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Transgender Marxism
Transgender Marxism collects a set of reflections on the relations between gender and labour, showing how these linked phenomena structure antagonisms in particular social and historical situations. The collection contributes to Marxist Feminism and Social Reproduction Theory through both personal and analytic examinations of the particular social activity demanded of trans people around the world. The aim of the publication is not to provide an exhaustive overview of all trans thinkers using Marxist frameworks, but rather to provide a provocative and illuminating entry point to this mode of theorisation.
No one is spared gendered enculturation, but the contributors to this collection argue that transgender people face particular pressures, oppressions, and state persecution. The first part of the book explores particular movements, and lives, through a Marxist lens. The second section emphasises the 'Marxism' in Transgender Marxism, exploring the particular experience of surviving as trans in light of the totality of gendered experience under capitalism. The contributors also consider how the particular case of transgender life offers opportunities to revise and renew Marxist theorising more generally. The final part twins Marxism with other schools of thought, such as psychoanalysis, mainstream psychology, phenomenology, and Butlerian performativity, to offer clearer insight into transgender experience.
No one is spared gendered enculturation, but the contributors to this collection argue that transgender people face particular pressures, oppressions, and state persecution. The first part of the book explores particular movements, and lives, through a Marxist lens. The second section emphasises the 'Marxism' in Transgender Marxism, exploring the particular experience of surviving as trans in light of the totality of gendered experience under capitalism. The contributors also consider how the particular case of transgender life offers opportunities to revise and renew Marxist theorising more generally. The final part twins Marxism with other schools of thought, such as psychoanalysis, mainstream psychology, phenomenology, and Butlerian performativity, to offer clearer insight into transgender experience.
320 pages, Paperback
First published May 20, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
June 4, 2024
I wrote one of the essays in this book, about two years ago. That essay is flawed, but still interesting. That said, the academic melange of post-Trotskyism and other left-wing-of-capital tendencies presented in this book isn’t particularly coherent, and certainly isn’t substantially communist. I regret spending so much time attached to the milieu that produced this book. My own essay displays theoretical eclecticism and a low level of development, like the others do, but at least I was heading in the right direction.
There isn’t a specific type of marxism with a trans nature. The theoretical consciousness of a proletariat on the verge of abolishing itself & establishing communism naturally can’t be cis or trans, but is initiating the overcoming of cis and trans, so there’s no good reason to try to stake out a “trans marxism” as a solution to the problems of trans proletarians.
There isn’t a specific type of marxism with a trans nature. The theoretical consciousness of a proletariat on the verge of abolishing itself & establishing communism naturally can’t be cis or trans, but is initiating the overcoming of cis and trans, so there’s no good reason to try to stake out a “trans marxism” as a solution to the problems of trans proletarians.
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August 21, 2021As with any essay collection, this was a mixed bag of stuff I found nailed it, and stuff that doesn't quite hit the mark for me. But as with any essay collection, if the strong stuff sticks with me, I tend to like the collection as a whole and this was definitely the case with Transgender Marxism.
I found that each essay had something interesting to say, and I just love what this collection says as a whole and what it stands for. In particular, I think that Nathaniel Dickinson's "Seizing the Means: Towards a Trans Epistemology" was absolutely brilliant, and I would have gladly read the whole thing just for it. So good. Virginia Guitzel's essay "Notes on Brazil was also a really interesting look at Bolsonaro's Brazil that I really enjoyed. Finally, Rosa Lee's "Judith Butler's Scientific Revolution: Foundations for a Transsexual Marxism" is one of the shortest pieces in the collection, but a really impactful one.
My biggest grievance with this is the mismatched tone of the collection - some of the essays are really academic, and thus much less accessible than others, although I would argue that even academic writing can be accessible. This I found difficult because I think this collection can be beneficial to read for many, but with such academic writing, you tend to alienate some of the audience.
Still I think that this book does a great job of bridging the gap between identity and class, and at illuminating how this is actually a false dichotomy.
Would recommend highly, if you're willing to dedicate a lot of time and brain space to it, because it is not the most accessible writing. Still really great, and informative though.
I found that each essay had something interesting to say, and I just love what this collection says as a whole and what it stands for. In particular, I think that Nathaniel Dickinson's "Seizing the Means: Towards a Trans Epistemology" was absolutely brilliant, and I would have gladly read the whole thing just for it. So good. Virginia Guitzel's essay "Notes on Brazil was also a really interesting look at Bolsonaro's Brazil that I really enjoyed. Finally, Rosa Lee's "Judith Butler's Scientific Revolution: Foundations for a Transsexual Marxism" is one of the shortest pieces in the collection, but a really impactful one.
My biggest grievance with this is the mismatched tone of the collection - some of the essays are really academic, and thus much less accessible than others, although I would argue that even academic writing can be accessible. This I found difficult because I think this collection can be beneficial to read for many, but with such academic writing, you tend to alienate some of the audience.
Still I think that this book does a great job of bridging the gap between identity and class, and at illuminating how this is actually a false dichotomy.
Would recommend highly, if you're willing to dedicate a lot of time and brain space to it, because it is not the most accessible writing. Still really great, and informative though.
February 4, 2022
I was so excited about this book, but I have to admit to being disappointed. The entire thing is written in a sort of dense academic language which is largely impenetrable. It may be that the target audience for the book is other academics, but that would seem to be an odd choice for a book which talks a lot about liberating the proletariat. Why, then, would you make this book inaccessible to them?
The bits of Transgender Marxism that I could understand do seem to make the odd interesting and even important point, but these moments are so lost in the noise of the jargon that it was hard to get excited about them. If you have a really (and I mean really) thorough grounding in Marxist theory and the decades of associated analysis that goes with it, then this book might be for you, otherwise, you might want to stay clear.
The bits of Transgender Marxism that I could understand do seem to make the odd interesting and even important point, but these moments are so lost in the noise of the jargon that it was hard to get excited about them. If you have a really (and I mean really) thorough grounding in Marxist theory and the decades of associated analysis that goes with it, then this book might be for you, otherwise, you might want to stay clear.
June 26, 2021
A very wide mix of stuff, but with essay collections like this I tend to just enjoy the good bits — of which there are plenty in here — and not worry too much about the rest. The introduction is great, and to single out two highlights, I thought the essays on disability (by Zoe Belinsky) and trans epistemology (by Nathaniel Dickson) were the ones that would genuinely stay with me and change how I looked at those topics. Now that I finally have the time I’ll be interested to read around social reproduction theory, because it’s used here throughout in a lot of ways and via a lot of definitions, some of which seem to contradict each other.
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February 16, 2023Inconsistent, sadly, and sometimes polemic without evidence. A mixed bag that's worth at least skimming for relevant sections.
June 9, 2021
A mixed bag, but some thought provoking stuff. Watch this space for a fuller review!
September 18, 2024
Pues me ha gustado mucho aunque me ha costado entender algunos artículos.
Me ha dado bastante en qué pensar, sobre todo en lo referente a la necesidad de una perspectiva teórica sistemática desde el que pensar lo trans y sus aportaciones a los modelo sociales a los que aspiramos.
Me ha faltado más profundidad a la hora de pensar los formatos de movilizaciones y de hablar de estrategia política, pero igualmente me parece un libro muy inspirador y muy chulo de leer.
Me ha dado bastante en qué pensar, sobre todo en lo referente a la necesidad de una perspectiva teórica sistemática desde el que pensar lo trans y sus aportaciones a los modelo sociales a los que aspiramos.
Me ha faltado más profundidad a la hora de pensar los formatos de movilizaciones y de hablar de estrategia política, pero igualmente me parece un libro muy inspirador y muy chulo de leer.
February 19, 2022
Transgender Marxism is an ambitious and necessary attempt to capture the wide Marxist approach to the transgender experience. A collection of essays cultivated (and some written) by Jules Gleeson and Elle O'Rourke, the works range from philosophicaly impenetrable to unrelatably confessional (some at the same time), but at it's best it is incredibly thought provoking and insightful.
One of my main takeaways was the relationship between transness and labour, comparing it to the influx of openly gay people into the service industry after WW2, and how capital continues to exploit people who are more willing to do certain kinds of reproductive labour because of their identity, and are more willing to put up with certain kinds of abuse because of their increased precarity. Observations like that, as well as relationships between transness and healthcare, social identity, and Marxist analysis are where this book excels.
In addition, the question of WHY so many trans people tend towards the radical left and away from the liberal center is approached, the material realities of which are important to have a grasp on as the right weaponizes trans people against the center as signs of social rot and decadence. Working class trans people are rejected by the nuclear family, pushed out of traditional labour relations, made reliant on politicised healthcare systems, and appropriated by the powers that be all the while.
This book also reminded me how uninteresting the philosophy of queeness in relationship to itself is. This is a purley personal feeling, but the intricacies of butchness, femmeness, dykeness, etc feel like such small fish in comparison to the bigger picture things this book covers and where Marxist analysis excels. But if that's interesting to you, you might like this book more than I did.
Transgender Marxism an imperfect but vital project, and a great step forward as trans people become a larger and larger force in the left.
One of my main takeaways was the relationship between transness and labour, comparing it to the influx of openly gay people into the service industry after WW2, and how capital continues to exploit people who are more willing to do certain kinds of reproductive labour because of their identity, and are more willing to put up with certain kinds of abuse because of their increased precarity. Observations like that, as well as relationships between transness and healthcare, social identity, and Marxist analysis are where this book excels.
In addition, the question of WHY so many trans people tend towards the radical left and away from the liberal center is approached, the material realities of which are important to have a grasp on as the right weaponizes trans people against the center as signs of social rot and decadence. Working class trans people are rejected by the nuclear family, pushed out of traditional labour relations, made reliant on politicised healthcare systems, and appropriated by the powers that be all the while.
This book also reminded me how uninteresting the philosophy of queeness in relationship to itself is. This is a purley personal feeling, but the intricacies of butchness, femmeness, dykeness, etc feel like such small fish in comparison to the bigger picture things this book covers and where Marxist analysis excels. But if that's interesting to you, you might like this book more than I did.
Transgender Marxism an imperfect but vital project, and a great step forward as trans people become a larger and larger force in the left.
July 25, 2021
Straight up metal.
February 27, 2023
great fucking book
July 23, 2022
“Sexual liberation is twinned with the liberation of workers from the conditions of wage slavery.”
Each essay in this 16 chapter collection came from a unique perspective on the many intersections of gender and labour: whether that be through a specific place, like Brazil, or Lancaster; or a specific theorist, like Butler or Deleuze; or a specific lens, like poetics or epistemology. The diversity of perspectives, backgrounds, and literary approaches are indicative of the diversity of ways trans and Marxist ideas intersect.
What I really took away from these essays was a better comprehension of the many ways that capitalism exploits our bodies and desires - for the purpose of socially reproducing itself. It benefits capitalism for people to fit into the binaries assigned to us and continue to reproduce ideal nuclear homes (read:businesses) made up of ideal nuclear families(read:workers/consumers). Breaking out of the gender binary is inherently tied to the imagination and realisation of a new society beyond capitalist exploitation.
Every essay enlightened me in some way. I especially liked Virginia Guetzel’s Notes From Brazil, where she speaks on the political corruption and religious violence towards trans people from her unique perspective as a politically active transgender woman in Brazil.
I also learned a lot from the chapter on disabled bodies and transgender bodies by Zoe Belinsky, and how both these kinds of bodies are alienated by additional pains and labours that capitalism enforces on them.
There’s just so many great ideas that I’m still ruminating on days later.
I recommend this to anyone interested in reading some trans literature that includes but goes beyond the confines of the academic institution. Also to anyone who is sick of capitalist exploitation and enforced gender norms. And especially to marxists who think trans issues exist outside of Marxism - you will learn that they don’t.
Each essay in this 16 chapter collection came from a unique perspective on the many intersections of gender and labour: whether that be through a specific place, like Brazil, or Lancaster; or a specific theorist, like Butler or Deleuze; or a specific lens, like poetics or epistemology. The diversity of perspectives, backgrounds, and literary approaches are indicative of the diversity of ways trans and Marxist ideas intersect.
What I really took away from these essays was a better comprehension of the many ways that capitalism exploits our bodies and desires - for the purpose of socially reproducing itself. It benefits capitalism for people to fit into the binaries assigned to us and continue to reproduce ideal nuclear homes (read:businesses) made up of ideal nuclear families(read:workers/consumers). Breaking out of the gender binary is inherently tied to the imagination and realisation of a new society beyond capitalist exploitation.
Every essay enlightened me in some way. I especially liked Virginia Guetzel’s Notes From Brazil, where she speaks on the political corruption and religious violence towards trans people from her unique perspective as a politically active transgender woman in Brazil.
I also learned a lot from the chapter on disabled bodies and transgender bodies by Zoe Belinsky, and how both these kinds of bodies are alienated by additional pains and labours that capitalism enforces on them.
There’s just so many great ideas that I’m still ruminating on days later.
I recommend this to anyone interested in reading some trans literature that includes but goes beyond the confines of the academic institution. Also to anyone who is sick of capitalist exploitation and enforced gender norms. And especially to marxists who think trans issues exist outside of Marxism - you will learn that they don’t.
August 3, 2024
Broad and interesting collection. A few recurring themes: medicalized assimilation versus autonomous community building, expulsion from the private household and the regular labor force as a kind of Adam/Eve moment granting insight into capitalism's contradictions, Butlerian stuff about gender determining sex. None of those themes are really surprising but they do serve to hold the collection together, because really the strength of the book is the very loose hand exercised by the editors, allowing the contributors to steer widely between poles of confession and philosophical abstraction with journalism and polemic in between (often within the same page or paragraph). A few of the more philosophical pieces left their most interesting points underargued, as though they were things tossed off in the heat of a particularly heady and heated group chat. But a great, great collection, in particular the bits on mobilizing different segments of the workforce, the note from Brazil, and the aleatorical bit from England.
July 7, 2021
As with basically any collection of essays, you'll find some that you think hit the nail squarely on the head, and some that you feel miss the mark. This overall as a work though is a critical intervention, and very unique. You can find the interview I did with the coeditors here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL63U...
July 26, 2021
Wonderful!
Two minor quibbles.
- A couple of the essays were academic in a manner I found particularly opaque.
- One otherwise brilliant piece about Bolsonaro's Brazil veered in to a tangent about life under Stalin in the USSR. A perfectly valid comparison to draw but it made some exceptionally bold claims none of which were sourced. A shame really as I wanted to pursue the topic further and everything else in the book was sourced wonderfully.
The positives:
There is just so much here from such a diverse set of perspectives. From the historical to the autobiographical and so much in between. Nathaniel Dickson's forth wall breaking essay, Jules Gleeson's look in to how identity is formed online and JN Hoad's piece were particular standouts. Also, my one frustration aside, Virginia Guitzel's piece was fantastic too. So much for everyone with even a passing interest in the topic. Can't recommend it highly enough.
Two minor quibbles.
- A couple of the essays were academic in a manner I found particularly opaque.
- One otherwise brilliant piece about Bolsonaro's Brazil veered in to a tangent about life under Stalin in the USSR. A perfectly valid comparison to draw but it made some exceptionally bold claims none of which were sourced. A shame really as I wanted to pursue the topic further and everything else in the book was sourced wonderfully.
The positives:
There is just so much here from such a diverse set of perspectives. From the historical to the autobiographical and so much in between. Nathaniel Dickson's forth wall breaking essay, Jules Gleeson's look in to how identity is formed online and JN Hoad's piece were particular standouts. Also, my one frustration aside, Virginia Guitzel's piece was fantastic too. So much for everyone with even a passing interest in the topic. Can't recommend it highly enough.
February 20, 2022
A brilliant, moving, set of essays. The majority of the essays are both able to be theoretical informative while discussing the implications that has on our organisational efforts. The personal experiences woven throughout the essays make them stronger, more direct, and, ultimately, more useful. Some may scoff at the idea of a "Transgender Marxism", but each of the essay writers has a more solid, nuanced, and developed understanding of Marxist theory than any detractor of their views ever could.
Anyone remotely interested in the lived experiences of queer people, and the theoretical contributions they have to Marxist thought, must read this book, study it, and reflect on the reality expertly displayed within and the way out of that reality which we are brilliantly shown.
Anyone remotely interested in the lived experiences of queer people, and the theoretical contributions they have to Marxist thought, must read this book, study it, and reflect on the reality expertly displayed within and the way out of that reality which we are brilliantly shown.
January 5, 2025
While attributing a its lows to a insufficient editorial work, Transgender Marxism reads like a mixed bag of tones and views on Marxism in a necessary book that, in its ambition, fails to fully grasp what it's intended to but gets some things across nicely. Feels like it let the proletariat, it's main point of discussion sort of stranded in the middle and that's just sometimes too noticable. Nonetheless, Zazanis, Guitzel, Dickson, Heisler Weiser Flower (who's review here I recommend) and Rosenberg were the ones I'd check the collection for. Hopefully, in its years, this book and its soup of discussions open the door to more and more out spoken views on the relationship between Marxism and Trans experiences and studies.
November 7, 2022
4.5 stars
Some of the essays are very difficult to understand because of the abstract philosophical language (and would be basically impossible to read without an understanding of marxism) and just weren’t as interesting to me but the book was still very interesting especially the history and real life organising stuff as well as learning more about sex as a social construct. The book has also inspired me to research more about social reproduction theory.
Overall a very interesting book but if you don’t want to sift through the language and philosophy stuff, there are probably a lot better books on similar topics that are easier to understand. (Ive heard the transgender issue by shon faye is good and i’m planning on reading it soon)
Some of the essays are very difficult to understand because of the abstract philosophical language (and would be basically impossible to read without an understanding of marxism) and just weren’t as interesting to me but the book was still very interesting especially the history and real life organising stuff as well as learning more about sex as a social construct. The book has also inspired me to research more about social reproduction theory.
Overall a very interesting book but if you don’t want to sift through the language and philosophy stuff, there are probably a lot better books on similar topics that are easier to understand. (Ive heard the transgender issue by shon faye is good and i’m planning on reading it soon)
July 29, 2021
A collection I'll definitely be returning to, with some really great and insightful essays, and a couple that slipped away from me as I'm not an academic/don't read much theory.
May 27, 2023
so many cool, swag and very very useful chapters! I hold them dear to my heart
June 11, 2025
Great book but to be honest with yourself, was the excerpt on anal fisting entirely necessary?
August 31, 2022
"For Black trans women, there is always a tension between force and grace, between taking up too much space and being civil. Organising is confronting these interpersonal problems on a much wider scale. I don’t know how long my comrades will stick with me, or how much of me is acceptable or good, yet I feel duty-bound to see it to the end."
-- Farah Thompson, "The Bridge Between Gender and Organising"
Queer liberation is everywhere being supressed - trans liberation in particular. Transphobia is the norm, even in many activist circles. Some express it as naked hatred, some as physical violence; some express patronising, stigmatising "concern" for mental illness; some oppose it to women's liberation to falsely give their hatred a progressive sheen; some accept only some trans people, according them "an exemption that betrays and abandons those who are also on the outside, but fighting for the liberation of all", in Nathaniel Dickinson's words. For many trans people, transphobia is a life-threatening material force.
It is sad, then, that so much work has to be done to get supposed revolutionaries to understand the importance of trans liberation. It is just as sad to have to get supposed progressives to understand the same, which will necessarily be revolutionary. The former group needs to understand that communism without liberation from all forms of oppression is no communism at all; the latter that inclusion within liberal democracy is a dead-end if we want all to be free.
Some essays challenge these reactionary views, a task which I hope will cease being necessary. Against those who reject queer theory as a whole for being "irrelevant", "petty bourgeois", or "ivory tower nonsense", Jordy Rosenberg's explanation of Julian Gill-Peterson's work is important: "dominant medical models at the mid-century did not conceive sex to be fixed, but rather unnervingly capricious. In response, physicians and researchers began to construct ‘gender’ as a way to stabilise the instability of sex". TERFs would do well to remember that when they cite "biology" in pseudoscientific ways to justify their hatred. So, too, would the vulgar materialists.
Other essays explore trans issues through a variety of lenses: personal, historical, biological, psychoanalytic, economic, strategic, philosophical, phenomenological. Each piece is fascinating in its own right, though some mostly went over my head and not all fit my interests.
This is a very important collection - hence the five stars. I only hope will bring further solidarity, research and organising to the cause of trans liberation and its interrelation with Marxism.
"No pride for some of us, without liberation for all of us."
- Marsha P. Johnson
***
Some further reading on the topic:
- "Ten Theses on the Gender Question" by Roxy Hall, a wonderfully clear read.
- "The Logic of Gender" by Jeanne Neton and Maya Andrea Gonzalez, a fairly academic piece cited in three different essays from this book. [In a comment below, Anja rightly corrects my use of "academic" to describe the essay: I agree that "conceptually challenging" is the correct expression to use here.]
- "Reassessing Foucault: Modern Sexuality and the Transition to Capitalism" by the late Chris Chritty. This makes a compelling case that Foucault oughtn't be rejected as postmodernist guff by Marxists.
- Histories of the Transgender Child by Julian Gill-Peterson, the historical work mentioned above. I have yet to read this myself.
September 25, 2023
I don’t disagree with anything in this book in principle, but it really is not that great overall. It has too many moments of silly wordplay that passes itself off as deep without actually developing many of the ideas—see all the times it says “transition” without developing how the concept of transgender transitions apply to other concepts. The essays are all short and end before they really dive into their thesis—they just give background and end on a thesis, which is ridiculous and disappointing considering literally all of them discuss interesting topics that all deserve their own books.
Several that I read talked about things that were not new to anyone who’s been paying attention to trans politics or is trans, and added nothing particularly new. If they did, again, they did not flesh anything out. The book should have either had longer essays and made the collection longer, or chosen fewer, longer essays that were more fleshed out.
I also am not sure why there needs to be a “transgender” marxism. There are moments that argue for this in the book, and I didn’t find any of them convincing. One of them, about Butler, tried to discuss this from the lens of transition, but it did not actually develop this—and I’m not really sure why the author thought that this made Marxism any different when Marxism was already all about processes and “transitions.” I didn’t feel like my lack of gender identity would get anything from this particular type of Marxism, and that’s how I felt about the book. Hell, one of the essays kind of argues this—saying that separatism wouldn’t do anything. Not that transgender marxism means separatism in party or anything, but I still think this is the same thing as asking why there has to be a different type of Marxism as opposed to Marxism analyzing something. There is no scientific revolution posited here.
If I have to see the word “transition” used as a shared metaphor between communism and trans people but without it being elaborated on again… boi
Several that I read talked about things that were not new to anyone who’s been paying attention to trans politics or is trans, and added nothing particularly new. If they did, again, they did not flesh anything out. The book should have either had longer essays and made the collection longer, or chosen fewer, longer essays that were more fleshed out.
I also am not sure why there needs to be a “transgender” marxism. There are moments that argue for this in the book, and I didn’t find any of them convincing. One of them, about Butler, tried to discuss this from the lens of transition, but it did not actually develop this—and I’m not really sure why the author thought that this made Marxism any different when Marxism was already all about processes and “transitions.” I didn’t feel like my lack of gender identity would get anything from this particular type of Marxism, and that’s how I felt about the book. Hell, one of the essays kind of argues this—saying that separatism wouldn’t do anything. Not that transgender marxism means separatism in party or anything, but I still think this is the same thing as asking why there has to be a different type of Marxism as opposed to Marxism analyzing something. There is no scientific revolution posited here.
If I have to see the word “transition” used as a shared metaphor between communism and trans people but without it being elaborated on again… boi
January 29, 2023
The first 160 pages are very useful for making the argument for trans Marxist Orginization/Theory. A grand majority of trans women have to continually struggle with their terrible conditions that are forced upon us because of our trans-ness, limits of employment (many being forced into prostitution), lack of familial love because of heteronormativity and even the danger of being forced into self denial closetness or homelessness. Back then in my edgy trans phase I had a strawman view of words like heteronormativity but this book makes a compelling case that there is in fact a problem with Society the way it view Trans People as either degenerates or pitiful freaks of nature that are born that way. No one should be treated like this because you feel that your don't belong in you assigned Gender. Liberal politics have failed to protect or validate trans women outside petty cynical consumerism, born this way that treats transness as a acceptable deviation as long as the binary gender system is still reinforced, and otherwise have done nothing at all to improve the conditions of trans women. So while social revolution is still very much a long shot in our current capitalist hell, Marxist Theory does what Liberalism could not, critique Capitalism and its cause and affect of miserable conditions, social norms, boundaries and oppressions. The last few Essays in this collection lose me a but because of my relative inexperience with things like Freud and Phenomenology that leave me confused the last 100 pages (although in the deep ocean of text I can occasionally glimmer at what they are getting at)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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June 24, 2025uf... tan interesante. siento que ha tocado tantos temas y ha cuestionado tantas cosas relacionadas con el género, el sexo, la discapacidad, la clase y lo trans que se ha creado un poso en mi mente que solo podré racionalizar pasado un tiempo.
desde lo trans atravesado por la clase, abre un camino hacia el marxismo y explica la necesidad de comprender y estudiar el mismo para hacer revolución.
me ha encantado por cómo les autores intentan enmarcar desde distintas perspectivas a lo trans como precarizante pero también subversivo a la propia concepción binaria y nuclear de la familia capitalista impuesta.
y sobre todo me interesó la forma de argumentar cómo las abstracciones a las que nos adherimos como puede ser el género, representan una forma más de alienación de la clase obrera.
recomiendo un montón, me encantaron los capítulos sobre la fenomenología trans, revolución científica y cuerpos trans y discapacitados.
desde lo trans atravesado por la clase, abre un camino hacia el marxismo y explica la necesidad de comprender y estudiar el mismo para hacer revolución.
me ha encantado por cómo les autores intentan enmarcar desde distintas perspectivas a lo trans como precarizante pero también subversivo a la propia concepción binaria y nuclear de la familia capitalista impuesta.
y sobre todo me interesó la forma de argumentar cómo las abstracciones a las que nos adherimos como puede ser el género, representan una forma más de alienación de la clase obrera.
recomiendo un montón, me encantaron los capítulos sobre la fenomenología trans, revolución científica y cuerpos trans y discapacitados.
August 4, 2023
Marx was matter of fact to the ways the forces of production determine what is an acceptable and productive body. And the transgender revolutionary actively resents and turns over the productive mode determined for them. It is in itself revolutionary. Being queer and trans challenges the capitalist notions of gender and “normalcy.” Being trans, in many cases, like being black or disabled removes you from ordinary modes of reproduction. And being ‘debilitated’ from what makes us productive also sets us apart from what is to be a productive proletariat.
The structure of gender under capitalism has always been repressive and violent to all identities. It is not only Trans people that are victims (though it clearly impacts trans people more), but also Cis people who learn to police themselves and each other according to gendered stereotypes. In effect, gender isn’t an expression of anything material but rather a negation of what it is not. But as Marx himself expresses, human agency importantly alters the condition of our existence and as trans people we transgress against the natured violence put on all of us.
Trans communities are liberators because they can quite literally create an alternative power from the state medical system. The ability of collectives to stockpile, distribute, and inform about estradiol and testosterone is massive in helping other queers embark on their own transitions. Mutually impacting everyone to be communal instead of only individualistic in their own transition. Trans people are reproductive in the sense that they can model and help the enactive behavior of other queer/trans people. And these queer households are “where the class of immoderate queers is sustained… projecting bodies that can withstand the violence of capitalism and even confront it.”
I thoroughly enjoyed this while I having a long difficult time with this book. Because it is a collection of essays you get a nice conversation and sometimes contradiction of difference aspects of the confluence (intersection) of transness and labor. Though a lot of it is entirely too philosophical and phenomenological to be an easy summer read.
The structure of gender under capitalism has always been repressive and violent to all identities. It is not only Trans people that are victims (though it clearly impacts trans people more), but also Cis people who learn to police themselves and each other according to gendered stereotypes. In effect, gender isn’t an expression of anything material but rather a negation of what it is not. But as Marx himself expresses, human agency importantly alters the condition of our existence and as trans people we transgress against the natured violence put on all of us.
Trans communities are liberators because they can quite literally create an alternative power from the state medical system. The ability of collectives to stockpile, distribute, and inform about estradiol and testosterone is massive in helping other queers embark on their own transitions. Mutually impacting everyone to be communal instead of only individualistic in their own transition. Trans people are reproductive in the sense that they can model and help the enactive behavior of other queer/trans people. And these queer households are “where the class of immoderate queers is sustained… projecting bodies that can withstand the violence of capitalism and even confront it.”
I thoroughly enjoyed this while I having a long difficult time with this book. Because it is a collection of essays you get a nice conversation and sometimes contradiction of difference aspects of the confluence (intersection) of transness and labor. Though a lot of it is entirely too philosophical and phenomenological to be an easy summer read.
July 24, 2021
This book was a mixed bag for me, but it definitely enhanced my analysis and gave me a LOT to think about, so I'm giving 4, maybe even 4.5 stars.
Parts of this book were overly, unnecessarily academic. Others were far more accessible. I think academic publishing has its place, but not in something that should speak to the masses. I learned that this book was supposed to be very different initially from what it became, so I can understand that maybe the ways things happened there wasn't the time to get everything to be tonally consistent. But man, that intro was a SLOG.
Overall, this book has a lot of important things to say, and at least half of it I found to be reasonably accessible, so I am recommending it to other leftists, especially other queer leftists, despite my frustrations with parts of it. I think it's an important entry into our collective conversations about queerness, labor and social reproduction. I recommend skipping any parts you find to be too taxing, if you do, the rest of the essays are well worth it. I do recommend getting through the intro if you can because there were some nuggets worth knowing/thinking about in there.
My final note is that we need to hear more theory from trans men and trans masc people! They have a particular life experience that must lend itself to some interesting, radical theory. I believe there were two such authors included in this book and neither really focused on specifically their experience as trans men/masc. The intro posed the question of "how do we define a proletarian manhood?" and then never answered it or even addressed it again, which served to highlight how desperately we need more of these voices in the movement. I think it's an overreach and a mistake of feminism that trans men are not given more platforms and/or feel that they can't take up space.
Parts of this book were overly, unnecessarily academic. Others were far more accessible. I think academic publishing has its place, but not in something that should speak to the masses. I learned that this book was supposed to be very different initially from what it became, so I can understand that maybe the ways things happened there wasn't the time to get everything to be tonally consistent. But man, that intro was a SLOG.
Overall, this book has a lot of important things to say, and at least half of it I found to be reasonably accessible, so I am recommending it to other leftists, especially other queer leftists, despite my frustrations with parts of it. I think it's an important entry into our collective conversations about queerness, labor and social reproduction. I recommend skipping any parts you find to be too taxing, if you do, the rest of the essays are well worth it. I do recommend getting through the intro if you can because there were some nuggets worth knowing/thinking about in there.
My final note is that we need to hear more theory from trans men and trans masc people! They have a particular life experience that must lend itself to some interesting, radical theory. I believe there were two such authors included in this book and neither really focused on specifically their experience as trans men/masc. The intro posed the question of "how do we define a proletarian manhood?" and then never answered it or even addressed it again, which served to highlight how desperately we need more of these voices in the movement. I think it's an overreach and a mistake of feminism that trans men are not given more platforms and/or feel that they can't take up space.
October 20, 2021
Filld with rich and provoking contributions from a range of authors and perspectives that are undoubtedly good to hear from. Certainly my own understanding, of a topic I feel very strongly about, has been enriched and many new points of where to go from here have been offered. The way the authors continuously manage to reveal the links between trans history and struggle with broader movements from which they've been concealed (workers rights strikes, LGBTQ history and debates, fights for sex worker recognition, links between transgenderism and society's views on disibility/debility, etc etc) is inspiring and points to a broader history we should all be able to draw on. I particularly liked the chapter on debility, but they've all got a lot of important things to say and people will also add their own meaning and experiences into them. It's really great, and I do recommend anyone curious to get it.
However, it's also incredibly dense in parts, and I found it such a struggle to read this at the same time I started work. The concepts are heavy - often both emotionally and philosophically - and many of the chapters assume a rather great deal of theory and understanding already (my limited grasp of Marxist concepts just about saw me through), so were quite hard to pick up and make click straight away. I'm normally a super quick reader but this felt like a slog that took over month of my time and energy. I'll also probably want to reread it in the future to better grasp some of it, which would mean even more of both. This is why, despite how rich the book is and how much I think I've gained, I can't give it the glowing 5 stars I hoped I would. Still, there's a lot of good in there and I do think it's worth it - but maybe keep a light fiction book on the side too for when you get exhausted.
However, it's also incredibly dense in parts, and I found it such a struggle to read this at the same time I started work. The concepts are heavy - often both emotionally and philosophically - and many of the chapters assume a rather great deal of theory and understanding already (my limited grasp of Marxist concepts just about saw me through), so were quite hard to pick up and make click straight away. I'm normally a super quick reader but this felt like a slog that took over month of my time and energy. I'll also probably want to reread it in the future to better grasp some of it, which would mean even more of both. This is why, despite how rich the book is and how much I think I've gained, I can't give it the glowing 5 stars I hoped I would. Still, there's a lot of good in there and I do think it's worth it - but maybe keep a light fiction book on the side too for when you get exhausted.
August 16, 2022
"Transgender Marxism" és un llibre pioner dins del que ara anomenem marxisme queer. És un recull de textos molt variats entre si que de cap manera construeixen una teoria unitària o una tesi comuna. Tant és així que conviuen anàlisis clarament marxistes (Gleeson, O'Rourke), anàlisis queers del marxisme (Rosa Lee), teoria de la reproducció (trans) social (Zazanis, Raha, Doyle Griffiths), fenomenologia marxista (Belinsky), Deluze queer (The Conspirational Association...), psicoanàlisi (Metcalfe), espistemologia (Dickinson), hermenèutica (Rosenberg)... Per tant, és un llibre queer tant pel seu contingut com per la seva forma.
La meva proposta/resum d'aquest llibre és, que les qüestions que posa sobre la taula el fet trans, lluny de ser problemes contradictoris amb el marxisme (la visió 'obrerista') o fora de l'abast d'aquest (la visió postestructuralista), poden ser perfectament estudiades sota les lents del materialisme dialèctic i, a més, aprofundeixen el nostre coneixement com a marxistes de la totalitat capitalista.
L'agència, és a dir, la possibilitat de canvi (i, per tant, de transicionar de gènere) representa un element fonamental en el marxisme: la praxi. Allò que diferencia el materialisme de Marx del materialisme anterior és justament el mateix que ens permet entendre com és possible la transició de gènere: no som només productes passius de les circumstàncies, "és l'home qui canvia les circumstàncies i [és] l'educador [qui] ha d'educar-se primer" (Marx). Això és, justament, el pas del materialisme contemplatiu de Feuerbach al dialèctic de Marx. El fet trans no és una "qüestió" incompatible amb el marxisme sinó que ens recorda allò que és central del marxisme: la possibilitat de transformar el món. Recordant l'onzena "tesi sobre Feuerbach" de Marx:
"Els filòsofs tan sols han interpretat el món de diferents formes; ara la qüestió és canviar-lo."
La meva proposta/resum d'aquest llibre és, que les qüestions que posa sobre la taula el fet trans, lluny de ser problemes contradictoris amb el marxisme (la visió 'obrerista') o fora de l'abast d'aquest (la visió postestructuralista), poden ser perfectament estudiades sota les lents del materialisme dialèctic i, a més, aprofundeixen el nostre coneixement com a marxistes de la totalitat capitalista.
L'agència, és a dir, la possibilitat de canvi (i, per tant, de transicionar de gènere) representa un element fonamental en el marxisme: la praxi. Allò que diferencia el materialisme de Marx del materialisme anterior és justament el mateix que ens permet entendre com és possible la transició de gènere: no som només productes passius de les circumstàncies, "és l'home qui canvia les circumstàncies i [és] l'educador [qui] ha d'educar-se primer" (Marx). Això és, justament, el pas del materialisme contemplatiu de Feuerbach al dialèctic de Marx. El fet trans no és una "qüestió" incompatible amb el marxisme sinó que ens recorda allò que és central del marxisme: la possibilitat de transformar el món. Recordant l'onzena "tesi sobre Feuerbach" de Marx:
"Els filòsofs tan sols han interpretat el món de diferents formes; ara la qüestió és canviar-lo."
August 9, 2022
En general, este libro es importante sobre todo porque está marcando ya un antes y un después en los estudios trans. Ahí tenemos, por ejemplo, la colección "Las degeneradas trans acaban con la familia", que coordina Ira Hybris y publica la editorial Kaótica. Que se haya podido organizar y publicar una antología así es algo prácticamente histórico que recuerda, por otro lado, al tópico intra-comunitario del espíritu revolucionario de las personas trans.
Dicho esto, estoy convencida de ver en el libro algunas aportaciones muy interesantes, pero creo que la decisión de no delimitar formatos/objetivos concretos juega mucho más en su contra que a su favor. Pero esta es una opinión más personal que otra cosa. Algunos capítulos (como los de Noah Zananis, Nat Raha y Jules Joanne-Gleeson) directamente hacen contribuciones importantes al marxismo trans; Otros (como los de Rosa Lee o Nathaniel Dickson) son relativamente breves y claramente son más notas y apuntes personales sobre temas específicos que otra cosa. Una buena parte de ellos tratan directamente cuestiones de reproducción social: la producción y reproducción material de identidades, el sustento existencial de los círculos de personas trans, la epistemología trans... Y luego hay un capítulo en particular sobre Deleuze que es, bueno, algo ridículo.
En todo caso, celebro que este libro exista y dé a conocer estos textos. Es un pequeño paso que, con todo, puede no parecer demasiado. Pero, como se suele decir, todo se andará.
Dicho esto, estoy convencida de ver en el libro algunas aportaciones muy interesantes, pero creo que la decisión de no delimitar formatos/objetivos concretos juega mucho más en su contra que a su favor. Pero esta es una opinión más personal que otra cosa. Algunos capítulos (como los de Noah Zananis, Nat Raha y Jules Joanne-Gleeson) directamente hacen contribuciones importantes al marxismo trans; Otros (como los de Rosa Lee o Nathaniel Dickson) son relativamente breves y claramente son más notas y apuntes personales sobre temas específicos que otra cosa. Una buena parte de ellos tratan directamente cuestiones de reproducción social: la producción y reproducción material de identidades, el sustento existencial de los círculos de personas trans, la epistemología trans... Y luego hay un capítulo en particular sobre Deleuze que es, bueno, algo ridículo.
En todo caso, celebro que este libro exista y dé a conocer estos textos. Es un pequeño paso que, con todo, puede no parecer demasiado. Pero, como se suele decir, todo se andará.
May 28, 2022
A mixed bag of complex academic and high school level musings; dense and empty; engaging and pedantic. This is really not an introduction to Marxism from a transgender lens as some may have expected, but an introduction to a specific, transgender understanding of Marxism. The clarification is important for some who might find the more complex essays intimidating in their reliance on the reader's presumed knowledge of theory. I was definitely confused at points. Sorry if that makes me a dumb anar-kiddy, are you still coming over later? Speaking of anarchism, the dislike of the state without much abolitionism was boggling at times but to be expected, though many of these essays seemed to get oh so close to anarchy. Would recommend to skim through and take what you need/want.
Favourites of the bunch (to my memory) were by JN Hoad, Virginia Guitzel, Anja Heisler Weiser Flower (who, as you can see in her review, has since distanced herself from this collection), Zoe Belinsky, Farah Thompson, Jules Joanne Gleeson, and Noah Zazanis.
Favourites of the bunch (to my memory) were by JN Hoad, Virginia Guitzel, Anja Heisler Weiser Flower (who, as you can see in her review, has since distanced herself from this collection), Zoe Belinsky, Farah Thompson, Jules Joanne Gleeson, and Noah Zazanis.
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