susan stryker transgender history summary

And as a very young child-you know, say around five years old-that's when I had the rude awakening of realizing I lived in a culture that assigned people to boy/girl categories based on genitals, and that genital difference was a biological thing. SUSAN STRYKER: Well, I will say that I am one of those people who, as far back as my memory goes into very early childhood, it's just like I thought of myself as a young person who was going to grow up to be like mommy, you know? That was just how I felt as a kid.

And just tell us a little bit about yourself? Tell us about your experiences as a trans woman. So I've always been very open, talking about what my journey has been.īLAIR HODGES: Let's hear about it. My life is an open book, shall we say? And you know, I think people can just learn a lot and relate to people differently when you have a personal story to hang it on.

So I wondered if it bothers you at all that people want to dig into your own personal background and experiences right away when they start talking with you about your research. You're an important part of transgender history, yourself, in doing this kind of research. And in my opinion, the book itself could include itself as part of that history. This is one of the most important works of transgender history that's been written-especially about the United States. It’s actually a great pleasure to be here.īLAIR HODGES: We're talking about your book Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution. In this episode of Fireside with Blair Hodges, Susan Styker joins us to talk about her personal experiences and how they intersect with the story she tells in her pathbreaking book, Transgender History.īLAIR HODGES: Susan Stryker, thanks for joining me today at Fireside. Thanks to decades of research, she’s one of the foremost specialists on transgender history in the United States. Being trans raised a lot of questions for Susan-practical questions of course, but also theological, philosophical, and historical questions. She knew they were wrong by the time she was five, but it took decades to let them know who she really was. It felt frustrating that when people related to me, they were relating to what I considered to be a false image of myself, you know, not like who I really was.īLAIR HODGES: When she was born, Susan Stryker’s parents thought they were welcoming a baby boy into the world. Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution, by Susan Stryker.Ĭonfessions of the Fox, by Jordi Rosenberg. She also won an Emmy for her documentary film, Screaming Queens. She is professor emerita of gender and women’s studies at the University of Arizona and founding coeditor of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. Susan Stryker is author of the book Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution.

Susan stryker transgender history summary