Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender

by Kit Heyam Ph.D Narrated by Dr. Kit Heyam Ph.D

Overview

A¿groundbreaking¿global history of gender nonconformity¿*

Today's narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit neatly into the categories of male or female. Those stories, while important, fail to account for the complex realities of many trans people's lives. *
*
Before We Were Trans¿illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present,¿whose experiences¿of gender have¿defied¿binary categories. Blending¿historical analysis¿with sharp cultural criticism, trans historian and activist Kit Heyam offers a new, radically inclusive¿trans history, chronicling expressions of trans experience that are often overlooked, like gender-nonconforming fashion and wartime stage performance. Before We Were Trans¿transports us¿from Renaissance Venice to¿seventeenth-century¿Angola, from Edo Japan to¿early America, and looks¿to the past to uncover new horizons for¿possible trans futures.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

[An] astute, self-aware and riveting study…Before We Were Trans is a book that moves far beyond mere representation by managing to be both intellectually rigorous and exciting to read. It makes for a vital contribution to our understanding of gender variance and its place in social and political history, all around the world.”
 —New York TImes Book Review

“Heyam has assembled an inviting picture of trans, proto-trans, and trans-esque histories, from the king of Ndongo to the Public Universal Friend…a richly studied and trans-inclusive history.”
 —Nation

"Kit Heyam shows us what radical inclusivity can really look like in their extraordinary global history of gender nonconformity, focusing on those, trans or not, whose gender identities aren’t confined to categories of woman or man."
 —Ms.

“[A]n entire meal with dessert…[a] lively and readable history.”
 —Xtra Magazine

"A welcome and significant—and joyful, even—contribution to our cultural conversations on the malleability of gender and on gender nonconformity."
 —Autostraddle

“An eye-opening study of the history of gender nonconformity…[a] highly informative text…the book will fascinate anyone interested in a subject that many readers likely misunderstand…A capable, worthy demonstration of how the history of disrupting the gender binary is as long as human history itself.”
 —Kirkus

“Trans activist Heyam debuts with an expansive and illuminating history of gender nonconformity…their desire for more gender nonconforming people to see themselves reflected in history is appealing and persuasive. This is an essential addition to trans history.”
 —Publishers Weekly

"Before We Were Trans is a thoughtful, fun, and refreshingly readable romp through the history of gender variance before the invention of contemporary ‘transgender’ categories and concepts."
 —Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History

"Before We Were Trans provides much needed context, nuance, and breadth to our understanding of human gender diversity throughout history and in different cultures. While people who we might now call transgender or LGBTQIA+ have always existed, Kit Heyam shows how both individuals' and societies' understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality are situational, multifaceted, and constantly evolving."
 —Julia Serano, author of Whipping Girl and Sexed Up

"Before We Were Trans enlarges our understanding of trans histories and highlights the beauty, complexity, and contradictions of doing historical work - all in a voice that invites the reader in, and not only teaches us what to think about trans lives in the past, but how to think about them."
 —Hugh Ryan, author of The Women’s House of Detention

"This is such a searing, reflexive read - in conversation with the likes of Shon Faye, Akwaeke Emezi and Leslie Feinberg - that needs to be in everyone's hands expeditiously."
 —Paula Akpan, journalist

Kirkus Reviews

2022-07-26
An eye-opening study of the history of gender nonconformity.

In this highly informative text, Heyam, a U.K.–based queer history activist and trans awareness trainer, tells a wide variety of pertinent stories that are often left out of the trans narrative. Many of the ideas that the author explores don’t fit cleanly inside our contemporary notions of trans identity, which is usually able to be verbally confirmed and often includes medical, social, and cultural transitions. Heyam makes the compelling argument that just because people in the past may not have had access to medical transition procedures or modern vocabulary to adequately discuss gender doesn’t mean their experiences outside the gender binary should be ignored. “To say sex and gender are both socially constructed,” writes the author, “isn’t to say they’re not real—like other social constructs, including race, money and crime, they have material and life-changing consequences for all of us—but it is to say there’s no innate reason we have to think about them in the way we do.” The author draws from a remarkable array of historical examples, expanding the definition of what we should consider trans history along the way. Among other eras and locales, Heyam takes us to ancient Egypt, the Edo period in Japan, and a World War II prisoner camp on the British Isles. With great sensitivity and care, they discuss the deleterious effects of European colonization over hundreds of years, the modern Western desire to separate gender and sexuality, and the intersex community. While clearly the work of a diligent historian, the text avoids feeling too dry and is a relatively accessible read. The author’s historical and topical range is impressive, and only a few of the sections are disjointed. Overall, the book will fascinate anyone interested in a subject that many readers likely misunderstand.

A capable, worthy demonstration of how the history of disrupting the gender binary is as long as human history itself.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940178821558
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	09/13/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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