Readings in the Politics of Transgender

This file contains suggestions offered on WMST-L in August 2009 for readings 
on the politics of transgender suitable for an Intro to Women's Studies course.
For more WMST-L files available on the Web, see the WMST-L File Collection.

I am teaching an introductory women's studies course and need some
clear and accessible articles on the politics of transgender. Any
suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks,

Gail Dines

Gail Dines
Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies
Chair of American Studies
Wheelock College
35 Pilgrim Road
Boston, MA 02215
gdines  AT  wheelock.edu

Hi Gail,

I think one of the most accessible, current, and comprehensive books
on trans topics is Susan Stryker's Transgender History (2008, Seal
Press).  The book is only 150 pages long and if you're looking for a
shorter reading any of the chapters would suffice.  Best of luck with
your class.

Reese

-- 
Reese Carey Kelly
Doctoral Candidate, Department of Sociology
University at Albany, SUNY
Visiting Instructor, Department of Sociology
Middlebury College

An excellent article that I've found provokes much discussion in intro WGS
courses is Emi Koyama, "Whose Feminism Is It Anyway? The Unspoken Racism
of the Trans Inclusion Debate," from the Transgender Studies Reader
(Routledge, 2006).

Don


Don Romesburg, Ph.D.
Acting Chair and Assistant Professor
Women's and Gender Studies
Sonoma State University
romesbur  AT  sonoma.edu

Also excellent is Julia Serano's "Whipping Girl". It deals with some
of the central issues (the gatekeeper system, the sexualisation of
trans women) in some depth, but is written in a style that makes it
accessible even to people not familiar with the subject matter.

Elise Hendrick
elise.hendrick  AT  gmail.com

Susan Stryker's Transgender Reader is a useful anthology with many
major essays and excerpts.  á 

Marcia Rogers

Hi, Gail:

Joanne Meyerowitz's How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in
the United States is a wonderful book and easy to read. You could
possibly use a chapter or two from it.

Best,

Brigitte McCray

-- 
Brigitte N. McCray
PhD Candidate / Department of English
Modernism / Women's and Gender Studies
Louisiana State University
MA in English / MFA in Creative Writing / Virginia Commonwealth University

And I forgot about this one: it appeared last year in the New York
Times magazine-- an article about transgender college students and
part of the article focuses on Male-to-Female transgender students at
women's colleges and the debate circling over that:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/magazine/16students-t.html?pagewanted=2

Best,

Brigitte

-- 
Brigitte N. McCray
PhD Candidate / Department of English
Modernism / Women's and Gender Studies
Louisiana State University
MA in English / MFA in Creative Writing / Virginia Commonwealth University

There seems to be very little dialogue in feminist publications or websites that
in any way question the requirements of how to think in the "politics of
transgender" - there is as little tolerance for this as there is for the idea
that people of one ethnicity/race could reassign themselves to another. Strange
double standard there.

If you are interested in including critical thinking and dialogue outside of
current required thought, off our backs has published several articles on the
subject over the years (and has been skewered as hate-mongers for doing so).
There was also an extensive debate online, I think in 2007, which you might
still be able to find after a Michigan Womyn's Music Festival in which
biological men who "self-identified" as women helped themselves to the open
shower room with the other attendees, who thought they were in safe space.

Adriene Sere 
agoldhorse  AT  gmail.com

--- On Wed, 8/19/09, Adriene Sere <agoldhorse  AT  GMAIL.COM> wrote:

"the idea that people of one ethnicity/race could reassign themselves to another."

I have found it useful, when teaching transgender as well as other
issues, to talk about the binary way in which we have tended to view
gender, race, and sexual orientation, and then to look at writings
which present these identity categories as multiple identities or
ones which challenge binary understandings.  There is a *lot* written
about people reassigning their ethnicity/race or having it reassigned
for them - Noel Ignatiev's "How the Irish Became White," Karen
Brodkin Sachs' "How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about
Race in America," Ian Haney Lopez' "White By Law," and virtually the
whole field of critical race theory.  There are also some interesting
similarities between bisexual and multiracial identity categories,
and also between these and trans as an identity category (and, of
course, some important differences).  So, I think talking about
identity categories more broadly, first, is a good way to move into
talking about transgender and transgender politics.

Jessica

Jessica Nathanson
Director, Women's Resource Center and Women's Studies Program
Augsburg College
Minneapolis, MN
nathanso  AT  augsburg.edu

On Aug 19, 2009 12:40pm, Gail Dines <gdines  AT  wheelock.edu> wrote:
> I am teaching an introductory women's studies course and need some clear
> and accessible articles on the politics of transgender. Any suggestions
> would be most welcome.

Here are some suggestions for further reading.

"Men in ewes' clothing: The stealth politics of the transgender movement" at
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3693/is_200004/ai_n8898336/?tag=rbxc
ra.2.a.55, also posted at
http://www.rapereliefshelter.bc.ca/issues/menewes.html "If identity is held
as a given, it is off-limits to criticism or analysis."

There used to be a website at http://www.questioningtransgender.org, which I
understand had critical, alternative viewpoints on this topic. (I've heard
and trust that there is a fairly simply way to find webpages that are no
longer online, though I never learned how.)

Also, just posted, http://saidit.org/archives/jun06/transgender.html , about
the importance of taking gender hierarchy into account.

I hope this is helpful.

Adriene Sere
agoldhorse  AT  gmail.com

--- On Fri, 8/21/09, Adriene Sere <agoldhorse  AT  GMAIL.COM> wrote:

(I've heard and trust that there is a fairly simply
> way to find webpages that are no longer online, though I
> never learned how.)

Google "wayback machine" to search the internet archives.
Jessica

Jessica Nathanson
Director, Women's Resource Center and Women's Studies Program
Augsburg College
Minneapolis, MN
nathanso  AT  augsburg.edu