47 pages • 1 hour read
Transgender Warriors
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Historical Context: The Transgender Rights Movement
Content Warning: This section discusses anti-trans and anti-gay violence.
In many contemporary societies, people are assigned a sex (male or female) when they are born, based on the appearance of their genitalia. Each sex has a gender role attached to it (man or woman), and people in each sex/gender category are expected to conform to that socially constructed role. Many people feel that their inner sense of self aligns with their assigned gender role; these people are known as “cisgender.” The term “transgender” (or “trans”) refers to individuals whose inner sense of self does not align with their assigned gender role or sex. For instance, someone who was assigned male at birth might prefer feminine clothing and might feel that they fit better into a woman’s gender role, or vice versa. Some trans people change their names, use different pronouns, and pursue medical and social transition so that their gender expression better aligns with their sense of self.
Not all trans people fit neatly into a binary gender category (“man” or “woman”). Many people have gender identities that fall outside the binary, including Leslie Feinberg. Today, these identities are often called “non-binary,” though that term does not appear in Transgender Warriors. Over time, different societies have conceived of trans identities in varying ways, with some being very accepting and others punishing any gender expression that was outside the norm of the gender binary. As Feinberg notes, the term “transgender” is relatively new. When discussing gender-nonconforming people throughout history, it is important to remember that their own identities and roles within society might have been understood very differently.
In the 20th century, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and activists organized to fight for equal rights and freedom from persecution. While these groups existed long before the 20th century (and engaged in various forms of activism), the LGBT community as it is understood today was born out of resistance to persecution in the mid-20th century. The movement has grown and changed over the years, with activists advocating for an end to police violence, better HIV/AIDS treatment, equal marriage rights, the right to medical and social gender transition, adoption rights, and more. Today, the trans community is facing heightened persecution in many parts of the world, including the UK and the US. Activists are fighting for the right to free gender expression, gender-affirming medical care, and inclusive education for young people in the face of anti-trans legislation.
Social Context: Language and Terminology
To fully understand Transgender Warriors, it is important to place the book’s language use in context. In a 2006 interview, Leslie Feinberg explained her preferred pronouns:
For me, pronouns are always placed within context. I am female-bodied, I am a butch lesbian, a transgender lesbian—referring to me as “she/her” is appropriate, particularly in a non-trans setting in which referring to me as “he” would appear to resolve the social contradiction between my birth sex and gender expression and render my transgender expression invisible. I like the gender neutral pronoun “ze/hir” because it makes it impossible to hold on to gender/sex/sexuality assumptions about a person you’re about to meet or you’ve just met. And in an all trans setting, referring to me as “he/him” honors my gender expression in the same way that referring to my sister drag queens as “she/her” does (Tyroler, Jamie. “Transmissions – Interview With Leslie Feinberg.” Camp, 28 July 2006).
While Feinberg describes her preferred pronouns as contextual, this is not representative of how all trans or gender-nonconforming people feel about their pronouns. This guide uses she/her to refer to Feinberg.
When Transgender Warriors was written, the language used to describe trans people was different from the language used today. Feinberg uses “transgender” as both an adjective and a noun. She uses it expansively to refer to people who, for a number of reasons, dress and behave in ways that do not conform to the gender role attached to the sex they were assigned at birth. In today’s parlance, this group includes individuals who might identify as transgender, non-binary, gender nonconforming, intersex, or Two-Spirit, and other identities, including cisgender people who identify with the sex they were assigned at birth but whose gender expression nevertheless deviates from their assigned sex. Feinberg also uses the term “transsexual,” usually to describe people who pursue social and medical transition so that their gender identity and expression are aligned. “Transsexual” is not widely used today and is often considered pejorative or pathologizing, though it is used as a self-identifier by some members of the trans community.
Feinberg notes in the Preface that, as she was writing, “the word trans [was] being used increasingly by the gender community as a term uniting the entire coalition. If the term had already enjoyed popular recognition, [she] would have titled this book Trans Warriors” (xi). Indeed, “trans” is widely used and understood today, so it is used in this guide as an inclusive synonym for “transgender.” When possible, outside of quotes, this guide uses contemporary language to describe the trans community. As Feinberg noted in her pamphlet Transgender Liberation (1992), “The language used in this pamphlet may quickly become outdated as the gender community coalesces and organizes—a wonderful problem” (Feinberg, Leslie. Transgender Liberation. World View Forum). The same is true of Transgender Warriors; the trans community has undergone profound change since 1996, and it is natural that language has developed and changed as well.
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