A groundbreaking twentieth-century history of transgender children
With transgender rights front and center in American politics, media, and culture, the pervasive myth still exists that today's transgender children are a brand new generation--pioneers in a field of new obstacles and hurdles. Histories of the Transgender Child shatters this myth, uncovering a previously unknown twentieth-century history when transgender children not only existed but preexisted the term transgender and its predecessors, playing a central role in the medicalization of trans people, and all sex and gender.
Beginning with the early 1900s when children with ambiguous sex first sought medical attention, to the 1930s when transgender people began to seek out doctors involved in altering children's sex, to the invention of the category gender, and finally the 1960s and '70s when, as the field institutionalized, transgender children began to take hormones, change their names, and even access gender confirmation, Julian Gill-Peterson reconstructs the medicalization and racialization of children's bodies. Throughout, they foreground the racial history of medicine that excludes black and trans of color children through the concept of gender's plasticity, placing race at the center of their analysis and at the center of transgender studies.
Until now, little has been known about early transgender history and life and its relevance to children. Using a wealth of archival research from hospitals and clinics, including incredible personal letters from children to doctors, as well as scientific and medical literature, this book reaches back to the first half of the twentieth century--a time when the category transgender was not available but surely existed, in the lives of children and parents.
From contributors to The Conversation, a look at gender diversity in the twenty-first century and the intricate and intersecting challenges faced by trans and nonbinary people.
With media amplifying the voices of anti-trans legislators and critics, it is important to turn to the stories, research, and expertise of trans and nonbinary people in order to understand the reality of their experiences. In The Conversation on Gender Diversity, editor Jules Gill-Peterson assembles essential essays from The Conversation U.S. by experts on gender diversity. The essays guide readers through seldom-covered aspects of transgender history and present an overview of the social and political barriers that disenfranchise trans people and attempt to remove them from public life.
As these essays collectively show, trans and nonbinary people may be forced to be the face of gender and its diversity, but the cultural, political, and social realities of gender connect--and subject--everyone. Despite these challenges, there is an immense culture of love and support across the queer community that is bolstered by activists and allies working against transphobic attacks. Trans and gender-diverse youth are growing up in a world filled with ever-increasing hurdles and rising danger, even with the contemporary public recognition of trans life in culture and media. But they are not facing these challenges alone.
The Critical Conversations series collects relevant essays from top scholars on timely topics, including water, biotechnology, gender diversity, gun culture, and more, originally published on the independent news site The Conversation U.S.
Contributors: Robert L. Abreu, Catherine Armstrong, Stacy Branham, Christopher Carpenter, L. F. Carver, Mandy Coles, Arin Collin, George B. Cunningham, Avery Dame-Griff, Jules Gill-Peterson, Abbie Goldberg, Gilbert Gonzales, Frances Grimstad, Foad Hamidi, Elizabeth Heineman, Glen Hosking, Bethany Grace Howe, Jay A. Irwin, Shanna K. Kattari, Kacie Kidd, Terry Kogan, Vanessa LoBue, Gabriel Lockett, Megan K. Maas, Julie Manning Magid, Em Matsuno, Tey Meadow, Kyl Myers, Madeleine Pape, Ruth Pearce, Jae A. Puckett, Samantha G. Rosenthal, Morgan Klaus Scheuerman, Elizabeth A. Sharrow, Carl Sheperis, Donna Sheperis, stef m. shuster, Jules Sostre, Ryan Storr, Carl Streed, Diana M. Tordoff, Travers
A groundbreaking twentieth-century history of transgender children
With transgender rights front and center in American politics, media, and culture, the pervasive myth still exists that today's transgender children are a brand new generation--pioneers in a field of new obstacles and hurdles. Histories of the Transgender Child shatters this myth, uncovering a previously unknown twentieth-century history when transgender children not only existed but preexisted the term transgender and its predecessors, playing a central role in the medicalization of trans people, and all sex and gender.
Beginning with the early 1900s when children with ambiguous sex first sought medical attention, to the 1930s when transgender people began to seek out doctors involved in altering children's sex, to the invention of the category gender, and finally the 1960s and '70s when, as the field institutionalized, transgender children began to take hormones, change their names, and even access gender confirmation, Julian Gill-Peterson reconstructs the medicalization and racialization of children's bodies. Throughout, they foreground the racial history of medicine that excludes black and trans of color children through the concept of gender's plasticity, placing race at the center of their analysis and at the center of transgender studies.
Until now, little has been known about early transgender history and life and its relevance to children. Using a wealth of archival research from hospitals and clinics, including incredible personal letters from children to doctors, as well as scientific and medical literature, this book reaches back to the first half of the twentieth century--a time when the category transgender was not available but surely existed, in the lives of children and parents.