Before we were trans : a new history of gender

Title:

Author:

Heyam, Kit, 1990- author.

Publication Information:

New York : Seal Press, 2022.

Edition:

First US edition.

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

viii, 343 pages ; 25 cm

Contents:

Introduction: 'I had a gown on in a lark' : what is trans history? -- Author's note: Writing trans history differently -- 'The majesty of Him my daughter' : colonising gender roles in West Africa -- 'She liked me in my greatcoat and hat' : fashion and trans panic in early modern Europe -- 'I took especial pleasure in masquerade costumes' : living and performing as women in First World War internment camps -- 'A feminine soul confined by a masculine body' : the entangled history of gay and trans experience -- 'I am both man and woman' : defiant bodies in early America and beyond -- 'Because of the manifestation of spirit' : gender, spirituality and survival in North America and South Asia -- Epilogue: Now we are trans.

Summary:

"Today's narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit neatly into the categories of male or female. Those stories, while important, fail to account for the complex realities of many trans people's lives. Before We Were Trans illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories. Blending historical analysis with sharp cultural criticism, trans historian and activist Kit Heyam offers a new, radically inclusive trans history, chronicling expressions of trans experience that are often overlooked, like gender-nonconforming fashion and wartime stage performance. Before We Were Trans transports us from Renaissance Venice to seventeenth-century Angola, from Edo Japan to early America, and looks to the past to uncover new horizons for possible trans futures." -- Provided by publisher.

Subject Term:

Transgender people -- History.

Gender nonconformity -- History.

Sexual minorities -- History.

ISBN:

9781541603080

Document ID:

SD_ILS:5023329

Availability:

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

A groundbreaking global history of gender nonconformity 

Today's narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit neatly into the categories of male or female. Those stories, while important, fail to account for the complex realities of many trans people's lives.

Before We Were Trans  illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories. Blending historical analysis with sharp cultural criticism, trans historian and activist Kit Heyam offers a new, radically inclusive trans history, chronicling expressions of trans experience that are often overlooked, like gender-nonconforming fashion and wartime stage performance. Before We Were Trans  transports us from Renaissance Venice to seventeenth-century Angola, from Edo Japan to early America, and looks to the past to uncover new horizons for possible trans futures. 

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Trans activist Heyam debuts with an expansive and illuminating history of gender nonconformity. Pushing back against contemporary notions of trans identity as binary, medicalized, and often white, Heyam puts a broad range of historical individuals and groups under the trans umbrella. These include "Ekwe people" in Nigeria's Igbo society, who were assigned female at birth but took on male social roles; courtiers in Elizabethan England, who wore clothes and accessories that had been previously restricted to women; and POWs whose experiences playing women's roles in theatrical productions at WWI internment camps led them to become "more and more feminine off the stage." Heyam also delves into the relationship between trans history and other queer histories, describing how a commemorative plaque that identified 19th-century British diarist Anne Lister as "gender-nonconforming" met with disapproval from the lesbian community, and contending that white nonbinary people often misunderstand "the intersections of gender and spirituality" in Igbo and Native American two-spirit traditions. Heyam also makes a strong case for "the value of a trans gaze in historical research" and the importance of understanding that "gender has always been open to disruption and challenge." Though some readers may disagree with Heyam's radically inclusive approach, their desire for more gender nonconforming people to see themselves reflected in history is appealing and persuasive. This is an essential addition to trans history. (Sept.)

Choice Review

The title of this book is liable to generate some confusion. Most people understand the term trans as associated with medical and surgical transformations of those who maintain that they were born into or misidentified as the wrong gender. The subtitle better encapsulates this project. Heyam, a trans awareness trainer, chronicles notions of gender beyond the binary concept of opposite sexes. Their account focuses on the in-between spaces, on the wide spectrum of possibilities people use to shape an identity for themselves that is neither clearly male nor female. Heyam cogently demonstrates the malleability and cultural specificity of gender, drawing examples from numerous time periods, social categories, and parts of the world. The author writes lucidly, avoids jargon, has an impressive command of diverse sources, and is careful to point out possible alternative interpretations of early practices. Heyam's emphasis on the blurring of gender binaries allows them to bypass discussion of gender dysphoria diagnoses, puberty blockers, and other controversial aspects of being trans as understood in a medicalized sense. Heyam also largely sidesteps, while delicately mentioning, tensions between many trans activists on the one hand and feminist, intersex, and lesbian/gay activists on the other. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals. --Ann Hibner Koblitz, emerita, Arizona State University

Introduction: 'I had a gown on in a lark': what is trans history?	p. 1
Author's note: Writing trans history differently	p. 29
1 'The majesty of Him my daughter': Colonising gender roles in West Africa	p. 33
2 'She liked me in my greatcoat and hat': Fashion and trans panic in early modern Europe	p. 63
3 'I took especial pleasure in masquerade costumes': Living and performing as women in First World War internment camps	p. 91
4 'A feminine soul confined by a masculine body': The entangled history of gay and trans experience	p. 123
5 'I am both man and woman': Defiant bodies in early America and beyond	p. 153
6 'Because of the manifestation of Spirit': Gender, spirituality and survival in North America and South Asia	p. 189
Epilogue: Now we are trans	p. 219
Acknowledgements	p. 231
Bibliography	p. 235
Notes	p. 269
Index	p. 331

Quincy Thomas Crane Library

Availability:

Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Choice Review

Table of Contents