terms. These words were also imposed upon these women who later identified as trans, and out of respect to the historical subjects of this study, I choose to refer to them as Transgender. As a note, although it is important to consider other identities of the spectrum such as intersex and transsexual people, this project specifically interested in the category of transgender, which may or may not encompass these identities. My research is also situated in a specific time and place: the women who are the primary subject of this history were often poor working class people of color, and their identity as transgender women were not contingent upon anatomical or biological conformance to a strict binary gender. Their gender identity arose from
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An examination of trans women’s identities through the lens of Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality can remedy this issue. Kimberle Crenshaw’s theory of Intersectionality holds that categories of race, gender, class, and sexuality are “mutually reinforcing” and must be analyzed and understood in conjunction with one another. According to sociologist Leslie McCall, intersectionality emphasizes an analysis of “the relationships among multiple dimensions and modalities of social relations and subject formations”, and works against the idea that single categories of analysis are “universally representative of subjective …show more content…
and lasted through the early 70s. The groundwork for this movement was laid in the mid-sixties, when students like Columbia University’s Bob Martin were starting the first gay rights organizations in the nation at their colleges. The gay movement had roots in several places, notably the student organizations at Universities such as Cornell and Columbia. It also emerged from the street based, often confrontational politics of urban gay people who often gathered at the social spaces and bars. Other developments included the Compton cafeteria riots, an early riot that occurred in San Francisco, California in which patrons, many dressed in drag, were resisted police brutality and discrimination. Historian Susan Stryker notes that the Compton’s Cafeteria riot involved militant street action by transgender people, and that this movement did spur “lasting institutional change”. Like the later Stonewall riots, the Compton’s riot took place when police targeted a crowd of mostly “street queens”- the often young, transgender sex workers who inhabited poor urban neighborhoods. After being attacked, a crown of 60 patrons and police launched a riot. Unlike Stonewall, however, this incident received no news coverage and did not achieve the mainstream recognition that stonewall did. However, the riot was able to shift circumstances for Transgender people on
An examination of trans women’s identities through the lens of Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality can remedy this issue. Kimberle Crenshaw’s theory of Intersectionality holds that categories of race, gender, class, and sexuality are “mutually reinforcing” and must be analyzed and understood in conjunction with one another. According to sociologist Leslie McCall, intersectionality emphasizes an analysis of “the relationships among multiple dimensions and modalities of social relations and subject formations”, and works against the idea that single categories of analysis are “universally representative of subjective …show more content…
and lasted through the early 70s. The groundwork for this movement was laid in the mid-sixties, when students like Columbia University’s Bob Martin were starting the first gay rights organizations in the nation at their colleges. The gay movement had roots in several places, notably the student organizations at Universities such as Cornell and Columbia. It also emerged from the street based, often confrontational politics of urban gay people who often gathered at the social spaces and bars. Other developments included the Compton cafeteria riots, an early riot that occurred in San Francisco, California in which patrons, many dressed in drag, were resisted police brutality and discrimination. Historian Susan Stryker notes that the Compton’s Cafeteria riot involved militant street action by transgender people, and that this movement did spur “lasting institutional change”. Like the later Stonewall riots, the Compton’s riot took place when police targeted a crowd of mostly “street queens”- the often young, transgender sex workers who inhabited poor urban neighborhoods. After being attacked, a crown of 60 patrons and police launched a riot. Unlike Stonewall, however, this incident received no news coverage and did not achieve the mainstream recognition that stonewall did. However, the riot was able to shift circumstances for Transgender people on