What's a good "So You Want to Talk About Trans Rights" book?

October 8, 2024 12:16 PM

I'm looking for a book that's the trans equivalent of "So You Want to Talk About Race." This is for a book group I'm in where everyone is well intentioned and groovy but some are maybe not absolutely up-to-date on what it means to be trans, how trans people fit into society, etc. Recommendations?

The people in the book group range in age from mid-40s to late-80s. I definitely want a book, a printed book available in the US.

posted by The corpse in the library to Society & Culture (7 answers total)

I've seen this previously but it's two years old and aimed at a slightly different audience.
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:18 PM on October 8

My husband really enjoyed He/She/They by Schuyler Bailar. It moved him from a place of "I have so so many questions" to understanding his responsibility as an ally.
posted by dreamphone at 1:43 PM on October 8

I'm going to be predictable and suggest How to Understand Your Gender, though I'm not sure I fully understand what you're looking for. My thinking is that your book club almost certainly consists of a bunch of people with genders and they're not all going to experience them the same way (as each other, but also in all situations). Recognising that about each other gets people a good chunk of the way there on trans issues, especially when you're dealing with a room full of cis people being Well Intentioned (with capital letters).
posted by hoyland at 3:30 PM on October 8

Shon Faye's The Transgender Issue seems similar in the sense that it's coming from an intersectional political angle rather than merely a gender 101. It focuses on the UK, though, because the author is from the UK.

Also, emphatic anti-recommendation for Debra Soh's book from that previous thread. Debra Soh is a cis woman, and also she advances ideas that many would consider anti-trans.
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:23 PM on October 8

From the previous thread, A Quick And Easy Guide To Queer and Trans Identities is a great book for beginners.
posted by matildaben at 10:15 PM on October 8

A Short History of Trans Misogyny by Jules Gill-Peterson
posted by kokaku at 3:19 AM on October 9

It's not specifically focused on Trans Rights, but A Quick And Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities, (and, heck, the whole series of those A Quick And Easy Guides) is presented in a very approachable, sort of comic book format. The books aren't very deep, but they've become an indispensible part of my toolkit for things to give to people who "really don't understand what all this is about" (LGBTQ+ identities, Trans identity, pronouns, ace/aro rep, the importance of consent, sex & disability, coming out, etc.) The books are easily digestible in a single sitting, and are just enough to give someone a solid, basic understanding of the topic, and hopefully springboard them into deeper reading.
posted by xedrik at 8:48 AM on October 9