How to Be in Solidarity with Trans, GNC, and Intersex People

Links to Articles, Narratives, Media and Resources by and for US

transgender-star-jumbo-v2.jpg

Marsha P. Johnson, right; Sylvia Rivera, left. Via the gaycenter.org/archives. Image id: a black and white image of Marsha Johnson and Sylvia Rivera marching in NYC, wearing great outfits and holding banners.

This is a list of links on transgender (trans), gender non-conforming (GNC) and intersex people and their work. It is written with the intention to offer people access to information about how to support and be in solidarity with trans people, intersex people, and gender -nonconforming people. It also has information on resources and texts written by and for trans people, intersex people, and gender non-conforming people to expand our understandings of ourselves and the many ways we live in the world.

This list is by no means exhaustive and is largely specific to the United States. Almost all links are in English. At this time all links have not been vetted for accessibility (image descriptions or captioning) or content warnings. The content is diverse and includes a diverse set of voices. Not all of the voices represented agree with one another. Believe resources and narratives written by multiply marginalized folks first (people who experience multiple forms of oppression: trans / women / disabled / poor / SWers / POC / Black / incarcerated).

Feel free to share this document as widely as you like. You may use the google doc sharing link, or use this shortened bit link: bit.ly/transgncintersex-resources. If you have any questions, critiques, or additions, you may contact the document creator at hester@rabbitrabbitstudio.us

Some Definitions        3

Why Trans, GNC + Intersex Resources Together?        4

On Words & Labels        4

Articles by Topic        5

Introductory Information        5

Arts & Culture        5

Resistance (against whatever is fucking with us)        6

Mainstream Media Sucks        6

Intersex Rights        6

Transwomen + Transfemininity        7

Being Non-binary        7

Toxic Masculinity        7

The Failings of Liberalism        7

Race & Gender        7

TERFs + Transmisogyny        8

Biological Essentialism        8

Death + Violence        8

Intersecting with Disabilities        8

Suicide + Survival        8

Parenting + Kids        9

Medical Care (Surgery, Hormones, etc.)        9

History        9

First Person Narratives        9

Things to do to support trans/intersex/gnc folks        10

Names, Words and Pronouns        10

Resources for Teachers        11

Media        12

For Kids + Teens!!!        12

Blogs + Websites        12

Online Video Series        13

Films and TV Shows        13

Books + Publications (not always free or online)        13

Social Media Profiles        15

Resources        17

Legal and Human Rights        17

Guides for protecting yourself        17

Medical and Mental Health Resources        17

Organizations        17

Some Definitions

Here are some basic terms for understanding gender and sex. They are not perfect definitions, do not encapsulate all of the ways people relate to gender and sex, are largely western(ized) concepts. None of these terms can be used for someone who does not use that word for themselves, unless those terms are in reference to someone’s relative privilege (ie. cisgender, or dyadic)

*Check out B. Binaohans “decolonizing trans/gender 101” for a more exhaustive breakdown*

Gender

“gender” (n.) generally refers to an internally identified sense of self

“transgender” or “trans” (adj.) generally refers to people whose gender is different than the one classified at birth (only for people who identify themselves trans)

“cisgender” (adj.) refers to those who identify with the gender classified at birth

“Binary” (adj) generally refers to genders within the boundaries “man” or “woman”, “boy” or “girl.”

“Non-Binary” (adj.) generally refers to genders that are outside the boundaries of, or contain multitudes, of “man” or “woman, “boy” or “girl.” (only for people who identify as non-binary)

Gender presentation

“gender non-conforming” or “GNC” (adj.) refers to people who do not present gender in a way that is commonly accepted or recognized.

 

“gender conforming” (adj.) refers to people who present gender in a way that is commonly accepted or recognized.

Sex

“sex” (n.)  generally refers to a set of biological characteristics, (including chromosomes, hormones, primary and secondary sex characteristics, etc)

“intersex” (adj.) refers to people whose sex characteristics (including chromosomes, hormones, primary and secondary sex characteristics, etc) do not fall within typical definitions of “male” or “female” as biological categories (only for people who also identify themselves as intersex)

“dyadic” (adj.) refers to people whose sex characteristics (including chromosomes, hormones, primary and secondary sex characteristics, etc) fall within typical definitions of “male” or “female” as biological categories

Why Trans, GNC + Intersex Resources Together?

Trans (transgender), GNC (gender non-conforming), and Intersex are not interchangeable terms. (Though there are people who are both trans and intersex, people who are GNC and trans, people who are intersex and GNC etc.) Because of how society forces our bodies into set ideas of “male” or “female” and police our genders into set ideas of “man” or “woman”, trans, GNC and intersex people’s liberation is linked. We have similar goals : to have the right to our bodies, the right to name our relationships to our bodies, and the right to make our bodies our own, on our terms, however we see fit to.

It is important that while our goals are linked, they are not the same. We are oppressed in different ways and must support one another. For example, many intersex people have non-medically necessary operations at infancy or in childhood to force their bodies into one or the other sex category. These operations often do serious lasting harm. Meanwhile many trans people seek and are often denied access, from childhood, to lifesaving resources including gender-affirming clothes, hormones, surgeries, etc. Gender non-conforming people, regardless of trans or intersex status, are almost always forced (through verbal or physical abuse) to change their appearance, affects, and/or bodies to fit society’s stereotypes.

On Words & Labels

Trans, GNC + Intersex can be understood as “umbrella” words. They are more *categories* than labels, containing many many multitudes of expressions and ways of being and other words within them. There are people who may not use any of the above words to describe themselves but still are subject to similar oppression, disenfranchisement, and violence. These words include, but are not limited to, Bakla, Bissu, Calabai, Burnesha, Fa'afafine, Fakaleiti, Hijra, Kathoey, Khanith, Māhū, Maknyah, Muxe, Takatāpui, Travesti, Two-Spirit, and Winkte. Many of these words are used outside of a typical western context/understanding of gender and sexuality.

People who do not have an ancestral / cultural link to communities that use a particular term should likely (almost always) not use them. That would be cultural appropriation (taking aspects of a culture that is not yours, without proper cultural context and knowledge, and without taking on any of the oppressions people from those cultures face, often but not always for social or literal capital).

Ie. if a white person uses “two spirit” they will not face the impacts of colonialism and racism that an indigenous two spirit person would face. Also the white person’s access to the term two spirit is contingent upon several hundred years of colonialism.

Also, while Trans might be understood as a particularly western word, someone who is not raised in a western context, might still use the term trans. Cultural Appropriation, like racism, does not punch up. You can’t be racist to white people, because white people have power over non white people. You can’t appropriate western culture, because western culture has done its best to colonize the whole planet.

Articles by Topic

Introductory Information

Arts & Culture

  • Designer Marco Marco debuts an all-transgender roster on his New York Fashion Week runway - Mic.
  • Transgender athletes speak out as parents petition to change policy that allows them to compete as girls - YahooNews
  • Author Kai Cheng Thom on writing a new kind of transgender memoir - teen vogue
  • Trans Horror Stories and Society's Fear of the Transmasculine Body - Them.
  • I'm a Black, Trans, Disabled Model — And I Just Got Signed to a Major Agency - Them.
  • This Gorgeous Portrait Series Celebrates Older Trans And Gender-Nonconforming People - Buzzfeed
  • I Didn't Know I Was Intersex — Until I Made a Film About an Intersex Character - them. 
  • Imp Queen and the Perpetually Problematic Erasure of Trans Drag Queens - Them
  • On the Changing Reality of Transgender Binding and Tucking - Playboy
  • Tourmaline Isn’t Just Telling Our Stories — She’s Putting Us in Museum - OUT
  • 'Damn, I'm good at this!' Is Travis Alabanza the future of theatre? - the Guardian
  • The Gender Spectrum Collection:Stock Photos Beyond the Binary - Broadly
  • Why We Created a Gender-Inclusive Stock Photo Library - Broadly
  • The Inspiring Story of the Trans Actress Behind Your Favorite Pokémon's Voice - them.
  • How The Matrix universalized a trans experience — and helped me accept my own - vox.
  • Children’s book with trans heroine scores $18k in first week on Kickstarter - Queerty
  • Non-binary trans author nominated for Women's prize for fiction - the Guardian
  • The Transgender Scientist Who Changed How We See the Brain - the Atlantic
  • This transgender soul singer publicly transitioned in the 60s & ruled the charts while she did it - LGBTQ Nation
  • Black Trans Women Created the World's First Trans Cultural District - Out

Resistance (against whatever is fucking with us)

  • Joshua Allen on abolition blue stocking mag
  • Cece Mcdonald, on self defense as a black trans woman : rolling stone
  • Fear of Flying - or at least of the TSA - while Intersex - daily beast
  • The Dire Realities of Being a Trans Woman in a Men's Prison - Them.
  • 'We're Monumentally Fucked': Trans Sex Workers on Life Under FOSTA/SESTA - Broadly.
  • Many Transgender Asylum-Seekers Held In Special ICE Unit - NPR
  • ‘We’re brothers, sisters and activists’: the Greek collective of gay and trans refugees - the guardian
  • We Won't Be Erased: 40 Trans and GNC People Sound Off on Trump's Memo - Paper
  • 50 Years After Stonewall, Miss Major Is Still Leading the Trans Revolution - OUT
  • Meet the Creator of the World's Largest Trans Career Fair - Paper Mag
  • Tennessee becomes first state in the South with hate crime law protecting transgender people - Tennessean
  • Miss Major on Trans Day of Visibility 2019 - #SupportUsInTheLight #AlliesBeVisible - Facebook
  • Meet a Mexican Trans Woman Fighting for Sex Workers’ Rights and Dignity - HIP Online

Mainstream Media Sucks

  • Julia Serano’s response to a New Yorker Article : advocate
  • An Open Letter to Those Praising the New York Times “Tomboy” Piece - medium
  • You were a misogynist before testosterone (on “this american life” episode “testosterone” ) - medium 
  • On critiques of Caitlyn Jenner : Salon / huffington post / medium
  • Objectivity is Dead and I’m Okay with It - medium 

Intersex Rights

  • Emily Quinn - on being intersex : vice
  • A new era for intersex rights : the new yorker
  • Intersex Activist and Writer Hida Viloria on Being 'Born Both' - rolling stone
  • Intimate images explore intersex identity - washington post
  • Stop talking about testosterone – there’s no such thing as a ‘true sex’ - the Guardian
  • Intersex surgeries: Is it right to assign sex to a baby? - the BBC

Transwomen + Transfemininity

  • How Do I Know If I'm Transfeminine? - them.
  • On Trans Motherhood, and My Reality of Never Having Biological Children - them.
  • These Trans Latina Cosmetologists Are Fighting For Their Sisters - Out
  • http://www.trickymothernature.com/index.html

Being Non-binary

  • List of non-binary genders : nonbinary.org
  • What’s with the X in Latinx? - youtube
  • History of the “they” pronoun : illinois.edu
  • Gender Variant Identities Worldwide : nonbinary.org
  • Some things to know about non-binary people : bustle
  • 10 Perfect Gifts For The Non-Binary People In Your Life - huffpost
  • Countries that recognize more than two genders : washington post
  • Fractal by Kim Boekbinder - youtube
  • BBC Ideas: Quantum physics helped me understand my identity - BBC Facebook
  • Ms., Mr. or Mx.? Nonbinary teachers embrace gender-neutral honorific - NBC News
  • Airlines, Including Delta, to Add New Gender Options for Non-Binary Passengers - Daily Beast

Toxic Masculinity

  • Trans masculinity on social media - googledoc
  • Resources on Queer Misogyny compiled by femmes - femminary
  • Femme Privilege Does Not Exist - Femme Dreamboat
  • On Being A Safer Person: Resources on Boundaries, Consent, Trauma, Care Work & Emotional Labor - googledoc

The Failings of Liberalism

Race & Gender

TERFs + Transmisogyny

  • Forms of transmisogyny : bilerico
  • Thoughts about transphobia, TERFs, and TUMFs - Julia Serano
  • Debunking Trans Women are Not Women Arguments - Julia Serano
  • Transmisogyny primer : julia serano
  • How British Feminism Became Anti-Trans - NYT
  • WAVAW: It is time for the antiviolence sector to push back against transmisogyny - Georgia Straight

Biological Essentialism

Death + Violence

  • Rates of discrimination and Violence: bustle 
  • Homicide rates of trans people : transgender law center
  • U.S. transgender people harassed in public restrooms: landmark survey - reuters
  • List of unlawfully killed transgender people - wikipedia
  • Fear and Violence in transgender Baltimore : the guardian

Intersecting with Disabilities

  • On Queerness and Disability - Lydia Brown - QueerPGH
  • A Disproportionate Number of Autistic Youth Are Transgender. Why? - Slate
  • The Best Cartoonist You’ve Never Read Is Eight Different People - Vulture

Suicide + Survival

  • Stop Letting Trans Girls Kill Ourselves / not a poem - Tumblr
  • On Leelah Alcorn’s Suicide : autostraddle
  • After the death of Jamel Myles, we need to talk about child self-harm and suicide – even though it’s difficult - Independent
  • Trans Suicide + attempted Suicide Rates : vocativ
  • A US and Canada serving suicide hotline run by and for trans people - translifeline.org
  • US: 877-565-8860
  • Canada: 877-330-6366
  • More than half of transgender men have attempted suicide - lgbtq nation
  • Kate Bornstein - on what it takes to survive : Broadly 

Parenting + Kids

  • Young Trans Children Know Who They Are - the Atlantic
  • Calling Trans Youth by Chosen Name can Drastically Reduce Chance of Suicide - Georgia Voice
  • Latin America's first transgender school helps kids cope with bullying, discrimination - NBC News
  • The Unknown Depths of a Parent's Love - PFLAG

Medical Care (Surgery, Hormones, etc.)

  • Puberty Blockers May Improve The Mental Health of Transgender Adolsecents - California Health Line
  • Puberty blockers can be 'life-saving' drugs for trans teens, study shows - CNN
  • What It’s Like to Medically Transition As a Nonbinary Person- them.
  • Beyond the Basics: Gaines Blasdel on Genital Surgery, Community Wisdom, and Trans Health Justice Today - thebody
  • Hannah is a girl, doctors finally treat her like one - nytimes
  • Defining “Gender Confirmation Surgery” : huffington post
  • Myths about Gender Confirmation Surgeries : huffington post 
  • Helping Pediatricians Care for Transgender Children - NYT
  • Intersex People Deserve Proper Healthcare — So We Created a Hospital Policy Guide - them.
  • Rosie: Growing up intersex - BBC News (video)
  • A Pocket Guide to the Gender Neutral Patient - google docs.
  • A Cree doctor's caring approach for transgender patients - news interactives
  • Testosterone and your cycle - medium (written by a period tracking app company, so includes a plug for that app)
  • Should Surgeons Perform Irreversible Genital Surgery? - Newsweek 
  • Making Conversations around Reproductive Rights Trans Inclusive - unapologetic feminism 

History

First Person Narratives

Things to do to support trans/intersex/gnc folks

(one of the best ways to learn more if you use social media is to follow trans/gnc/intersex folks on facebook, twitter, youtube etc. and if you can, donate to their pages or pay for their content! What they do is work and it’s good to compensate folks for their labor. Click here: Social Media Profiles)

  • Hell No to the Memo: 7 Action Items to Protect Trans and GNC People - OUT
  • Here's How to Help Trans and Non-Binary People Right Now - Paper
  • Crowded Margins: On trans allyship - black girl dangerous 
  • Stop being an Ally - This Matters - youtube
  • Trans Ally Workbook - Think Again Training
  • Tips for Allies : GLAAD
  • Tips 4 Intersex Allies: 4Intersex
  • 5 Ways Cis People Can Help Make Life Safer for Trans Folks - the body is not an apology
  • Supporting the Transgender People in Your Life: A Guide to Being a Good Ally - Trans Equality
  • On Transgender Visibility: A Note to Cisgender Allies - medium
  • Getting Called Out: How to Apologize - Franchesca “Chescaleigh” Ramsey - Video
  • The Right Way to say “I’m Sorry” - NYT

Names, Words and Pronouns

Resources for Teachers

Media

Texts written by (or containing content by) trans/gnc/intersex folks, or with trans/gnc/intersex characters

For Kids + Teens!!!

Kids Books

Teen books

  • Being Jazz, my life as a transgender teen - jazz jennings - amazon
  • Trans YA books by Trans Authors - yapride
  • 8 Transgender YA Books written by trans and nonbinary authors - book riot

Online (Free)

Blogs + Websites

        

Online Video Series

  • So Popular! - Janet Mock - Online Series - msnbc
  • Convers(at)ion Therapy - Patti Harrison: youtube
  • Intersex Stories by Pidgeon : youtube
  • Sitting in the Bathroom with Trans People - seriously.tv
  • Jetspace Roundtable : youtube

Films and TV Shows

  • (if you can avoid it, don’t watch the netflix documentary about marsha p. Johnson, the filmmaker stole Tourmaline’s  Reina Gosset work - teen vogue on it here)
  • note, many of the participants have issues with this film and its making, in part and the filmmaker misrepresented herself and what compensation they would receive - Paris is Burning is Back - and so is its Baggage, Vanity Fair

Books + Publications (not always free or online)

(written by, or containing content written by, trans, GNC, or intersex people)

Memoir / Autobiography

  • Redefining Realness - Janet Mock :  amazon
  • Surpassing Certainty - Janet Mock : amazon
  • She’s Not There - Jennifer Boylan :  amazon
  • Gender Outlaw - Kate Bornstein : amazon
  • Whipping Girl - Julia Serano : amazon
  • Tranny - laura jane grace - amazon
  • Born Both - An Intersex Life - Hida Viloria amazon
  • Trauma Queen - Luna Merbruja : amazon
  • Balls - Chris Edwards - amazon
  • Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir - metonymy press

Collections

  • Black Girl Dangerous - Mia McKenzie : amazon
  • Queer and Trans Artists of Color - Nia King : amazon
  • Octavia’s Brood - collection of scifi stories - amazon 
  • Nameless Woman: An Anthology of Fiction by Trans Women of Color - amazon

Fiction / Poetry

  • THEM - literary zine - themlit
  • Yemaya’s Daughters - Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi (other books of Edidi’s available from this website)
  • To be Human Once More - Edras Parra
  • The Unintentional Time Traveler - Everett Maroon - Amazon
  • Imogen Binnie - Nevada - Amazon
  • Small Beauty - jia qing wilson-yang - metonym press
  • Improvise, Girl, Improvise - Lilith Latini - amazon
  • He Mili A Hilo - Riya Aoki - amazon
  • Reacquainted with Life - Kokumo
  • Herculine Barbin - Michel Foucault - amazon
  • Tensorate Series - (Book 1: The Black Tides of Heaven, Book 2: The Red Threads of Fortune, Book 3: The Descent of Monsters) - JY Yang - Powells
  • Detransition Baby - Torrey Peters - Penguin random house

Non-Fiction

  • Transgender Warriors - Leslie Feinberg :  amazon
  • Decolonizing Transgender 101 - b. binaohan publish biyuti
  • Critical Intersex - Morgan Holmes - amazon
  • Contesting Intersex - Georgiann Davis - amazon
  • Making Sense of Intersex - Ellen K. Feder - amazon
  • The ABC's of LGBT+ - Ashley Mardell - amazon
  • Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex - Alice Berger - amazon
  • My New Gender Workbook - Kate Bornstein : amazon
  • Lessons From the Intersexed - Suzanne J Kessler - amazon
  • Captive Genders - Eric a stanley (ed.) - AK Press
  • Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics and the Limits of Law - Dean Spade - amazon
  • Trap Door- Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibilty - MIT Press
  • Surpassing Certainty - Janet Mock - amazon
  • Transgender History - Susan Stryker - amazon
  • LB Lee Comics - itch.io
  • Belly of the Beast - Da’Shaun Harrison - penguin random house
  • Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha - Arsenal Pulp
  • Black on Both Sides: A racial history of trans identity - C Riley Snorton - Duke University Press

Book lists

Social Media Profiles

Clothes & Accessories

Resources

Legal and Human Rights

Guides for protecting yourself

  • What to Do if You’re Trans and Live In America Now - 2016 - themarysue
  • Concrete Suggestions for What to Do Before Change in US Government 2017 by demographic - crowdsourced google doc
  • Oh Shit! What should I do before January? (2016) - crowdsourced google doc
  • Transgender Resources Medical Centers, Name Change, + Passport Info - crowdsourced google doc

Medical and Mental Health Resources

  • Peer to peer mental health + mental illness network

Organizations