberation movements decades later was found in people just trying to live rubs me the wrong way. I know I'll have to cite this book in what I do and maybe I'll even come to terms with it, but for now, it's something I don't like.

[Nick Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

In praise: Vitally important storytelling. I appreciate the approach to the research, sourcing newspaper articles both local and national and applying a media studies lens in order to highlight gaps in queer history.

The problem? There are some real jumps to the conclusions the author draws, after extensive (and repetitive) groundlaying.

I think this would have worked best as short, biographical stories drawn from the source material, followed by an expanded conclusions chapter. Solidly support further research into this subject.

[Karoliina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little bit worried about how the book was going to talk about Frank Dubois because the title is a little sensationalist, but actually I really enjoyed this. The book is respectful towards the men it talks about. The author gives you enough information for this to have legitimacy as an academic text, but it is also very readable and accessible to people who don't have an academic background.

I received a copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Caitlin Conlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative dip into the lives of trans men in America at the turn of the 20th century. The organization of this book was impeccable. If you’re looking for an “enjoyable” read this probably won’t suit you — its purpose is to be informative & that’s reflected in the writing. But if you’re wondering where to start with trans history, or are looking for a zoomed in look at trans men in America at this time, this book would likely be a good fit for you!

[Ashley Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and unexpected history of transsexual men in America from the 1850s through the 1950s. The author takes a non-traditional approach to her research which lends itself nicely to the stories she highlights throughout. Also a wonderful source of information on the social standards of heterosexual women of the time as well as examining how male patriarchy and male driven political society was either reinforced or threatened by trans men of the era. All in all, interesting read!

[Zaya Thomson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic. This book explores a topic I've never seen done before, and it's very well done and readable. It explores the relationship between rural communities and queer (especially trans) folks very well, as well as taking a look into how white supremacy and colorism allow some trans bodies to be glossed over, and some to be policed. Fascinating to see how early modern trans thought differs from trans thought today. Definitely recommend.

[Sarah Shepherd · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for people interested in queer history. This book is definitely an academic history, but it was absolutely amazing. Skidmore masterfully tells the story of trans men living in rural communities who gained extraordinary acceptance...as long as they are white or white passing and maintained social norms of traditional gender roles and respectability. Skidmore connects this to the early politics of homonormativity. A truly fascinating read.

[Winn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appreciated the premise, but the writing wasn't for me. I would have appreciated a closer look at the personal lives of these people and their partners, as well as a more thorough exploration of trans men of color; not just the ones who tried to assimilate, but perhaps a look at opposing systems, such as Native or Black populations and how transmasculinity was treated in those societies.