A Short History of Trans Misogyny

Last updated

A Short History of Trans Misogyny
A Short History of Trans Misogyny cover.jpg
The book's cover, featuring the face of a Black drag queen who appears in the experimental documentary film Tongues Untied
Author Jules Gill-Peterson
LanguageEnglish
Genre Non-fiction
Publisher Verso Books
Publication date
January 30, 2024
Publication placeUnited States
Pages192
ISBN 9781804291566

A Short History of Trans Misogyny is a 2024 book by transgender author and academic Jules Gill-Peterson which discusses the origins of transmisogyny, hatred or violence toward trans women and other people she describes as "trans-feminized". Peterson examines how transmisogyny was part of colonial statecraft across many parts of the world, focusing in particular on the genocide of two-spirit people in the Americas, the criminalization of the hijra people in India under British rule, the murder of Jennifer Laude in the Philippines by an American soldier, and the policing and sensational press coverage of sex worker Mary Jones in New York City. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Background

The book was edited by Rosie Warren. Peterson says she first began writing it when Warren contacted her. Peterson developed its ideas while she was a scholar-in-residence at the University of Southern California’s Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race, and Public Culture and while lecturing at UC Irvine, and received feedback from the University of Washington, Boston University, Columbia University, Brandeis University, Rutgers University, Stanford University, the Leslie-Lohman Museum, the University of Utah, the Thinking Trans / Trans Thinking Conference, the University of Exeter, the University of Virginia, NYU, Princeton University, the University of Mississippi, and the Thinking Gender conference at UCLA. [1]

Content

Throughout the book, Peterson uses the term trans-feminizing to refer to a process in which people are marked for transmisogynistic violence by an institutional power. In interviews, she has said she was motivated by a desire to differentiate trans-feminized populations from the contemporary category of self-identified trans women, which she describes as specific to Euro-American culture and inappropriately universalized. [2] [6] [7] [8]

Reception

Associate Professor of English at Yale University Juno Richards positively reviewed the book, saying it "offers a record of the ways transfeminine lives have been and continue to be lived". [3]

Scholar McKenzie Wark described it as a "game-changer of a book" and "a much-needed account of the genesis of trans misogyny and its subsequent history". [2] [9]

Researcher Julianna Neuhouser criticized the book for its perceived orientalist attitude toward travesti populations and lack of engagement with Latin American transfeminism, saying it "[underestimates] the very real problems faced by transfeminine people outside the imperial core while idealizing their lifeways". [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Misogyny</span> Prejudice against, or hatred of, women

Misogyny is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practised for thousands of years. It is reflected in art, literature, human societal structure, historical events, mythology, philosophy, and religion worldwide.

Misandry is the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against men or boys.

Femme is a term traditionally used to describe a lesbian woman who exhibits a feminine identity or gender presentation. While commonly viewed as a lesbian term, alternate meanings of the word also exist with some non-lesbian individuals using the word, notably some gay men and bisexuals. Some non-binary and transgender individuals also identify as lesbians using this term.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to transgender topics.

Gender-affirming surgery for male-to-female transgender women or transfeminine non-binary people describes a variety of surgical procedures that alter the body to provide physical traits more comfortable and affirming to an individual's gender identity and overall functioning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transfeminism</span> Branch of feminism

Transfeminism, or trans feminism, is a branch of feminism focused on transgender women and informed by transgender studies. Transfeminism focuses on the effects of transmisogyny and patriarchy on trans women. It is related to the broader field of queer theory. The term was popularized by Emi Koyama in The Transfeminist Manifesto.

Sheila Jeffreys is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McKenzie Wark</span> Australian-born writer and scholar (born 1961)

McKenzie Wark is an Australian-born writer and scholar. Wark is known for her writings on media theory, critical theory, new media, and the Situationist International. Her best known works are A Hacker Manifesto and Gamer Theory. She is a professor of Media and Cultural Studies at The New School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trans woman</span> Woman assigned male at birth

Transgender women are women who were assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria may be treated with gender-affirming care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transmisogyny</span> Intersection of transphobia and misogyny, experienced by transfeminine individuals

Transmisogyny, otherwise known as trans-misogyny and transphobic misogyny, is the intersection of transphobia and misogyny as experienced by trans women and transfeminine people. The term was coined by Julia Serano in her 2007 book Whipping Girl to describe a particular form of oppression experienced by trans women. In a 2017 interview with The New York Times, Serano explores the roots of transmisogyny as a critique of feminine gender expressions which are "ridiculed in comparison to masculine interests and gender expression."

<i>Whipping Girl</i> 2007 book on transgender issues by Julia Serano

Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity is a 2007 book by the gender theorist, biologist, and writer Julia Serano. The book is a transfeminist manifesto that makes the case that transphobia is rooted in sexism and that transgender activism is a feminist movement. The second edition of the book was published in March 2016.

Transgender studies, also called trans studies or trans* studies, is an interdisciplinary field of academic research dedicated to the study of gender identity, gender expression, and gender embodiment, as well as to the study of various issues of relevance to transgender and gender variant populations. Interdisciplinary subfields of transgender studies include applied transgender studies, transgender history, transgender literature, transgender media studies, transgender anthropology and archaeology, transgender psychology, and transgender health. The research theories within transgender studies focus on cultural presentations, political movements, social organizations and the lived experience of various forms of gender nonconformity. The discipline emerged in the early 1990s in close connection to queer theory. Non-transgender-identified peoples are often also included under the "trans" umbrella for transgender studies, such as intersex people, crossdressers, drag artists, third gender individuals, and genderqueer people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TERF (acronym)</span> Acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist

TERF is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. First recorded in 2008, the term TERF was originally used to distinguish transgender-inclusive feminists from a group of radical feminists who reject the position that trans women are women, reject the inclusion of trans women in women's spaces, and oppose transgender rights legislation. Trans-inclusive feminists assert that these ideas and positions are transphobic and discriminatory towards transgender people. The use of the term TERF has since broadened to include reference to people with trans-exclusionary views who are not necessarily involved with radical feminism. In the 2020s, the term "trans-exclusionary radical feminism" is used synonymously with or overlaps with "gender-critical feminism".

Misogynoir is a term referring to the combined force of anti-Black racism and misogyny directed towards black women. The term was coined by black feminist writer Moya Bailey in 2008 to address misogyny directed toward black transgender and cisgender women in American visual and popular culture. The concept of misogynoir is grounded in the theory of intersectionality, which analyzes how various social identities such as race, gender, class, age, ability, and sexual orientation interrelate in systems of oppression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alok Vaid-Menon</span> American performance artist and activist (born 1991)

Alok Vaid-Menon is an American writer, performance artist, and media personality. Vaid-Menon is gender non-conforming and transfeminine, and uses the singular they third person pronouns.

Chase Joynt is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, video artist, actor, and professor. He attracted acclaim as co-director with Aisling Chin-Yee of the documentary film No Ordinary Man (2020), and as director of the film Framing Agnes (2022). He won two awards at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival for his work on the latter.

Discrimination against transgender men and transmasculine individuals is sometimes referred to as transandrophobia, anti-transmasculinity, or transmisandry.

Alison Phipps is a British political sociologist, gender studies scholar and feminist theorist, who is a professor of sociology at Newcastle University's School of Geography, Politics and Sociology.

Histories of the Transgender Child is a 2018 transgender studies book by the transgender author and academic Jules Gill-Peterson. The book is an exploration of transgender childhood in the United States throughout the twentieth century. It received the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction and the 2018 Children's Literature Association Book Award.

Jules Gill-Peterson is a Canadian historian specializing in transgender history. She is an associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. Her work focuses on how science, medicine, and race inform transgender embodiment. Her best-known work is Histories of the Transgender Child, which documented the 20th-century history of transgender childhood in the United States. She is a general co-editor of Transgender Studies Quarterly, and previously served as a research fellow at the American Council of Learned Societies and at the Kinsey Institute.

References

  1. 1 2 Gill-Peterson, Jules (January 2024). A Short History of Trans Misogyny. New York: Verso. ISBN   978-1-80429-156-6.
  2. 1 2 3 Wark, McKenzie (May 16, 2024). "The Roots of Trans Women's Unjust Treatment". The Nation . Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  3. 1 2 Richards, Juno (June 10, 2024). "Trans Panic Otherwise: On Jules Gill-Peterson's "A Short History of Trans Misogyny"". Los Angeles Review of Books . Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  4. Currah, Paisley (March 4, 2024). "Gender Wars: Two scholars excavate the origins of today's trans backlash". The Yale Review . Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  5. Walton, Adele; Gill-Peterson, Jules (December 20, 2023). "How does misogyny differ for trans women?". Dazed . Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  6. Walker, Harron; Gill-Peterson, Jules (February 7, 2024). "Inventing a Trans Panic". The Cut . Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  7. Demby, Gene; Parker, B.A.; Gill-Peterson, Jules (June 19, 2024). "The history of trans misogyny is the history of segregation". NPR . Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  8. Lowder, Bryan; Gill-Peterson, Jules (February 7, 2024). "A Short History of Transmisogyny With Jules Gill-Peterson". Slate Magazine . Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  9. Wark, McKenzie (December 13, 2023). "A Year in Reading: McKenzie Wark". The Millions . Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  10. Neuhouser, Julianna. "An Orientalist History of Transmisogyny". Center for a Stateless Society. Retrieved August 25, 2024.