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pink_distro's review
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.5
i was so excited to see this book announced because Jules Gill-Peterson's newsletter, podcast appearances, etc. are always so insightful. and this book did not disappoint at all!
JGP rightly focuses this history on the material social-economic-political processes that oppress & exploit people read as trans-feminine: colonialism, the economic conditions that push trans-feminized people into sex work, and the urban policing & incarceration that harms sex workers. IMO this is exactly the focus our movements need to have if we want to uproot transmisogyny, so this history & analysis is very valuable to me and i hope to discuss it with folks.
She also wisely explains that most people historically impacted by transmisogyny had no personal identity as "trans women" or "trans femmes." instead, these "trans-feminized" populations held a massive diversity of identities situated in all sorts of different times & places & cultures & contexts, but they have all been violently assimilated into the western gender system by colonialism & capitalism,, thus being "trans-feminized" and targeted with transmisogynistic systems of violence regardless of how they identify. this history also shows how trans femininity has always been deeply entangled with queer & non conforming sexualities, making me think that the current emphasis on gender & sexuality being two totally distimct things is a little silly.
further, this history shows how trans-feminine life and transmisogyny is so fundamentally structured by racism and capitalism. JGP shows how, many trans-feminized folks have taken up those life ways (at least in part) as a mode of economic survival under anti-Blackness, capitalism's displacement & dispossession of peasants, and the decline of women's economic power under capitalism. Her analysis of Black trans-feminized sex worker Mary Jones is one key example of this.
i also love her conclusion that gives some notes towards an abundant transfeminist vision, by discussing a latin american concept mujerÃsima. so grateful for this book which is changing how i look at some things, really hope to discuss with some friends & comrades!
JGP rightly focuses this history on the material social-economic-political processes that oppress & exploit people read as trans-feminine: colonialism, the economic conditions that push trans-feminized people into sex work, and the urban policing & incarceration that harms sex workers. IMO this is exactly the focus our movements need to have if we want to uproot transmisogyny, so this history & analysis is very valuable to me and i hope to discuss it with folks.
She also wisely explains that most people historically impacted by transmisogyny had no personal identity as "trans women" or "trans femmes." instead, these "trans-feminized" populations held a massive diversity of identities situated in all sorts of different times & places & cultures & contexts, but they have all been violently assimilated into the western gender system by colonialism & capitalism,, thus being "trans-feminized" and targeted with transmisogynistic systems of violence regardless of how they identify. this history also shows how trans femininity has always been deeply entangled with queer & non conforming sexualities, making me think that the current emphasis on gender & sexuality being two totally distimct things is a little silly.
further, this history shows how trans-feminine life and transmisogyny is so fundamentally structured by racism and capitalism. JGP shows how, many trans-feminized folks have taken up those life ways (at least in part) as a mode of economic survival under anti-Blackness, capitalism's displacement & dispossession of peasants, and the decline of women's economic power under capitalism. Her analysis of Black trans-feminized sex worker Mary Jones is one key example of this.
i also love her conclusion that gives some notes towards an abundant transfeminist vision, by discussing a latin american concept mujerÃsima. so grateful for this book which is changing how i look at some things, really hope to discuss with some friends & comrades!
fallingdownrabbitholes's review
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Sexual violence, Murder, and Hate crime
Moderate: Biphobia, Sexism, and Violence