It’s the first undergrad transgender studies textbook

Introduction to Transgender Studies was published earlier this year by the academic LGBTQ book publisher Harrington Park Press. It is the first ever introductory textbook intended for transgender studies at the undergraduate level.

“This is not only thorough information of transgender studies, but the stories included of the trans people interviewed will further educate the reader,” said Robin Dorner, The Gayly editor in chief. “Also included are many references of recent data and reporting which are helpful for further study and understanding of trans issues.”  

For undergraduates and faculty, this means an enjoyable and lively classroom resource for “Transgender 101,” when offered by their school, and very little excuse if such a course isn’t provided.

The book encompasses and connects global contexts, historical and contemporary issues, literature, history, politics, art and culture. The author, Ardel Haefele-Thomas, embraces the richness of intersecting identities and how race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, class, nation, religion, and ability have cross-influenced to shape the transgender experience and trans culture across and beyond the binary.

Other recently published books by Harrington Park Press include Trans Sex Work and Society, Gay & Bisexual Men Living with Prostate Cancer, and LGBT-Inclusive Hospice and Palliative Care: A Practical Guide To Transforming Professional Practice.

“I have often found that students experience a good deal of anxiety, trepidation, and confusion when studying issues about sex and gender, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation,” says Haefele-Thomas.

“I wrote this book to create a safe space for the full spectrum of undergraduate students, ranging from those who have never thought about gender issues to students who identify as transgender, trans, nonbinary, agender, and gender-expansive. In short, the language and the artwork in this book are meant to be welcoming.”

In addition to dozens of personal stories throughout the book, each of the book’s twelve chapters features “Writings from the Community.” These are a series of fascinating and deeply personal essays that relate the chapter theme to the lived experiences of trans and LGBTQ+ people and allies from different parts of the world, as well as an invaluable list of “Films and Television of Interest.”

From the Foreword by Susan Stryker Ph.D., “I wish I’d had something like this book when I was growing up in Oklahoma in the 1960s and 1970s. I’d felt trans my whole life but kept my mouth shut and my head down about it.

“I learned the word transsexual from reading a ‘Dear Abby’ column in my hometown newspaper when I still was a preteen, but I had a hard time finding information that rang true with me. The only books I could find in the card catalog of the Carnegie Public Library of Lawton, Oklahoma, about the kind of people I thought I was were textbooks of abnormal psychology.”

Stryker is an Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and author of Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution.

And from the book’s introduction by playwright and performer Jo Clifford, “A book like this matters to everybody. The more I speak and perform as a trans artist, the clearer it becomes to me that everyone suffers from the painful and damaging belief that there are only two genders in the world.

“In that way, it is so helpful for everyone to be reminded that since human beings began to organize themselves into societies, there have existed different genders and sexualities outside the heterosexual norm. And it helps all of us who identify as queer or trans to understand that we are not alone in the world. That we all have a history to which we can proudly belong.” 

You can view Introduction to Transgender Studies on the Harrington Park Press website at www.harringtonparkpress.com/intro-to-trans-studies/

Harrington Park Press, distributed by Columbia University Press, is an academic, scholarly, and professional book publisher devoted to emerging topics in LGBTQ diversity, equality, and inclusivity. www.harringtonparkpress.com.

The Gayly 5/20/2019 1:01 p.m. CST