Historia de lo trans

by Susan Stryker (Original Author), Matilde Pérez (Translator), María Teresa Sánchez (Translator)

¿Cuándo y cómo se crea el término «transexual»? ¿Quiénes han luchado en el contexto norteamericano a la hora conseguir derechos para las personas que se salen de las normas de género, son travestis, trans o no binarias? ¿Cómo se hace la memoria de las personas trans? ¿Qué líderes impulsaron otras maneras de entender las transgresiones de género? ¿Qué retos sociales se plantean gracias a las vivencias de las personas trans y su activismo?

Historia de lo trans presenta, a través de una visión crítica y decolonial, los momentos clave de un movimiento político y cultural que ha cuestionado las bases del feminismo y los marcos conceptuales de las luchas LGTB. En este recorrido encontramos biografías apasionantes de los y las protagonistas de las luchas trans, insertos en la historia de la teoría de los géneros, y se muestra cómo han ido moldeando nuestro relato global. Aquí se narran las batallas que se han librado desde el cuerpo; en el lenguaje, la academia, las leyes, la medicina y también en las calles, con episodios como la revuelta de Stonewall o los disturbios de la cafetería Comptons. Escrito por la activista y teórica norteamericana transexual Susan Stryker, en este ensayo no se eluden tampoco las intersecciones de raza, clase social, migraciones o diversidad funcional.

Con prólogo de Lucas Platero, doctor en Sociología, docente, investigador y activista por los derechos LGTBQ.

Traducción de Matilde Pérez y María Teresa Sánchez.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Queer, LGBT, Transgender, Gender, Feminism

328 pages, Paperback

First published May 6, 2008

About the author

Susan 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)

Reviews

[Alok Vaid-Menon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historians believe that the Cooper Do-nut Riot in 1959 was the first modern LGBTQ uprising in the US (a decade before Stonewall). Police officers demanded identification from trans people on the streets of Los Angeles as a way to arrest them for sex work, vagrancy, loitering, and “so-called nuisance crimes” (77). It was illegal in LA for a person’s gender presentation to not match the gender shown on their ID. Gay bars would often ban trans people from entering out of fear of police persecution. On one night in May 1959, police started to arrest community members who were hanging out at Cooper Do-nuts (including the novelist John Rechy). People began to throw coffee, donuts, cups, and trash at the police, causing them to flee without making the arrests. People took to the streets and the police came and barricaded the street, making many arrests.

In April 1965 Dewey’s – a lunch counter and late-night coffeehouse in Philadelphia – started to refuse service to “masculine women, ‘feminine men,’ and people in “nonconformist clothing,” claiming that “gay kids” were driving away business. On April 25, more than 150 people were turned away. Three teenagers refused to leave and were arrested and found guilty on misdemanor charges of disorderly conduct. For the next week, community members set up a picket line at the restaurant and protested the establishment’s treatment of gender non-conforming youth.

On May 2 activists staged a site in which eventually led to the management promising “an immediate cessation of all indiscriminate denials of service” (78). The Janus Society, Philadelphia’s main LGBTQ organization, issued a statement saying: “There is a tendency to be concerned with the rights of homosexuals as long as they somehow appear to be heterosexual. The masculine woman and the feminine man are often looked down upon…What is offensive today we have seen become the style of tomorrow…there is no reason to penalize non-conformist behavior” (79).

In August 1966 trans women and drag queens were hanging around Compton’s Cafeteria in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco late at night. Because many gay bars explicitly banned drag queens and trans women, the Cafeteria was one of the only places they could hang out (especially after seeing sex work clients). The management called the police on a group of community members. A police officer came and tried to arrest a queen. She threw coffee in his face and the whole community started to throw trash and silverware at the police. Customers turned over tables, smashed windows, and led a march onto the streets. Drag queens “beat the police with their heavy purses and sharp stiletto heels” (80) as police wagons came to arrest them.

The next day, more community members returned to picket Compton’s and smash the windows again. Compton’s business declined after the riot and it closed in 1972. No mainstream San Francisco newspapers covered the story and police reports have “conveniently disappeared” (82). Felicia “Flames” Elizondo, a trans participat at the riot, exclaimed, “A lot of people thought we were sick, mental trash. Nobody cared whether we lived or died. Our own families abandoned us and we had nowhere to go.” In 2017 the City of San Francisco recognized the Compton’s Transgender Cultural District (the world’s first legally recognized trans district). To learn more about this riot watch the documentary Screaming Queensi (2005).

The LGBTQ movement in this country began as a protest against police brutality. The only way that LGBTQ people were able to secure safety and rights was through protest and direct action. It was BIPOC trans women and drag queens – the people who marginalized even within the LGBTQ community – who resisted first and secured freedom that everyone else could enjoy.

[Red · Rating 5 out of 5]

A history of trans people that's actually mostly about trans people?? Perposterous! Contextualizing trans history within the framework of broader human history? Now you've gone too far, Susan Stryker. Far too far.

[Zanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't going to comment on this book at all, since I was already familiar with most of the material from elsewhere. I very much enjoyed reading it as a for-us (and our friends) by-us piece of loving activism excavating and preserving a body of stories in danger of being lost. As such it's a worthy journalistic project well executed.

On reflection though, my familiarity with trans histories made me insensitive to the urgency of that project. I really hope general readers pick this up, because trans histories need to be read and heard, to counter the the trans mythologies of white supremacist patriarchy, wherein, for instance, trans men don't exist, trans women are always extremely femme and heterosexual, and gender is read entirely through a paradigm of whiteness. From this perspective, Stryker's compilation of diverse individual and collective stories of struggle, survival, collaboration, campaigns, conflicts and mutual support, is disruptive in the best possible way.

[Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is accessible and fairly short, but provides a rich overview of the history of trans people in public in the United States from the 1850s until the first Trump administration. Stryker outlines the increasing awareness of trans people and trans issues; the rise and fall of many different organizations and publications over the past century; the building of and challenges to medical resources and healthcare access. Two overarching threads are the relationship of trans activists to the wider gay, bi, and lesbian liberation movements, and the views of trans people within feminist thought. There were many familiar people and places here (Marsha P Johnson, Silvia Rivera, Compton's Cafeteria, the GLBT Historical Center, Lou Sullivan, Brandon Teena) and also many who were new to me (Vanguard, Reed Erickson, Dr Harry Benjamin, the NTCU, Beth Elliot). Definitely recommend it as a great starting place on trans history- look for the revised 2018 edition, which also has a nice audiobook.

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Note: this is a review of the 2018 revised second edition)

I do think this book does pretty well what it sets out to do even though it ultimately wasn't the most engaging read for me. If you are going to read this book -- which is specifically a history of trans social justice movements in the US focused on 1950 - 2016 -- skip the first chapter full of definitions. One: some of the definitions really suck, like the completely inaccurate explanation of polyamory as a synonym for bi/poly/pansexual (wtf) and the unfortunate description of bisexual as being attracted to two genders in a binary gender system (erg!!). Two: the definitions are not really relevant to the rest of the book, maybe only if you're brand new to queer, trans, and feminist politics? And in that case, don't start your reading with this book.

Anyway, the bulk of Transgender History moves chronologically through US social, political, economic, etc events and developments as they are directly part of trans social justice movements and as they are important to those movements. It spends a lot of time on second wave feminism, for example, but through the lens of how it intersected, allied with, and directly opposed trans rights work and theory. I would have liked similar treatment of the civil rights movement and fights against anti-Black racism, which Stryker doesn't go into in much detail.

This book feels like a conventional work of history in the way it tells a lot of dry facts, lists names of people and organizations, and reports events straightforwardly. I found a lot of the information very interesting -- like prior uprisings to 1969's at Stonewall in different cities that aren't as widely known or commemorated -- but the descriptions are brief and perfunctory most of the time, which left me feeling a bit let down. I think this ultimately is because Stryker is trying to fit a massive amount of complex history into a relatively short space.

I guess I prefer the type of in depth trans history that Morgan M Page does on her podcast, which she tongue in cheek describes as salacious gossip about trans people from the past (not about her, thank goodness). But I can't fault Stryker for not doing what she clearly wasn't trying to do. As a primer for major developments and setbacks in the fight for trans rights in the US, this book succeeds. I would recommend it as a starting point on the topic of US trans history, something which would hopefully lead you to seek out more about figures like Sylvia Rivera, Miss Major, and Lou Sullivan.

[AndaReadsTooMuch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially in this day and age, it’s clear we still have a long way to go. This was a fascinating look into the history of what it means to be transgender, the movement (both with the gay acceptance movement and on its own.), and how much more we have to go to true societal acceptance. It was interesting to see the length of transgender history. I didn’t expect it to go as far back as the late 1800s, especially given how gay or even being nonconforming to standard was very much NOT accepted. It was also surprising that the representation and early support networks in the 60s for transgender individuals was mostly created by and for white privileged men. To create that space for acceptance and yet still be exclusionary is baffling to me. That breaks my heart. I can’t imagine how isolating and alone that must have felt, to know there’s support for some but not all. I would say I learned a lot, and even challenged some of my own knowledge of what it means to be transgender in any society. We’ve evolved from how we thought of it all the way back in the late 1800s, but it’s clear we still have some work to do.

[K✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was super informative overall, but I wish it'd been longer. It feels like the author tried to keep this as short as possible which, considering how much history she manages to squeeze in, just made it feel very dense and academic like a textbook.

I was also confused by her defining bisexuality as "[desire] toward members of either gender in a binary gender system" and polysexual and polyamorous as "[desire] toward many people of different genders).” While this definition works for some bisexuals, bisexual attraction isn't strictly binary, and bi activists have been saying this for decades.

And I'm fine with that definition of polysexual, but doesn't polyamory involve romantic or sexual relationships with multiple (consenting) people at the same time, regardless of sexual orientation? Can't a polyamorous person be monosexual and a polysexual person be monogamous?

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

cons: published in 2008, so the language is a bit dated – in part because the movement has already changed so dramatically in the last 7 years. like– the author is clearly writing from her perspective, through her lens, in differentiating between one's "sex" (genitals) and gender. that differentiation has come under some very valid criticism in recent years (ex), and that's something to keep in mind. as much as this text is a chronicle of history, it doesn't exist outside of it, either.

pros: EVERYTHING ELSE!! this was the first text i've read that's so comprehensively summarized a movement – and still in a nuanced way! stryker traces the movement's roots back to counter-culture, the civil rights movement, gay liberation, and also details how those relationships/roots were always, always fraught – because of transphobia. i found the section on transphobia within the 2nd wave feminist movement especially visceral. that kind of gender essentialist language is still being used today by trans-exclusionary feminists.

this was a really, really great text. i'm glad i read it.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 5 out of 5]

“When trans and gender-nonconforming lives are lived joyously and unapologetically in plain sight or their hard truths and dangers are spoken out loud, when the knowledge that comes from living those lives is channeled into music and dance, written about and written from, played with and fantasized over, when their beauty and weirdness, their sharp edges and dark recesses are creatively explored and collectively experienced, that is equally as important as heavy political activism.”

Queer History Month has been GIVING.

A little dated, but overall very, very good (check out the 2018 revised edition).

[Alex Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm gonna go ahead and start this review with the fact that I rate based on personal enjoyment, not necessarily how worthwhile a book is. I didn't realize quite how academic this book was going in and I don't usually read academic books. So I did struggle quite a bit with the overall tone and writing style.

The other main thing I struggled with was how short it was. I read an ebook version so when I initially picked it up, I didn't realize that it's only about 200 pages long. Considering it covers about a hundred years of history, that's not very much time to delve into anything discussed. It's brief and only highlights the most important moments, movements, and people.

However, that is kind of the nature of this book. It's only meant to be a short introduction to the history of transgender people in America, and it succeeds very well. I think it's a great jumping off point if you're looking to start your education and I found reading it to be quite worthwhile. I could never get through more than a couple pages at a time, but I did so much appreciate it.

So in short, maybe don't expect this to be the greatest thing you'll read, but I do think it's a good one to start learning.

Additional note: The ebook version I read had a few issues in terms of formatting. Granted I do read on my phone, so that may have been it. But I'd recommend looking for a physical copy if you're able. Still perfectly readable, though.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a U.S.-based history of gender non-conformity. And since I was born and raised in this country, reading this book had me excavating my past. Stryker has produced a fantastic short book on the subject. While I disagree with some of her characterizations (especially when she talked about music), I just couldn't stop reading. Like most books that attempt to cover everything up to the present, it got marginally weaker towards the end. I'm assuming that this is because we simply don't have enough perspective to make much sense of what's happening. I would have traded a more thorough dissection of, say, Gender Critical / TERF discourse and its odd alliance with the Christian Right than the quick run-through of all of the famous trans people and recent court cases, but that's just my preference.

[R M]

This is a really good primer on US transgender history focused on the past fifty years or so and showcasing prominent figures alongside pivotal movements. Stryker does a really good job of contextualizing the political battles and the attendant conflicts/betrayals of the larger queer community and the feminist movements.

Nuanced, readable, eminently informative: highly recommended.

[Haden · Rating 4 out of 5]

fantastic and engaging, though i’m pretty disappointed that the definition given for bisexuality in the opening chapter is the “attraction to two binary genders” nonsense

[PJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book accomplishes its goal of contextualizing the current struggle of transgender people and providing a historical context. as the conclusion (re)states, the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice, and that is helpful to remember in a dark moment when the direction of this country for the next four years will almost certainly bring major setbacks and tragedy to the trans community.

I learned a lot about how trans issues have intersected and at times contrasted with gay and lesbian issues broadly, and how influential trans thinkers and activists paved the way for transgender people today. I learned about intersex people, and I feel that their existence almost necessarily validates the idea of a broad, dynamic, and inclusive gender spectrum — contrary to the rhetoric of our current president and other right-wing psychos. I learned that the current TERF movement sort of led by JK Rowling unfortunately has a historical basis dating back to earlier waves of feminism, and take cold comfort in the fact that it’s a minority view among feminists.

I hope to be able to learn and do more for the movement in the coming years.

[Leia Sedai · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to sum up a people's history in a few sentences so I won't try to with this review. If you want to read about militant direct actions by transgender folks pre-Stonewall, the perseverance, happiness, solidarity, comfort, creativity, and joy the transgender community adds to all cisgender and LGBTQIA+ communities alike (which we should be ashamed of not returning to transgender folks much of the time), academics and achievements, and the monumental obstacles transgender are forced to fight against every day simply to exist - then read this book.

[Saga Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent introduction to not only trans history in the United States but also the broader queer movement. In the wake of all the shit happening in the world these days, it was heartening to read about generations of trans people fighting against a world that wanted to erase them. We've always existed and always will.

[Evie Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should really be called Transgender History in the U.S.

[Miguel Rodríguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Transgender History es precisamente lo que promete ser: un libro de historia trans desde el s. XIX hasta la actualidad en Estados Unidos. Escrito por Susan Stryker, profesora de estudios de Género y de la Mujer (y mujer trans), el texto comienza con un fantástico capítulo sólo de términos que se utilizarán continuamente y sus definiciones. A partir de entonces, Stryker estudia cronológicamente la realidad de las personas trans en su contexto histórico y social: desde los últimos compases de la modernidad, pasando por las dos guerras mundiales, la guerra de Vietnam, la Guerra Fría, la crisis del SIDA, hasta las últimas dos presidencias en la Casa Blanca.

El libro presta especial atención eventos de insurrección como el disturbio en Compton’s Cafeteria y Stonewall, y a los movimientos activistas de liberación, quienes han conseguido el reconocimiento de derechos de las personas trans. Lo que más interesante me ha parecido del libro es la evolución de los movimientos feministas, gay y queers, y su trans-inclusión o trans-exclusión. Desde el comienzo de estos movimientos (se dan al aumentar la población de núcleos urbanos), las luchas mencionadas convergían en metas conjuntas: sufragio, despenalizar por vestir ropa “del sexo opuesto”, despatologización de la homosexualidad y de la identidad de género diferente a la asignada al nacer (o, antes de surgir esta terminología, despenalizar una expresión de género más amplia o inhabitual). En el momento en que movimientos LGB consiguieron la despenalización de la homosexualidad (1973), muchos de estos divergieron del activismo trans (al que aún le quedaba mucho por conseguir: cambio de identidad legal, acceso a sanidad, despatologización, protección laboral, etc), y dichas comunidades LGB en gran medida optaron por normalizar y asimilar una expresión de género CIS que les permitiera vivir mejor en la sociedad.

Podría seguir escribiendo sobre el contenido del libro, pero es mejor que lo leáis directamente, porque merece muchísimo la pena.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the last chapter of this book, Stryker writes “trans people have a long record of survival in a world that is often hostile to us.” This is a remarkable text that traces trans and gender non-conforming history in the United States from early America through the present. It is particularly strong in its treatment of the latter 19th century and the 20th century. Stryker shows that transness has a long historical precedent and that trans activism has persisted for at least a century. An incredible, accessible book that is a must-read for anyone interested in queer studies and history.

[Jose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well-researched guide to the history of the people, the issues and organizations that have shaped the US transgender community since the 19th century. It makes the reader aware of the struggles this movement has faced: attacks from all sides of the political spectrum, its people invisible for many years, marginalized and vulnerable to violence and neglect from government protection.

The book is written in an accessible language and even includes a chapter on terms and concepts that even though it reads like a dictionary it's essential for readers to understand the reality that trans* people experience.

I liked how it made me change the way I perceive transgender history. I was already familiar with gender dysphoria (GD) but I understood this to be a pathological condition or medical disorder instead of simply being another way of existing as a human. I now understand that medical institutions have a big role in dictating what's "healthy" and "sick" with deep consequences to the lives of those considered to be "sick". This on the surface it's not really an unreasonable thing, but historically the medical institutions in the US have used their status to legitimize discrimination against minorities, starting with eugenics and trying to "prove" that there is a race hierarchy with brown and black people at the bottom.

I love how the book gives you a clear path forward so that the reader themself can make history by participating in this movement. We still have ways to go, and we can improve access to health services, human rights, civic rights to employment and id services and learning the history.

I really appreciate the extensive list of resources at the end of the book I will keep that as a reference for further reading.

Overall this is an invaluable resource for me to know more about transgender issues. If you want to be in the right side of history and be an ally, I urge you to read this so you can be well informed.

[Cal Rutter · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a trans man myself, this book taught me A LOT about my own history. It does a seemingly good job of highlighting the specific issues faced by trans people of color, though I urge anyone reading to take this with a grain of salt as I'm white (as is the author) so I could be ignorant to things it may be overlooking. Overall, it's well-written and informative. I'm a mental health professional and I've recommended this book to my coworkers twice now in hopes that they will better understand the issues faced by my community.

[Grayson King · Rating 5 out of 5]

((Im actually giving it 3 or 4 stars but don’t wanna drop the ratings LOL ))

I love trans people, feeling depressed inspired joyful and proud and grief stricken and a lot of other things.

V informative, though some sections will be common knowledge to most queer people I still think it’s good that she had them in to make the book more accessible

I did have some qualms,, I think it is a book that centres whiteness in sometimes really obvious ways but kinda inadvertently throughout yhe book, the author is really just a WHITE woman like what can we do.. it got better I think as we got to more recent history but I really finished the book feeling like I need a separate book solely devoted to trans POC history please to make up for this. Also the book is a bit dated by now, being written in 2008~ definitely comes across.

I feel the most picky abt the earlier chapters, like “a hundred years of trans history”, which is really ‘a couple hundred years of history of white trans women’. I think she was basically implying in her introduction that this is really a book focusing on white trans women, which makes sense that’s her demographic, but since the text is actually marketed as *transgender history*, i think im a lil in my right to be a lil peeved that its such a small focus of trans history // the trans community, and we just came out of AAPI month so is it crazy to ask for a mention of a SINGULAR asian person 😳😳? Theres no index in my edition but im pretty sure she mentions Asian people only once, which is when she said that Chinese immigrants in the 1840s upset white conventions of gender since men and women both wore long hair and bc of their “silky pyjama-like costumes”.. idk am i the wokarate for lowkey being mad at that.. like she’s not quoting a historical text there thats just what she decided to write, idk you’re a historian like like like like someone tell me am i being too sensitive… but really im only mad bc all that only to not mention a single asian person or aapi resistance group or genuinely anything in the book but let’s all remember white Americans were racist in the 1840s and make sure we take race into account when understanding the “historical conditions for contemporary transgender activism”,, genuinely all that just to write only abt white ppl for the next 30 pages uninterrupted, only breaking for a FOOTNOTE on drag balls yeah yeah that is ABSURD in a book about trans history that really got me…. This is truly the entire section right here:
“While white suburban transgender people were sneaking out to clandestine meetings, many transgender people of color were highly visible parts of urban culture. "Miss Major" came out as trans as a teenager in the late 1950s in Chicago. In this 1998 interview, she describes the African American drag ball subculture of her youth. (Followed by a quote)”

Are you serious… Susan I’m actually going to get you this is appalling.. I truly read this as “while white trans people were forced to sneak around to “clandestine meetings”, trans people of color got to be celebrated!” SUSAN STOP TALKING. You’re going to get us all killed…

yeah and history of trans indigenous people I hope you’re excited ! For nothing… here’s one passing mention of the term two spirit. but like what did I even expect.. anyway I’m really giving the book 3 or 4 stars but I don’t wanna contribute to bringing down the ratings at all so it does say 5 lol I might not think this a very representative trans history but some is better than none and I still think more cis ppl should read this.

Finally a reminder to get more queer from a passage I liked, though as you can read in my crashout above I think Susan herself could benefit from rereading this..

This shift in nomenclature toward an "LGBT" community, rather than a "queer" one, marked the beginning of a new phase in the social history of sexual and gender identity politics in the United States.
It represented a retreat from the more radical concept of alliance, resistance, and rebellion by different groups against the same oppressive structures in the dominant culture and the adoption instead of a liberal model of minority tolerance and inclusion-sometimes amounting to litle more than a "politically correct" gesture of token inclusion.

[warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

look at me reading things unrelated to class during school ,, yay. this book was good! a very readable and introductory history of trans organizing in the USA, it was rly great! really loved the sections on the 50s and the 80s/90s since it was lesser known to me than the slightly more remembered marsha p johnson & sylvia rivera revolutionary action in the 60s and the compton cafeteria riot. also the little excerpts of diary entries and primary source materials are always so incredible ... the letters written by jenny, a transfeminine person who lived in the mid/late 1800s?? think about them all the time !! good book and again very easy to read

[Josh Issa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading the history of key moments in the recognition of trans people as legitimate expresses of humanity both from a scientific and political perspective was very moving. From early research and trans surgeries being burned by the Nazis to the political struggle for recognition of equal humanity, in many ways history is repeating itself in these past few years. The battle for trans rights and liberation continues. Something I personally was heartened by was the mentioning of how Christians at Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in the 60s played an important role in supporting and caring for trans people during the struggle for rights. May their lives serve as a testimony of Christ that we continue in.

[Max]

The great thing is, we don't have to read this anymore, because of listicles and TikToks!

[Omar Abu samra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and important book

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked quite a bit but was a little more academic than I was expecting. Learned SO much which was really what I’d hoped. Very dry read but packed full of detailed information.

[samuel berston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive overview of trans liberation movements with a moving final chapter.

[Eve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can very clearly tell that a lot of love went into writing this book Author Susan Stryker obviously cares very much for the topic at hand and because of that, collated such a wealth of information in this, it’s incredibly impressive.

Unfortunately the format of this didn’t work for me personally. It was very reminiscent of reading a text book (hence why it took me just over 2 years to finish this). Nevertheless, I learned some very valuable things about the trans movement.

[Cass · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book made me angry for both good and bad reasons. I'll start with the good, as I do think the premise of this book is very important.

This is a comprehensive of trans history in the last 100 years of the United States (while the cover does not say that, the summary does). While I vaguely knew some of it, I did not know the extent of our own history. Our surgeries and hormonal treatments have existed for approximately that century, yet they still get called "experimental." The same arguments against us have been recycled over and over again with what feels like little progress over that time. I think this history is very important to be known for everyone, especially other trans people, and the fact it has been so deeply buried is what angers me and makes me think this book important.

However, I cannot ignore the downsides of it. The author starts off the book with her prologue where she, a self-professed binary non-disabled non-intersex white woman, calls herself disabled, nonbinary, nearly intersex, and comes very close to calling herself black. She mis-identifies multiple terms, starting with the very premise of the book with the word "transgender." She blatantly gets the definitions of bisexual, polysexual, and polyamorous wrong. She belittles singular they/them as newfangled, as well as every neopronoun she comes across. She makes fun of the term cisgender, and insults younger trans people for not wanting to be called a slur. There are many other things wrong with her wording but that's the basis of it.

Furthermore, her portrayal of trans men is downright insulting. Inadvertently or not, she suggests trans men are women, or that many of us are women. The claim it is easier for trans men to pass is made when in reality it is simply we are considered less dangerous so we get less attention. She also claims trans men had no groups until Lou Sullivan (who she refers to by his first name, which she does not do to trans women), which may be accurate but as we have been ignored so much by history seems unlikely. She also degenders trans men and only refers to some of us as transmasculine, such as Brandon Teena. It's also difficult to find her sources on such matters, which makes it hard to check when she refers to Sullivan as a "10 year-old girl" or acts like it's surprising he continued to be a gay man when he entered feminist spheres. The final claim I cannot get past is when Stryker claims that trans men are more visible and the first thought for the word "transgender." There are still trans men coming out today who did not realize being a trans man was an option because the most prominent examples of being trans are trans women.

Overall, maybe further edits would make this book good for me. But I cannot get past how she treats trans men, or easily corrected definition and terminology inaccuracies.