*Disclaimer: this list is far from a thorough representation of trans woman literature. It’s based solely on the work that has most impacted me personally, and doesn’t reflect that trans experiences just are diverse as those of cis people! Also, gender is not a discrete checkbox, nor are trans/cis or female/male the only relevant categories.
I didn’t realise I was transgender until I was around 17. I was always gender non-conforming, but didn’t make the connection between transgender people as they were depicted in culture and my own life for years.
Until then, I’d known, in theory, what trans people were. It was just that the media had depicted them in a singular, sensationalist way that I struggled to identify with.
Until recently, most trans depictions and even ‘studies’ out there were produced by people with no direct experience of being transgender; nor were they usually interested in seeking out and meeting actual trans people. Especially in the earlier decades of the 20th century, when openly trans study subjects were harder to find, a lot of ‘research’ into trans issues was speculative… and inaccurate.
Looking at all these dehumanising (mis)representations, I thought to myself, “Nah, this isn’t it. This isn’t what’s going on inside me.”
All that changed when I found…
Whipping Girl (2007), by Julia Serano
This manifesto had me nodding “yes, yes… YES!” at every idea that seemed to be lifted from the pages of my lived experience.
It taught me that while trans and cis women have slightly different experiences of the world, there were commonalities between our stories.
Our shared experiences encourage empathy. Our differences can offer perspective on the big picture of womanhood and feminism. That’s what intersectionality is!
No hyperbole, Whipping Girl changed my life.
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More (2014), Janet Mock
In Redefining Realness, Janet Mock explores class, race, and gender with searing honesty.
But most vivid in my memory are her stories about family. Stories about intergenerational pain, of shame, of learning and healing. It was so relatable that I could only read it in installments, and would regularly burst into tears.
At a time where my family relationships were fractured and tenuous, it gave me hope for people’s (myself included) capacity to grow.
Super Late Bloomer: My Early Days in Transition (2018), Julia Kaye
Julia Kaye’s first comic anthology perfectly captures the little everyday details of transition and navigating the world as a trans girl.
Being transgender is not just about the bigger, externalised moments that the public love to gawp at. Super Late Bloomer gently humanises transition in a way mainstream media almost never does.
And, while it’s not strictly a written text or trans-specific…
Nanette (2018), Hannah Gadsby
This special came into my life when I’d finally admitted at age 27, in the safety of a counsellor’s office, the years of sexual abused I’d endured and repressed as a child.
Due to a variety of factors (social isolation/bullying, emotional estrangement from parents or carers etc.) LGBTQIA⁺ children are statistically more likely to be sexually victimised than their cishet peers.
It was as though Gadsby was exorcising a lifetime of denial and secrecy on stage. I still shake recalling the cathartic effect of Nanette. It rocked me to my core.
Finally, as a bonus…
TransWhat.org
There are plenty of resources for allies out there these days. But back then and to this day, TransWhat.org has been a godsend to me.
On days where I’m unable to cope with transgender-related questions from well-meaning strangers, I just direct them to this great resource for allyship and debunking myths. Easy peasy!
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