Transfeminist Histories
A VERY Excerpted Gathering of Historical Moments in (mostly US-based) Transfeminisms:
1850s: Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, a US suffragist, begins “cross-dressing,” inspired by the feminist dress- reform movement 1907: Chui Chin, Chinese revolutionary and “cross-dressing” feminist, is murdered for organizing an uprising against the Manchu dynasty; she founded a militant newspaper in Shanghai called The Chinese Women’s Journal 1930s: Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Lucille Bogan write and perform blues music about genderqueer identity 1968: International Olympic Committee begins chromosome testing of female athletes, effectively banning trans folks and some intersex people from competition until the decision is reversed in 2002 1969: Transwomen, including Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, lead the Stonewall Riots 1970: Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson found Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries (STAR), advocate prison abolition, and create a housing project for trans youth in poverty 1973: Jeanne Córdova organizes the explicitly trans-inclusive and intersectional West Coast Lesbian Conference 1976: Iconic womyn’s music label Olivia Records refuses calls to fire Sandy Stone, queer trans feminist activist, artist, and scholar 1979: Beacon Press publishes The Transsexual Empire by Janice Raymond, which blames trans people for perpetuating the gender binary 1982: Police raid the African American drag bar Blues, and more than 1,000 people protest 1987: Social Text publishes “The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto” by Sandy Stone (UT Austin faculty 1993-2010), in which she undermines Raymond’s essentialist ideas about womanhood and claims a speaking position for transfeminist and queer people 1990: Indigenous LGBTQ activists affirm the ancient term Two-Spirit as an umbrella identity 1994: The state conference of the New Jersey National Organization for Women passes a resolution in support of trans lives and identities, including the statement: “whereas, gender discrimination is at the heart of feminist politics” 1996: Adela Vázquez organizes the Transgender Summit, sponsored by the National Latino/a Lesbian and Gay Organization (LLEGO), at Alma de Mujer (land of the Indigenous Women’s Network) in Austin 1997: Beacon Press publishes transfeminist activist Leslie Feinberg’s Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman
Gender and Sexuality Center Student Activity Center (SAC) 2.112 Campus Location: 2201 Speedway Phone: (512) 232-1831 www.utgsc.org | [email protected]
Page 2
1998: Palgrave publishes Am I That Name? Feminism and the Category of Woman by Denise Riley, in which she tracks the historical construction of (against an essential nature of) the category of “women” 1999: Activists hold the first Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20 to honor and celebrate those who have been murdered because of transphobia, transmisogyny, and racism 2000: Emi Koyama writes and circulates “The Transfeminist Manifesto,” outlining an approach to transfeminism she later updates with accountability to nonbinary identities and intersectionality 2006: The University of Toronto Women’s Centre (founded in 1986) changes its name to the Centre for Women and Trans People; Monica Roberts, Houston-based advocate for trans, gender, and racial justice, starts her award-winning blog TransGriot 2007: Perseus publishes Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano, in which she formulates terms including transmisogyny and oppositional sexism 2008: TigTog creates term TERF to name trans-exclusionary radical feminists 2014: Simon & Schuster publishes Janet Mock’s memoir Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love, & So Much More, in which she outlines a necessary intersectional understanding of gender, racial, and economic justice; Morgan Collado, Austin-based activist and artist working against transmisogyny, racism, and economic injustice, publishes the poetry collection Make Love to Rage 2016: Reina Gossett, Barbara Smith, and Charlene Carruthers affirm Black transfeminist activist histories as Black feminism at Creating Change Conference; Reina Gossett (Barnard Center for Research on Women Activist Fellow, 2014-16) shares stories of trans women of color “as a strategy to transform and heal from historical isolation and erasure”; Transgender Studies Quarterly (founded in 2014) will publish a special issue on transfeminisms
Sources Include: Uriel Quesada, Letitia Gomez, and Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, editors, Queer Brown Voices: Personal Narratives of Latina/o LGBT Activism, University of Texas Press, 2015 Leslie Feinberg, Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman, Beacon Press, 1997 University of Toronto Centre for Women and Trans People Trans Inclusion Policy, Online Reina Gossett, “Historical Erasure as Violence,” Online Cyrée Jarelle Johnson, “Marsha P. Johnson,” Online Dana Beyer, “A Brief Timeline of Trans Activism to Bolster the New York Times Timeline,” Huffington Post, Online Pauline Park, “Trans Feminism: Speaking My Truth to Power,” Online Emi Koyama, “Trans Feminist Manifesto,” 2000, Online
Gender and Sexuality Center Student Activity Center (SAC) 2.112 Campus Location: 2201 Speedway Phone: (512) 232-1831 www.utgsc.org | [email protected]