Manifeste d'une femme trans by Julia Serano

Indeed, the Narrator quickly realises that modern identity labels, such as “Trans” and “non-binary”, are not necessarily applicable to gender variant people from other times and cultures.

The three-part podcast, however, is not simply an exploration of potential historical “Trans” figures, but furthermore, engages with ongoing discussions about the pathologisation of Trans people, Trans representation in the media and whether we can even label people of the past as “Trans”.

Very much in line with Harsin Drager’s observation that many Trans people have a “deep desire to find people in the past who may have looked and lived like us”, Adventures in Time and Gender begins with a young, non-binary Narrator who embarks on a journey (with a time-travelling Suitcase) to find Trans people throughout history. It was also made in collaboration with the youth group I used to (and still occasionally) attend – Gendered Intelligence. Released less than two months ago, it feels very exciting to be engaging with this work, especially because it was made by and features people who I greatly admire, such as Jason Barker, Krishna Istha, Travis Alabanza, Emma Frankland, Fox Fisher and Owl. However, instead of starting with these (potentially more academic) texts, I have decided to begin my exploration of Trans history with the podcast Adventures in Time and Gender. 108).Īs can be seen in the Further Reading section of several of my previous posts, there are many published works regarding Trans history, such as Susan Styker’s Transgender History and Leslie Feinberg’s Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman. Harsin Drager goes on to describe this as a “project of finding community across time” (p. Indeed, Leslie Feinberg’s pamphlet Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time has Come was one of the key texts in the emergence of Trans Studies and within it, Feinberg outlines instances of gender nonconformity throughout human history in order to situate present day Trans people in a long line of gender expansive experiences.Īs noted by Emmett Harsin Drager in “After Trans Studies” ( which I read for my last theme), there is a tendency for Trans people to turn to history due to a “deep desire to find people in the past who may have looked and lived like us” (p.

Trans history is a huge topic and one that has been central to Trans Studies since its inception.

Manifeste d'une femme trans by Julia Serano