Recommend reading/viewing on transgender issues

In My Humble Opinion
1

I would like to understand transgender issues more but what I know comes from television and reading- I’ve only known a couple of transgendered people and neither well enough to be comfortable asking about it. There’s no shortage of books/articles/movies about the subject, but I’d really like to know which ones people who have dealt with transgender issues in their real lives found most accurate or most helpful or most informative.

Thanks for any recs. Because of the nature of the subject, please feel free to use the PM or email if you prefer.

2

I have two friends who are male-to-female transsexuals (apologies to those who object to the term, but that is the term preferred by my friends). Both were very moved by Jan Morris’s Conundrum. It was first published in the mid-seventies, when gender dysphoria was a little-understood and widely-mocked condition. Conundrum is a wonderful read: funny, sad, wise, and unforgettable.

3

Just chiming in to say that I saw a documentary on LOGO about The Vagina Monologues, rewritten and performed from the transgendered point of view. It was interesting because there were so many viewpoints under one title. I enjoyed it immensely.

4

I’m not trans but I sometimes work with trans clients. Here are recommendations from my trans students, acquaintances, their family members, and informed therapists:

Personal Accounts

Addams, C. S. (2002). *Mark 947: A life shaped by God, gender and force of will. * Lincoln, NE: Writers Club Press.

Ames, J. (Ed.) (2005). *Sexual metamorphosis: An anthology of transsexual memoirs. * New York: Vintage.

Borenstein, K. (1994/1995). *Gender outlaw: On men, women, and the rest of us. * New York, NY: Vintage.

Boyd, H. (2007). *She’s not the man I married: My life with a transgender husband. * Emeryville, CA: Seal Press.

Boylan, J. F. (2004). *She’s not there: A life in two genders. * New York: Broadway.

Cameron, L. (Photographer). (1996). *Body alchemy: Transsexual portraits. * San Francisco: Cleis Press.

Feinberg, L. (2004). *Stone butch blues. * Los Angeles: Alyson.

Green, J. (2004). *Becoming a visible man. * Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University.

Nestle, J., Wilchins, R., & Howell, C. (Eds.) (2002). GenderQueer: Voices from beyond the sexual binary. Los Angeles: Alyson.

Pratt, M. B. (1995/2005). S/he. Los Angeles, CA: Alyson.

Stryker, S., & Jorgensen, C. (2000). *Christine Jorgensen: A personal autobiography * (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Cleis Press.

Wolf, M. (2006). *The testosterone files: My hormonal and social transformation from female to male. * Emeryville, CA: Seal Press.

Clinical Resources

Adler, L., Hirch, S., & Mourdant, M. (2006). *Voice and communication therapy for the transgender/transsexual client: A comprehensive clinical guide. * San Diego: Plural Publishing.

Beam C. (2007). *Transparent: Love, family, and living the T with transgender teenagers. * New York, NY: Harcourt.

Bieschke, K., Perez, R., & DeBord, K. A. (2006). *Handbook of counseling and psychotherapy with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender clients * (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Califia, P. (1997). *Sex changes: The politics of transgenderism. * San Francisco, CA: Cleis.

Ettner, R. (1999). *Gender loving care: A guide to counseling gender-variant clients. * New York, NY: W. W. Norton.

Feinberg, L. (1996). Transgender warriors: Making histor from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Israel, G. E., & Tarver II, D. E. *Transgender care: Recommended guidelines, practical information, & personal accounts. * Philadelphia, PA: Temple University.

Lev, A. I. (2004). Transgender emergence: Therapeutic guidelines for working with gender-variant people and their families. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press.

Sinnott, M. J. (2004). *Toms and dees: Transgender identity and female same-sex relationships in Thailand. * Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Websites

World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly known as the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, Inc. (HBIGDA):

http://www.wpath.org/Documents2/socv6.pdf

Gender Talk:
http://www.gendertalk.com/info/resource.shtml

Susan’s Place:

Transexual Women’s Resource
http://www.annelawrence.com/twr/

Ingersoll Gender Center (Seattle)
http://www.ingersollcenter.org/

Northwest Gender Alliance (Portland)
http://nwgapdx.com/index.php

Free blogs
http://transgenderresource.com/

CDS bookstand
http://www.cdspub.com/index.html

Jennifer Finney Boylan and Deirdre Boylan on Larry King Live
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0505/25/lkl.01.html

Films

Cram, B., & Schermerhorn, C. (Producers/ Directors). (1997). *You don’t know dick: Courageous hearts of transsexual men. * [Motion Picture]. Berkeley, CA: California Extension Center for Media and Independent Learning. [Available: 2000 Center Street, Fourth Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704]

Treut, M. (Producer/Director). (1992). Female misbehavior [“Max” segment]. [Motion Picture]. USA: First Run Features.

5

Some people don’t care for her points of view, but I’d like to recommend Kate Bornstein’s My Gender Workbook and Gender Outlaw. They’re excellent introductions to the subject (the first especially) and to the notions of gender fluidity and breaking down the enforced gender binary.

6

Not specifically about transgender, but about all categories of the “intersexed” and how the roles of sexuality affect everything: Sexing the Body.

I haven’t personally read it, but my wife was fascinated by it and spoke very highly of it.