Best of
Trans

2011

Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex


Eric A. Stanley - 2011
    The first collection of its kind, Eric A. Stanley and Nat Smith bring together current and former prisoners, activists, and academics to offer new ways for understanding how race, gender, ability, and sexuality are lived under the crushing weight of captivity. Through a politic of gender self-determination, this collection argues that trans/queer liberation and prison abolition must be grown together. From rioting against police violence and critiquing hate crimes legislation to prisoners demanding access to HIV medications, and far beyond, Captive Genders is a challenge for us all to join the struggle."An exciting assemblage of writings—analyses, manifestos, stories, interviews—that traverse the complicated entanglements of surveillance, policing, imprisonment, and the production of gender normativity.... [T]he contributors to this volume create new frameworks and new vocabularies that surely will have a transformative impact on the theories and practices of twenty-first century abolition."—Angela Y. Davis, professor emerita, University of California, Santa Cruz"The purpose of prison abolition is to discover and promote the countless ways freedom and difference are mutually dependent. The contributors to Captive Genders brilliantly shatter the assumption that the antidote to danger is human sacrifice."—Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California"Captive Genders is at once a scathing and necessary analysis of the prison industrial complex and a history of queer resistance to state tyranny. By queering a prison abolition analysis, Captive Genders moves us to imagine the impossible dream of liberation."—Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, author of So Many Ways to Sleep BadlyEric A. Stanley is a radical queer activist, outlaw academic, and experimental filmmaker.Nat Smith is a member of Trans/gender Variant in Prison Committee and is an organizer with Critical Resistance.

Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics and the Limits of Law


Dean Spade - 2011
    This approach assumes that the state and its legal, policing, and social services apparatus—even its policies and documents of belonging and non-belonging—are neutral and benevolent. While we all have to comply with the gender binaries set forth by regulatory bodies of law and administration, many trans people, especially the most marginalized, are even more at risk for poverty, violence, and premature death by virtue of those same "neutral" legal structures.Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law raises revelatory critiques of the current strategies pivoting solely on a "legal rights framework," but also points to examples of an organized grassroots trans movement that is demanding the most essential of legal reforms in addition to making more comprehensive interventions into dangerous systems of repression—and the administrative violence that ultimately determines our life chances. Setting forth a politic that goes beyond the quest for mere legal inclusion, Normal Life is an urgent call for justice and trans liberation, and the radical transformations it will require.An attorney, educator, and trans activist, Dean Spade has taught classes on sexual orientation, gender identity, poverty and law at the City University of New York (CUNY), Seattle University, Columbia University, and Harvard. In 2002 he founded the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a collective that provides free legal services and works to build trans resistance rooted in racial and economic justice.

Fashion Class


Karin Bishop - 2011
    But Kevin learns that he has a flair for fashion—and he learns that he is a girl in heart, that he is transgender. With the support of his mother and friends, he starts a journey to a career in fashion—as Katie.

Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme


Ivan E. CoyoteAnne Fleming - 2011
    The result is Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme. The stories in these pages resist simple definitions. The people in these stories defy reductive stereotypes and inflexible categories. The pages in this book describe the lives of an incredible diversity of people whose hearts also pounded for some reason the first time they read or heard the words "butch" or "femme."Contributors such as Jewelle Gomez (The Gilda Stories), Thea Hillman (Intersex), S. Bear Bergman (Butch is a Noun), Chandra Mayor (All the Pretty Girls), Amber Dawn (Sub Rosa), Anna Camilleri (Brazen Femme), Debra Anderson (Code White), Anne Fleming (Anomaly), Michael V. Smith (Cumberland), and Zoe Whittall (Bottle Rocket Hearts) explore the parameters, history, and power of a multitude of butch and femme realities. It's a raucous, insightful, sexy, and sometimes dangerous look at what the words butch and femme can mean in today’s ever-shifting gender landscape, with one eye on the past and the other on what is to come.Includes a foreword by Joan Nestle, renowned femme author and editor of The Persistent Desire: A Femme-Butch Reader, a landmark anthology originally published in 1992.Ivan E. Coyote is the author of seven books (including the novel Bow Grip, an American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book) and a long-time muser on the trappings of the two-party gender system.Zena Sharman is the assistant director of Canada's national Institute of Gender and Health.

Take Me There


Tristan TaorminoRachel Kramer Bussel - 2011
    Take Me There is an erotica collection unlike any other that celebrates the pleasure, heat, and diversity of transgender and genderqueer sexualities. The power of seeing and being seen is a central theme in the anthology; it’s not simply about passing or not passing (an idea often explored with transgender characters), but about being acknowledged and desired in a sexual context.The book takes you from San Francisco to Israel, from heartache to lust, from stranger sex to a 10 year anniversary, from ballet shoes to butt plug bondage tables, from fumbling teenagers to leatherclad bears, from MTF and FTM—and in between and beyond.Featuring renowned authors Kate Bornstein (Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation), Patrick Califia (Speaking Sex to Power), S. Bear Bergman (Butch is a Noun), Ivan Coyote (Missed Her), Julia Serrano (Whipping Girl), Laura Antoniou (The Marketplace), Helen Boyd (My Husband Betty), Rachel Kramer Bussel (Gotta Have It), Toni Amato (Pinned Down by Pronouns), Alicia E. Goranson (Supervillianz), filmmaker Tobi Hill-Meyer, musician Rahne Alexander, songwriter Shawna Virago, bloggers Andrea Zanin and Sinclair Sexsmith, and more.

On the Road-Again: Part One


Karin Bishop - 2011
    What happens on the road to this talented guitarist leads to other roads, as a musician, artist and model … and as a female. In Part One, Stu is on the road and mistakenly identified as “Sue”, planting the idea in the band manager’s mind. Next road trip: Suzie Fairchild will be the girl guitarist! But first, Stuart learns to become Suzie, and as she prepares for the next road trip, she also finds she’s heading off in a new direction with a world-famous photographer. Part Two will start the next road trip; each Part is a full-length novel.

Fool Moon


Karin Bishop - 2011
    Danny had broken his high school girlfriend’s heart, and one night her mother appears at his door. She’d had a witch construct a love charm and now Danny must pay the witch. With no prospects for his future and out of guilt for hurting her daughter, Danny agrees. But very quickly he discovers two things: First, that he seems to have a degree of Power; and Second, that Power is transforming him into a female.

The Replacement Man


Christiana Harrell - 2011
    A love that goes beyond physical, mental, and emotional connections and truly test the meaning of acceptance. Be educated and entertained when Jasmine meets Cameron Smothers, a different kind of man, that has her questioning her sexuality and her place in the world as every aspect of her life changes and is tested. Does she conform to what everyone has to say or does she take the road less traveled? Jasmine is about to get a brand new lesson in life and love...

Trans/Love: Radical Sex, Love & Relationships Beyond the Gender Binary


Morty Diamond - 2011
    Rarely has a book about lust been full of so much love, conflict, and intelligence. If you think you already know what's in these stories, or you think you don't need to know, you're wrong."—Patrick Califa, author of Sex Changes: The Politics of TransgenderismExploring the crossroads of gender and sexuality, Trans/Love: Radical Sex, Love & Relationships Beyond the Gender Binary offers unusually engaging narratives that create a raw and honest depiction of dating, sex, love, and relationships among members of the gender variant community. FTM, MTF, thirdgender, genderqueer, and other non-traditional identities beyond the gender binary of traditional male and female are included in this often heartwarming, occasionally heartbreaking, always heartfelt groundbreaking anthology. From monogamous love and marriage to anonymous sex and one-night hook-ups (and everything in between), these stories offer readers insight into the precarious emotional and practical mechanics of intimacy among gender-variant experiences.Features contributions from award-winning authors including Julia Serano, Sassafras Lowery, and Max Valerio, alongside outstanding new writing by Tribe 8 guitarist and acclaimed film director Silas Howard, activist Joelle Ruby Ryan, filmmaker Ashley Altadonna, SisterSpit alum Cooper Lee Bombardier, and many other unique and talented voices.

gowanus atropolis


Julian Talamantez Brolaski - 2011
    LGBT Studies. gowanus atropolis is an ecopoetical exploration of the Gowanus canal in Brooklyn, a recently designated superfund site that was once a fertile fishing ground for the Canarsie Native American tribe. The poems grapple with reconciling the toxicity of the titular Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn and the east river in ‘Manahatta’ with the poet’s search for the pastoral in New York City. A queer elegy for when language might have been prior to thought, where the phrase becomes the thought, rather than the other way around—so that the dystopic might become, if not utopic, at least measurable / pleasurable, 'melodious offal.' gowanus atropolis reinscribes, as always already present, both queer and Native spaces in and around the Gowanus through a radical reshaping of English.

Gaby - More Changes


Madeline Bell - 2011
    Far from it in fact, there is a good amount of humour, racing and just plain Gabyness throughout. Get your supplies ready, get set, read!

The Hard Way


Tanya Allan - 2011
    His Friend Sally is a girl who is attracted to Kyle but is at a loss to know why he doesn’t seem to notice her.Fed up with not knowing what his problem is, she confronts him and is astounded when he confesses his inner turmoil.Completely unaware that Kyle has always felt he should have been a girl, Sally rises to the challenge and begins to help Kyle become the person he always wanted to be.Fearing the reaction of family, friends and the world at large, Sally devises a cunning plan for Kyle to become his Swedish cousin, Kayla. But Kayla is everything the shy and retiring Kyle is not, and not unreasonably, she begins to be noticed... by just about everyone.They have no alternative to bring his parents in on the act, and they in turn draw in an unexpected ally in the form of the school's headmaster.Then things get very complicated.A gentle tale of yearning, discovery and love.

Mrs. Stanton Takes Charge


Sara Desmarais - 2011
    Mrs. Stanton catches Michael playing with her lingerie and punishes him by feminizing him and turning him into a sissy and just maybe, a cuckold.

Helping Your Transgender Teen: A Guide for Parents


Irwin Krieger - 2011
    Irwin Krieger is a clinical social worker with many years of experience helping transgender teens. This book brings you the insights gained from his work with these teenagers and their families. According to the author, "Today's teens have access to a wealth of information on the internet. Teenagers who are wondering about gender identity soon find out what it means to be transgender or transsexual. Parents, on the other hand, know little about this topic. When a teenager declares he or she is transgender, parents fear that their child is confused and is choosing a life fraught with danger. I wrote this book to help parents of transgender teens gain an understanding of this complex subject." "Helping Your Transgender Teen" begins with the basic information you and your family need. The central chapters of the book address the fears and concerns most parents of transgender teens share. The final chapters guide you through the steps you can take to discover what is best for your child. Although written for parents, this book is also useful for pediatricians, therapists, educators and others who work with teenagers and young adults. "Helping Your Transgender Teen" provides answers to many of your questions about adolescent gender identity.

Reclamation


Karin Bishop - 2011
    She’s working as a gallery manager for her mentor, an internationally-known photographer, and getting her life in order after a tumultuous youth. Her family was absorbed by a religious fanatic and Teresa barely escaped the compound. Her greatest regret was leaving her ten-year-old brother Roger behind to the religious madness.Five years later, Roger has turned up on her doorstep. He brings three problems for his big sister. First, she must determine if Roger has been indoctrinated. The second problem is completely unexpected: Roger is transgendered. But it’s the third problem that is most dangerous: The fanatic may have sent minions to reclaim Roger—and perhaps Teresa, too.Teresa gathers strength and assistance from a group of Whistler women, her mentor, wealthy European friends—and a very handsome lawyer—to help Roger and to save them both from religious zealots bent on RECLAMATION.Explicit content; 94,000 words.

The Book of Broken Hymns


Rafe Posey - 2011
    Short stories

Shadowboxer


Paula Sophia - 2011
    When he meets a drag prostitute while patrolling the streets of Oklahoma City, the old feelings return, and he can't force them back into the box. A story about identity crisis, the horrible consequences of bullying, and the detrimental effects of self-loathing, Shadowboxer descends into a world altogether familiar yet strangely askew.

The Transgender Guidebook: Keys to a Successful Transition


Anne L. Boedecker - 2011
    It is a wise and practical guide for any transgender person considering or embarking on a gender transition. It covers everything from the beginning stages of exploration and planning through the process of transformation to life after transition. This is the first book written by an experienced professional specifically for transgender clients. It will also be of interest to family, friends, allies, clergy, teachers, helping professionals and anyone who cares about the challenges faced by those who seek to change their physical appearance to match their gender identity.

Room and Board


Sara Desmarais - 2011
    He discovers that his employer is unlike any woman he's ever met and, as he later learns, prefers her young men in panties. She slowly feminizes him and helps him discover that he is a sissy.Things are complicated when he meets and falls in love with a young woman his own age, Lisa, as he is torn between his infatuation with his employer, who knows he is a sissy, and his love for Lisa.