Book Review

Reviewed by Tracie O'Keefe

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"Transgender History, by Susan Stryker

Transgender History

by Susan Stryker
Published by Seal Studios California 2008 I.S.B.N. 978 158005224

Minority groups have frequently been unhappy with how they are portrayed in history, particularly the women's movement because history has generally been written by men. In recent history, over the past hundred years, it has been iconoclastic academics, the medical profession and cheap newspapers that have frequently distorted the lives and histories of sex and gender diverse people.

Susan Stryker, as an American academic historian, however, breaks the mould in that she describes herself as transgender and has the ability to view trans history from the inside out as well as the outside in. She earned her PhD in history at Berkeley and was Executive Director of the G.L.B.T. Historical Society in San Francisco from 1999-2003. Apart from having many writing credits to her name she is the co-editor of the Lambda Award winning Transgender Studies Reader, and presently teaches gender studies at Harvard. Added to this is the fact that she is an extraordinarily good researcher, has held teaching posts at other universities and is responsible for the film that put the Compton Street riot in San Francisco into perspective as happening before Stonewall.

The time frame for this book is the 20th century which, particularly in America, saw the emergence of trans people in society and the advent of certain activists who spoke out about the need to treat trans people with respect. Why this history is so important is because American culture of the last hundred years has had a huge influence over the rest of the world and the development of world views.

Much of the great thinking around trans liberation has indeed emerged from the American struggle and social chaos around trans issues. Within American society there are many diametrically opposed cultures that sometimes have prejudicial and hateful views about trans people, but there are also cultures such as those of California and New York that by the very nature of their queer culture are constantly challenging and proposing new doctrine around social libertarianism and equality.

This is a very digestible volume of 160 pages that can be a pocket-sized read of American trans history for those who are not academics because it reads so easily. It could also be an academic reference because it is well referenced. It does not deal with Native American trans history and I take issue with using the word transgender to lump all sex and gender diverse people together but apart from that it is a very important piece of work in the history of trans people writing their own history. Oh, and if you ever get the chance to see Stryker's film Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria (2005), sell your grandmother for a ticket, it is well worth it.

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