Trans Joy
Trans lives are multifaceted with a range of lived realities. The media selections below barely scratch the surface, but present a variety of trans ways of being and relating to the world. We've recommended a few pleasure-reading books about trans people and characters and provided some links to archival materials from the lives of trans artists. We also give some resources on gender euphoria and what it means in trans communities.
Recommended Reads
- Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
Call number: HQ76.27.Y68 K63 2019
Maia Kobabe's intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears. - Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature ed by Qwo-Li Driskill et al
Call number: PS509.H57 S68 2011
Two-Spirit people, identified by many different tribally specific names and standings within their communities, have been living, loving, and creating art since time immemorial. It wasn't until the 1970s, however, that contemporary queer Native literature gained any public notice. This collection strives to reflect the complexity of identities within Native Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Two-Spirit (GLBTQ2) communities. - Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love, and So Much More by Janet Mock
Call number: HQ77.8.M63 A3 2014
With unflinching honesty and moving prose, Mock relays her experiences of growing up young, multiracial, poor, and trans in America, offering readers accessible language while imparting vital insight about the unique challenges and vulnerabilities of a marginalized and misunderstood population. Redefining Realness is a powerful vision of possibility and self-realization, pushing us all toward greater acceptance of one another--and of ourselves--showing as new before how to be unapologetic and real - Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Call Number: PS3616.E84257 D48 2021
Reese had what previous generations of trans women could only dream of; the only thing missing was a child. Then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Ames thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese, and losing her meant losing his only family. Then Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she is pregnant with his baby-- and is not sure whether she wants to keep it. Ames wonders: Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family, and raise the baby together?
Future Feeling by Call Number: PS3612.A5195 F88 2021Publication Date: 2021-06-01An embittered dog walker obsessed with a social media influencer inadvertently puts a curse on a young man - and must adventure into mysterious dimension in order to save him - in this wildly inventive, delightfully subversive, genre-nonconforming debut novel about illusion, magic, technology, kinship, and the emergent future.
Confessions of the Fox by Call Number: PS3618.O8323 C66 2018Publication Date: 2018-06-26Jack Sheppard and Edgeworth Bess were the most notorious thieves, jailbreakers, and lovers of eighteenth-century London. Yet no one knows the true story; their confessions have never been found. Until now. Reeling from heartbreak, a scholar named Dr. Voth discovers a long-lost manuscript--a gender-defying exposé of Jack and Bess's adventures.
Becoming a Visible Man by Call Number: Olin Library HQ77.8.G35 G74ISBN: 9780826522863Publication Date: 1st ed 2004, 2nd ed 2020At least two generations of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people have emerged since Becoming a Visible Man was first published in 2004, but the book remains a beloved resource for trans people and their allies.
Trans and Gender Diverse Voices in Libraries by Call Number: Olin Library Z682.4.T73 T73 2023Publication Date: 2021-06-01"Centers the lived experiences of trans and gender diverse people in LIS work and education. All authors and editors are self-identified trans and gender diverse people"
Gender Euphoria
- Gender Euphoria: Stories of Joy from Trans, Non-binary, and Intersex Writers
So often the stories shared by trans people about their transition center on gender dysphoria: a feeling of deep discomfort with their birth-assigned gender, and a powerful catalyst for coming out or transitioning. But for many non-cisgender people, it's gender euphoria which pushes forward their transition. In this ground-breaking anthology, nineteen trans, non-binary, agender, gender-fluid and intersex writers share their experiences of gender euphoria. - "A little shiny gender breakthrough:" Community understandings of gender euphoriaInt J Transgend Health. 2022; 23(3): 274–294.
Published online 2021 May 3.
Qualitative study conducted to gather definitions of gender euphoria from trans communities. Includes participants' descriptions of gender euphoric experiences. - To Survive on this ShorePhotographs and interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming older adults.
Archival Sources
- Loren Rex Cameron papersKroch Library Rare & Manuscripts (Non-Circulating)
Human Sexuality 7677
Loren Rex Cameron, a female to male transsexual and photographer of transgendered bodies, was born August 28, 1959 in Pasadena, California. Self-taught as a photographer and artist, he began producing self-portraits and images of transgender people in 1993. Cameron is celebrated for his seminal work of transgender self-representation in the photographic arts. As a guest speaker, Cameron lectures extensively throughout the United States at community venues, colleges, universities, and art schools. He has published under the name Loren Cameron, and in about 2000, he started going by his middle name Rex. - Wendy Carlos in the Robert Moog papersWendy Carlos is probably the best-known Moog performer and arranger. Her album Switched-On Bach (1968) is still the best-selling classical record of all time. This sensational rendering of Bach’s music showed that the Moog Synthesizer was an instrument capable of generating an enormous range of expressive effects and crossing musical boundaries. Wendy went on to make much remarkable music, including tracks for Stanley Kubrick’s film A Clockwork Orange (1971).