Journal of a transsexual

by Diane Leslie Feinberg, Leslie Feinberg

An autobiographical journal of Feinberg’s experiences of trans life, predating by thirteen years the publication of hir groundbreaking Stone Butch Blues, seen as the founding text of the trans liberation movement. Grounded in class and race analysis, Journal of a Transsexual presages the rise of intersectionality, seeded by publisher World View.

895 originally published.

Genres: Queer

Unknown Binding

First published February 1, 1980

Reviews

[Devin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of people don't know that 12 years before "Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come", and 13 years before "Stone Butch Blues", the latter of which catapulted transgender communist and writer Leslie Feinberg to international success as a voice of the growing transgender movement, ze wrote a small, 21-page autobiographical journal entitled "Journal of a Transsexual". It was published in 1980, nearly 40 years ago, when Leslie was 31 years old, and was living in a gender limbo in New York City. Not only am I lucky to have learned of this small read, but I am lucky to possess a physical copy, which have been out of print probably since 1980 or somewhere in there. It was a gift given to me by lesbian poet, communist, and friend, Minnie-Bruce Pratt, who is Leslie Feinberg's widow. I treasure it.

In just 21 pages, Leslie Feinberg outlines what it means to be a gender-ambiguous trans person in a time where trans people had absolutely no representation in the media -- this was 1980; homosexuality had only been removed from the DSM as a mental disorder for 4 years at this point. Being transgender would not be removed for another 33 years, the year before Leslie died. There is no Marxist analysis in here, yet I tagged it as Marxist because of Leslie's Marxist-Leninist views, which ze had already begun developing by the time this was published. This is political but no mentions of historical or dialectical materialism are made; instead, Leslie's firsthand accounts of the hatred ze faced from other working class people speaks to the disconnect of unity between the working class cisgender and working class transgender people.

If you can find this online, I highly recommend reading it.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A precursor and, retrospectively, a companion to Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues, which is more directly biographical in nature. Just a pamphlet, with much briefer vignettes than Stone Butch Blues has to offer. But nonetheless, as a 1980 journal of sorts regarding life as someone who doesn't fit the gender binary in the preceding era, an invaluable testament to that experience.