One of the first books to explore activism within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community is Sexual Politics, Sexual Community (1983) by John D’Emilio. D’Emilio argues, “Inspired by the example of civil rights activists, it abandoned the accommodationist approach of the 1950s. He discusses Ernestine Eckstein, a black lesbian woman, was involved in the NAACP during college at Indiana University, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in New York City, and the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first national lesbian organization in the United States. While D’Emilio uses Eckstein as an example of the connection between the civil rights movement and the gay rights movement, there is no discussion of connections from
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The narratives of transgender, transsexual, cross-dressing, and female impersonating individuals have been left out of the historiography of the civil rights movement and the LGBT movement. The first to write about individuals outside of normative gender binaries were medical professionals in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. In 1966, The Transsexual Phenomenon was published leading to an emergence of clinical studies of transsexual individuals throughout the 1960s and 70s. Also at this time, transgender individuals began to write and share their own stories. One of the most groundbreaking books was Christine Jorgensen’s 1967 autobiography, which became a bestseller. Afterwards, many transsexual women were publishing their stories, however, transsexual men were not following suit. The absence of autobiographies by transsexual men kept them on the margins of …show more content…
During the 1980s and 90s, the emergence of queer theory led literary critics to examine gender identities and how such identities were performed. These studies validated trans-identities in academia. The first book exploring the histories of transgender communities were Leslie Feinberg’s Transgender Warriors (1996) and Pat Califia’s Sex Changes (1997). These works were praised because they were written by transgender activists not historians. Responding to the absence of transsexual men was the cultural anthropologist Jason Cromwell. His book Transmen and FTMs (1999), explores the reasons for gender bending behaviors of transsexual men. Vivian Namaste’s Invisible Lives (2000), explores the “erasure” of transsexual and transgender people from the discourse of history and from institutional, social, and political contexts. One of the most praised works on transsexuality is Joanne Meyerowitz’s How Sex Changed (2002). Meyerowitz states “the topic of sex change has served as a key site for the definition and redefinition of sex in popular culture, science, medicine, law, and daily life.” She argues that transsexual history is longer that sex changing operations and the term transsexuality itself. The 2000s brought on another surge
The narratives of transgender, transsexual, cross-dressing, and female impersonating individuals have been left out of the historiography of the civil rights movement and the LGBT movement. The first to write about individuals outside of normative gender binaries were medical professionals in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century. In 1966, The Transsexual Phenomenon was published leading to an emergence of clinical studies of transsexual individuals throughout the 1960s and 70s. Also at this time, transgender individuals began to write and share their own stories. One of the most groundbreaking books was Christine Jorgensen’s 1967 autobiography, which became a bestseller. Afterwards, many transsexual women were publishing their stories, however, transsexual men were not following suit. The absence of autobiographies by transsexual men kept them on the margins of …show more content…
During the 1980s and 90s, the emergence of queer theory led literary critics to examine gender identities and how such identities were performed. These studies validated trans-identities in academia. The first book exploring the histories of transgender communities were Leslie Feinberg’s Transgender Warriors (1996) and Pat Califia’s Sex Changes (1997). These works were praised because they were written by transgender activists not historians. Responding to the absence of transsexual men was the cultural anthropologist Jason Cromwell. His book Transmen and FTMs (1999), explores the reasons for gender bending behaviors of transsexual men. Vivian Namaste’s Invisible Lives (2000), explores the “erasure” of transsexual and transgender people from the discourse of history and from institutional, social, and political contexts. One of the most praised works on transsexuality is Joanne Meyerowitz’s How Sex Changed (2002). Meyerowitz states “the topic of sex change has served as a key site for the definition and redefinition of sex in popular culture, science, medicine, law, and daily life.” She argues that transsexual history is longer that sex changing operations and the term transsexuality itself. The 2000s brought on another surge