A Brief History of Trans

Abstract

Whether women dressing as men to gain entry to certain professions which were closed to them or to fight in wars, Native Americans identifying as two-spirited in relation to gender, drag queens initiating the Stonewall riots, transsexuals desiring surgical modification, or people identifying as genderqueer and rejecting binary gender norms, trans identification has long been part of history across numerous cultures (see Feinberg, 1997). Trans identities have necessarily reflected the social world within which they arise, impacted by the attitudes of others, legal and medical discourses, visibility, and media representation, to name a few. Of course some of these influences are specific to liberal, or neoliberal, societies and it is the more recent history of such societies that I offer a brief overview of in this chapter, as it is these locations and influences which I reflect upon in this book. In setting out a brief recent history of trans I hope to furnish readers unfamiliar with its intricacies with some background information through which to engage with the remainder of this book, as well as introducing some of the key issues to be explored herein (see also Meyerowitz, 2002). As such, I will focus on legal battles and alterations to the law, medical discourse and treatments, transgender studies, and current debates taking place within trans communities and more broadly.