Navigating Trans and Complex Gender Identities

by Jamison Green, Rhea Ashley Hoskin, Cris Mayo, sj Miller

Overview

We all encounter others whose gender identities differ from our own, whether it is in the classroom, in public, in the media or online. For many, there is anxiety about which words to use in conversation and sometimes people keep quiet so as to not offend someone whose gender identity may not be readily discernible, when in actuality, what they desire is to understand, learn, and interact.

This book offers practical research-based strategies for expanding personal, social and political awareness about gender-identity privileges - helping the reader to work through fears and unpack ingrained communication patterns and language. In order to better understand the ever-evolving landscape of gender identity the authors provide historical and political background for the transgender movement and consider how issues of age, culture, race, social class, media, celebrity and religion affect transgender identities.

The book includes a glossary of key terms, a foreword from leading transgender rights activist, Jamison Green, and an afterword by Meredith Talusan, Contributing Editor at them. Written for educators and individuals committed to learning about changes and shifts in gender identities, this book gives grounded, real-time, practical and solution-oriented ideas and language about how to be a better communicator, listener and responder to trans and non-binary gender identities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350061040
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/14/2019
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.56(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

Jamison Green is an educator and policy consultant in transgender and transsexual issues. He is the author of Becoming a Visible Man (2004).

Rhea Ashley Hoskin is a Researcher in the Department of Sociology, Queen's University, Canada.

Cris Mayo is Professor in Women's and Gender Studies and Director of the LGBTQ+ Center at West Virginia University, USA. Mayo's publications include Gay Straight Alliances and Associations Among Youth in Schools (2017).

sj Miller is Associate Professor of Teacher Education at Santa Fe Community College, USA, a trans*+ disciplinary award-winning teacher/writer/activist/scholar and an expert in secondary literacy across disciplines. sj is co-series editor of Social Justice Across Contexts in Education and series editor of Spaces In-between: Beyond Binary Gender Identities and Sexualities.

Meredith Talusan is an award-winning jourbanalist and author of Fairest: A Memoir from Viking / Penguin Random House.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors viii

Preface sj Miller xii

Foreword Jamison Green xv

Acknowledgments xix

1 Transgender Generations and Technologies of Recognition Cris Mayo 1

2 Working through Concerns and Fears: Tips for Communicating and Messaging about Gender Identity Complexity for Cisgender People sj Miller 19

3 Critical Consumption of Transgender and Nonbinary Representations in Popular Culture and Social Media Rhea Ashley Hoskin Jessie Earl Ashleigh Yule 79

4 Advocacy Beyond: Continuing Commitments, Personal and Social Growth Jamison Green 113

Afterword Meredith Talusan 123

Appendices 127

Glossary of Shifting Terms 180

References 183

Index 191

Editorial Reviews

The authors in this book take us on an extraordinarily unique jourbaney through trans*+ and complex gender identities. Be prepared for your emotions to surface. The text reads like a great novel.” —Eric D. Teman, Assistant Professor of Educational Research, University of Wyoming, USA

“An excellent book that combines both theoretical and practical perspective regarding trans+ issues and lives. It gives the reader theoretical understanding, an overview of trans+ history, and how trans+ subjectivities have been represented or rather misrepresented in the Western media discourse. Furthermore, the book has a practical perspective and gives advice to educational workers and teachers of how to address these issues in their schools / classroom. I would highly recommend this book for educational workers, students, and other lay people who would want to get a practical and theoretical insight into trans+ issues” —Jón Ingvar Kjaran, Associate Professor, University of Iceland, Iceland, and Senior Researcher at the United Nations University Gender Equality Studies and Training Program, Iceland

From the Publisher