Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
By: Kit Heyam
4.30
Format: 343 pages, Hardcover
A groundbreaking global history of gender nonconformity Today’s narratives about trans people …
Want to Read $ 18.99"It’s not as simple as saying that ‘while the terminology is new, the experiences are not.’ The advent of new terminology can genuinely shift how we think about gender, as well as what names we give to our experiences. But it’s also not straightforwardly true to say that the word ‘trans’ has no history before sexology. Literary scholar Joseph Gamble has recently discovered that the 17th century writer Thomas Brown used the prefix ‘trans’ and the word ‘transition’ to refer to the spontaneous sex changes of hares as early as 1646 and even coined the adjective ‘transfeminated’ to refer to a body that has transformed from what we think of as ‘female’ to what we think of as ‘male.’ So the prefix ‘trans’ was clearly relevant to thinking about gender-malleability long before Hirschfeld leveraged it to refer to his patients he saw at his Institute for Sexual Science."-Kit Heyam, Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
"It’s not as simple as saying that ‘while the terminology is new, the experiences are not.’ The advent of new terminology can genuinely shift how we think about gender, as well as what names we give to our experiences. But it’s also not straightforwardly true to say that the word ‘trans’ has no history before sexology. Literary scholar Joseph Gamble has recently discovered that the 17th century writer Thomas Brown used the prefix ‘trans’ and the word ‘transition’ to refer to the spontaneous sex changes of hares as early as 1646 and even coined the adjective ‘transfeminated’ to refer to a body that has transformed from what we think of as ‘female’ to what we think of as ‘male.’ So the prefix ‘trans’ was clearly relevant to thinking about gender-malleability long before Hirschfeld leveraged it to refer to his patients he saw at his Institute for Sexual Science."-Kit Heyam, Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
"It's important that we, as historians or as queer people, don't treat gender and sexuality as two things that use to be entangled but have now been teased apart. There can be a tendency in white queer circles to frame this as a narrative of 'progress' in which we've moved from and outdated past where all queer relationships had to have 'a man and a woman', to a liberated present in which sexuality has been unhooked from gender and queer relationships are characterized by sameness and mutuality. But that narrative doesn't represent everybody's experience. If we frame the entanglement of gender and sexuality as a relic of an unenlightened past, we erase the experiences of many people - often, disproportionately, working-class people and people of colour. There are plenty of examples of individuals, groups and cultures for whom it's no accurate to talk about 'gender' and 'sexuality' as separate concepts or experiences. ... Where do non-binary peole fit into our existing categories of sexuality? Is gender really the most helpful way to [categorize] the people we're attracted to, or is it time for a new model: one that reflects the fact that knowing someone's gender doesn't always tell you much at all about who they are?"-Kit Heyam, Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
"It's important that we, as historians or as queer people, don't treat gender and sexuality as two things that use to be entangled but have now been teased apart. There can be a tendency in white queer circles to frame this as a narrative of 'progress' in which we've moved from and outdated past where all queer relationships had to have 'a man and a woman', to a liberated present in which sexuality has been unhooked from gender and queer relationships are characterized by sameness and mutuality. But that narrative doesn't represent everybody's experience. If we frame the entanglement of gender and sexuality as a relic of an unenlightened past, we erase the experiences of many people - often, disproportionately, working-class people and people of colour. There are plenty of examples of individuals, groups and cultures for whom it's no accurate to talk about 'gender' and 'sexuality' as separate concepts or experiences. ... Where do non-binary peole fit into our existing categories of sexuality? Is gender really the most helpful way to [categorize] the people we're attracted to, or is it time for a new model: one that reflects the fact that knowing someone's gender doesn't always tell you much at all about who they are?"-Kit Heyam, Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
If you liked the gender plot in Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender by Kit Heyam , here is a list of 10 books like this:
1. Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
By: Julia Serano
4.26
Format: 390 pages, Paperback
A provocative manifesto, Whipping Girl tells the powerful story of Julia Serano, a transsexual woma… read more
Want to Read $ 13.99Similar categories in Julia Serano's Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- transgender
- lgbt
- gender
- gender studies
- nonfiction
- queer
"Rather than focusing on “shattering the gender binary,"-Julia Serano, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
"It is offensive that so many people feel that it is okay to publicly refer to transsexuals as being “pre-op"-Julia Serano, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
"[I]magine what would happen if, instead of centering our beliefs about heterosexual sex around the idea that the man “penetrates"-Julia Serano, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
"The most radical thing that any of us can do is to stop projecting our beliefs about gender onto other people's behaviors and bodies"-Julia Serano, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
2. The Lauras
By: Sara Taylor
3.91
Format: 360 pages, Hardcover
I didn t realise my mother was a person until I was thirteen years old and she pulled me out of bed… read more
Want to ReadSimilar categories in Sara Taylor's The Lauras book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
3. Transgender History
By: Susan Stryker
3.96
Format: 236 pages, Paperback
Covering American transgender history from the mid-twentieth century to today, Transgender Historyt… read more
Want to ReadSimilar categories in Susan Stryker's Transgender History book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
4. Bad Gays: A Homosexual History
By: Huw Lemmey
3.55
Format: 368 pages, Hardcover
Too many popular histories seek to establish heroes, pioneers and martyrs but as Huw Lemmey and Ben… read more
Want to Read $ 7.99Similar categories in Huw Lemmey's Bad Gays: A Homosexual History book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- audiobook
- history
- lgbt
- historical
- nonfiction
- queer
5. How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures
By: Sabrina Imbler
4.12
Format: 263 pages, Hardcover
A queer, mixed race writer working in a largely white, male field, science and conservation journal… read more
Want to Read $ 11.99Similar categories in Sabrina Imbler's How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- audiobook
- nonfiction
- lgbt
- queer
"But when I think about ponds infested with gallon-big goldfish, I feel a kind of triumph. I see something that no one expected to live not just alive but impossibly flourishing, and no longer alone. …"-Sabrina Imbler, How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures
6. Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement
By: Ashley Shew
4.30
Format: 160 pages, Hardcover
A manifesto exploding what we think we know about disability, and arguing that disabled people are … read more
Want to Read $ 7.92Similar categories in Ashley Shew's Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- nonfiction
- audiobook
7. Gender Euphoria
By: Laura Kate Dale
4.11
Format: 229 pages, Kindle Edition
GENDER EUPHORIA: a powerful feeling of happiness experienced as a result of moving away from one’s … read more
Want to Read $ 7.55Similar categories in Laura Kate Dale's Gender Euphoria book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- transgender
- lgbt
- gender
- nonfiction
- queer
"My leg hair reminds me of wildflower meadows. My head hair is long pond grass. My armpit hair is a hawthorn bush. My pubic hair is wet moss and lichen on a rock."-Laura Kate Dale, Gender Euphoria
"If you don’t mind keeping a secret, I can tell you that the reality is that people ask fewer questions about what’s going on in your pants if they’re distracted by what you’ve got drawn on your arms."-Laura Kate Dale, Gender Euphoria
8. Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls
By: Kai Cheng Thom
4.18
Format: 176 pages, Paperback
What happens when we imagine loving the people--and the parts of ourselves--that we do not believe … read more
Want to Read $ 12.99Similar categories in Kai Cheng Thom's Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- queer
- transgender
- lgbt
- nonfiction
- audiobook
"i have questions about heaven. i have questions about the Revolution. those questions are the same: upon whose bones do you intend to build your paradise?"-Kai Cheng Thom, Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls
"you don't need to heal others to heal yourself, you can just heal yourself. you do not need to give love to others to love yourself, you can just love yourself."-Kai Cheng Thom, Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls
"find the lie in your heart. the one you tell to yourself and all the world, sometimes without even knowing it. pare that lie down to its barest core, strip back the skin, and behold the truth: i am w…"-Kai Cheng Thom, Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls
9. Hijab Butch Blues
By: Lamya H.
4.48
Format: 284 pages, Hardcover
A queer hijabi Muslim immigrant survives her coming-of-age by drawing strength and hope from storie… read more
Want to Read $ 14.99Similar categories in Lamya H.'s Hijab Butch Blues book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- audiobook
- nonfiction
- lgbt
- queer
"Sort of?"-Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues
"Queer indispensability?"-Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues
"I feel tired. Or reckless. Or maybe brave."-Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues
"I want to figure her out, this girl, and I want to know everything about her."-Lamya H., Hijab Butch Blues
10. We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan
By: Lou Sullivan
4.76
Format: 440 pages, Paperback
Drawn from Lou Sullivan’s meticulously kept journals, this landmark book records the life of arguab… read more
Want to Read $ 11.49Similar categories in Lou Sullivan's We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- history
- transgender
- lgbt
- gender
- nonfiction
- queer
"I don't even know if there was anyone that's ever felt as I do.. how they coped, what they did...how do I find out what someone like me does?"-Lou Sullivan, We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan
"A big fear of mine is that I will die before the gender professionals acknowledge that someone like me exists, and then I really won't exist to prove them wrong."-Lou Sullivan, We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan
"In a lot of ways I think the problem is I spend too much time seeing myself though other people's eyes and not really being in my body and enjoying myself and relaxing in my image."-Lou Sullivan, We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan
"I finally said, "Let's put it this way: I'd rather lose you than stop my shots.""You mean that chemical is more important to you than I am?""No, I am more important to me than you are."-Lou Sullivan, We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan
11. Pageboy
By: Elliot Page
3.75
Format: 271 pages, None
Pageboy is a groundbreaking coming-of-age memoir from the Academy Award-nominated actor Elliot Page… read more
Want to Read $ 11.99Similar categories in Elliot Page's Pageboy book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- queer
- transgender
- lgbt
- nonfiction
- audiobook
"Her visibility meant the world to me. I think about this as I walk through the world now."-Elliot Page, Pageboy
"How do people do it? How do they shut off the noise? And I don't mean "happy", they may not be happy, but they seem to be able to exist at least."-Elliot Page, Pageboy
"In a world where queerness all too often alienates us from blood, I am grateful to Julia, and the family I have chosen. Without them, I wouldn't be here."-Elliot Page, Pageboy
"I could block myself out, I was a person I didn't know, I'd gaze into what felt like the universe, my eye a planet of its own. I must be somewhere in there, I'd think."-Elliot Page, Pageboy
12. Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
By: Kit Heyam
4.30
Format: 343 pages, Hardcover
A groundbreaking global history of gender nonconformity Today’s narratives about trans people … read more
Want to Read $ 18.99Similar categories in Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- audiobook
- history
- transgender
- lgbt
- historical
- gender
- gender studies
- nonfiction
- gender and sexuality
- queer
"It’s not as simple as saying that ‘while the terminology is new, the experiences are not.’ The advent of new terminology can genuinely shift how we think about gender, as well as what names we give t…"-Kit Heyam, Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
"It's important that we, as historians or as queer people, don't treat gender and sexuality as two things that use to be entangled but have now been teased apart. There can be a tendency in white quee…"-Kit Heyam, Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
13. The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison
By: Hugh Ryan
4.45
Format: 357 pages, Hardcover
This singular history of a prison, and the queer women and trans people held there, is a window int… read more
Want to Read $ 13.99Similar categories in Hugh Ryan's The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- history
- lgbt
- historical
- nonfiction
- queer
14. Who's Afraid of Gender?
By: Judith Butler
4.02
Format: 320 pages, Hardcover
From a global icon, a bold, essential account of how a fear of gender is fueling reactionary politi… read more
Want to Read $ 14.99Similar categories in Judith Butler's Who's Afraid of Gender? book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- audiobook
- lgbt
- gender
- gender studies
- nonfiction
- queer
"Imagine if you were Jewish and someone tells you that you are not. Imagine if you are lesbian and someone laughs in your face and says you are confused since you are really heterosexual. Imagine if y…"-Judith Butler, Who's Afraid of Gender?
15. Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture
By: Sherronda J. Brown
4.53
Format: 240 pages, Paperback
For readers of Ace and Belly of the Beast: A Black queer feminist exploration of asexuality—and an … read more
Want to Read $ 12.99Similar categories in Sherronda J. Brown's Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- history
- queer
- lgbt
- nonfiction
- audiobook
16. A Short History of Trans Misogyny
By: Jules Gill-Peterson
4.47
Format: 182 pages, Hardcover
An accessible, bold new vision for the future of intersectional trans feminism, called "one of the … read more
Want to Read $ 7.99Similar categories in Jules Gill-Peterson's A Short History of Trans Misogyny book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- history
- transgender
- lgbt
- gender
- nonfiction
- gender and sexuality
- queer
17. Female Husbands: A Trans History
By: Jen Manion
4.01
Format: 350 pages, Hardcover
Long before people identified as transgender or lesbian, there were female husbands and the women w… read more
Want to Read $ 13.49Similar categories in Jen Manion's Female Husbands: A Trans History book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- audiobook
- history
- transgender
- lgbt
- gender
- gender studies
- nonfiction
- gender and sexuality
- queer
18. Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity
By: C. Riley Snorton
4.02
Format: 256 pages, Hardcover
The story of Christine Jorgensen, America’s first prominent transsexual, famously narrated trans em… read more
Want to Read $ 14.72Similar categories in C. Riley Snorton's Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- history
- transgender
- lgbt
- gender
- nonfiction
- queer
19. He/She/They: How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters
By: Schuyler Bailar
4.62
Format: 384 pages, Hardcover
Go‑to expert on gender identity, Schuyler Bailar, offers an essential, urgent guide that changes th… read more
Want to Read $ 15.99Similar categories in Schuyler Bailar's He/She/They: How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- audiobook
- transgender
- lgbt
- gender
- nonfiction
- queer
20. Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire
By: Alice Wong
4.30
Format: 384 pages, Paperback
The much-anticipated follow up to the groundbreaking anthology Disability Visibility: another revol… read more
Want to Read $ 12.99Similar categories in Alice Wong's Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- nonfiction
21. A Trans Man Walks into a Gay Bar
By: Harry Nicholas
4.07
Format: 224 pages, Paperback
‘On the bookshelves, there was plenty of stuff on being gay, and much needed, joyous accounts of wh… read more
Want to Read $ 9.99Similar categories in Harry Nicholas's A Trans Man Walks into a Gay Bar book and Kit Heyam's Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
- transgender
- lgbt
- gender
- nonfiction
- queer
