Transgender Study Group

Who	Transgender people & allies
What:	Empowering & educating ourselves, unlearning transphobia, and exploring trans activism that meets the needs of all trans people.
When:	Wednesdays 7:00-9:00 PM, January 30 - April 9 (attend as many or as few meetings as you like)
Where:	Oakland (accessible space with a gender neutral bathroom)
Why:	Building movements for social justice must include the liberation of trans and gender nonconforming people.
How:	1-2 articles/chapters per week + weekly facilitated discussions. Movies & spoken word too!
Not:	A place to satisfy curiosity about transgender people.

If you would like to participate, please contact us to get the reading materials & location details.

Statement from the Facilitators - please read before coming.

Want to help publicize? Post the flyer

Week 1 (Jan. 30): Introductions: Introducing some terms & concepts for discussion.

Julia Serano, "Trans Woman Manifesto," "Coming to Terms with Transgenderism and Transsexuality," Whipping Girl (2006).
Emi Koyama, "The Transfeminist Manifesto" (2001).

Week 2 (Feb. 6): Media Representations | Cissexual Privilege: Critically examining pop culture and media representations of trans people. Name & explain cissexual privilege.

Julia Serano, "Skirt Chasers: Why the Media Depicts the Trans Revolution in Lipstick and Heels," Whipping Girl (2006).
Shana Agid, "When We Became Normal: Transgender People in Pop Culture and the Politics of Normalcy," Clamor Fall 2006.
Julia Serano, "Dismantling Cissexual Privilege," Whipping Girl (2006).
We will be breaking into groups to analyze media coverage. Please read/listen to at least one of the following:

Sportswriter Embarks on New Life as a Woman NPR 15 August 2007

When She Graduates as He Boston Globe 8 April 2007
Gender Gap Pittsburgh City Paper 27 Sept. 2007
The drama of being transgender by Marianne Combs, Minnesota Public Radio 30 January 2008

Optional: Letter in response to NPR's transphobic coverage involving Dean Spade (2002)

Week 3 (Feb. 13): History of trans activism in the US | ENDA: Trans & gender transgressive led rebellions of the 1960's. Reaction to the removal of trans people from the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act passed in the House.

Movie: Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria (57 min)
Monica Roberts, Wait Your Turn? TransGriot (29 Sept. 2007)
Monica Roberts, America's NEVER Ready To Expand Rights TransGriot (15 Jan. 2008)
Monica Roberts, Welcome to Minority Status TransGriot (8 Nov. 2006)
Sylvia Rivera, "I'm glad I was in the Stonewall riot," in Trans Liberation by Leslie Feinberg (1998).
Shannon Price Minter, "Do Transsexuals Dream of Gay Rights? Getting Real about Transgender Inclusion," Transgender Rights (2006).

If pressed for time, focus on the section "From Gender Inversion to Sexual Object Choice: The Class- and Race-Based Origins of Modern Gay Identity" p 147-150.

Optional (great if you miss the movie): Susan Stryker, "Roots of the Transgender Movement: The 1966 Riot at Compton's Cafeteria," Critical Moment no. 12 (2005).

Week 4 (Feb. 20): Intersections of transgender issues, racism, and resistance: Racial disparities among trans people & an example of resistance.

Daisy Hernandez, "Becoming a Black Man," ColorLines Jan/Feb 2008.
Ellen Marie Hinchcliffe, "I Will Always Be Your Daughter, I Will Always Be Your Son: an overdue conversation with writer, filmmaker, and auto mechanic Juma Blythe Essie," Clamor, Fall (2006).
Yosenio Lewis, "How Race Inter-plays with Trans," F.O.R.G.E. Newsletter, 15 April 2000.
Sel Julian Hwahng, "Racial marginalization among MTFs," Latin-American Center on Sexuality and Human Rights report, 13 Feb 2007.
Michelle O'Brien, "Stayin' Alive: Trans Survival and Struggle on the Streets of Philadelphia," That's Revolting: Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation, edited by Mattilda a.k.a. Matt Bernstein Sycamore (2004).
Optional: Jolee Galloza, "A Brief Intro/The Heart of the Matter: One TG Latino Perspective," F.O.R.G.E. Newsletter, 15 April 2000.

Week 5 (Feb 27): Bathroom Access *public showing, not in our usual meeting place*: Problems created by sex-segretated bathrooms.

movie: Toilet Training (30 min), meet at the Graduate School of Public Health (Parran Hall), Fifth Ave between DeSoto St. & N. Bouquet St., G-23 Auditorium, 7-9 PM
Followed by a discussion
Watch the opening scenes from Toilet Training
Want to help spread the word? Please post the flyer.
No readings to discuss this week, but start on the readings for week 6 because there are more than normal.

Week 6 (March 5): Colonization/decolonization, genocide, and Two-Spirit/trans oppression: The effects of colonization on First Nations people's sexualities & the resistance.

Qwo-Li Driskill, "Stolen From Our Bodies: First Nations Two-Spirits/Queers and the Journey to a Soverign Erotic," Sail, Summer 2004, Vol. 16, No 2: pages 50-64.
Andrea Smith, "Sexual Violence as a Tool of Genocide," Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide (2005).
Gary Bowen, "An entire rainbow of possibilities," in Trans Liberation by Leslie Feinberg (1998).
Katrina Roen, "Transgender Theory and Embodiment The Risk of Racial Marginalization," in The Transgender Studies Reader edited by Susan Stryker and Stephen Whittle (2006).

Week 7 (March 12): Stealth and "Passing" | Trans In/Exclusion: Double bind facing trans people regarding disclosing one's trans status. The inclusion of trans people in sex segregated spaces.

suki valentine, "The More Props You Have, The More Props You Get: Musings on Invisible Disabilities, Queerness, Internalized Oppression And The Problems With "Passing," Scars Tell Stories: A Queer and Trans (Dis)ability Zine edited by Colin Kennedy Donovan & Qwo-Li Driskill
Optional: Talia Mae Bettcher, "Evil Deceivers and Make-Believers: On Transphobic Violence and the Politics of Illusion," Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Summer 2007, Vol. 22, No. 3: pages 43-65.Talia Mae Bettcher, "Evil Deceivers and Make-Believers: On Transphobic Violence and the Politics of Illusion," Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Summer 2007, Vol. 22, No. 3: pages 43-65.
Emi Koyama, "Whose Feminism Is It Anyway? The Unspoken Racism of the Trans Inclusion Debate," in The Transgender Studies Reader edited by Susan Stryker and Stephen Whittle (2006).
Jack, "Ain’t I a Woman/Womyn/Wimmin?" Angry Brown Butch, 22 June 2006.
Zak Szymanski, "Leather community debates trans exclusion at upcoming contest," Bay Area Reporter 19 Jan 2006.

Week 8 (March 19): Mixed Consciousness | Intersectional trans activism: Trans activism that prioritizes those most affected by multiple systems of oppression.

Nico Dacumos, "All Mixed Up With No Place To Go: Inhabiting Mixed Consciousness on the Margins," Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity, edited by Mattilda a.k.a. Matt Bernstein Sycamore (2006).
Dean Spade, "Compliance is Gendered: Struggling for Gender Self-Determination in a Hostile Economy," Transgender Rights, edited by Paisley Currah, Richard M. Juang, and Shannon Price Minter (2006).

March 26: No meeting so that folks can attend Kate Bornstein Performance: Kate Bornstein Performance (sponsored by University of Pittsburgh’s Women’s Studies Program)
8:45 PM at the Cathedral of Learning Room G8

Week 9 (April 2): Identity & Institutions | Prostitution: The history of the criminalization of transsexuals, a critique of identity-based politics, critiques of FTM/white/middle-class trans activism.

Viviane Namaste, "Sex Change, Social Change: Reflections on Identity, Institutions," Sex Change, Social Change: Reflections on Identity, Institutions, and Imperialism (2005).
"Statement for Social Service Agencies and Transsexual/Transgender Organizations on Service Delivery to Transsexual and Transvestite Prostitutes," Sex Change, Social Change: Reflections on Identity, Institutions, and Imperialism (2005).
Viviane Namaste, "Interview with Mirha-Soleil Ross," Sex Change, Social Change: Reflections on Identity, Institutions, and Imperialism (2005).

Week 10 (April 9): Trans people and the prison industrial complex: Trans people disproportinately end up in prison. Transsexual women are often forced to be in men's prisons.

Movie: Cruel and Unusual (64 min), William Pitt Union (Fifth Ave & Bigelow Blvd.), Dining Room B, 7-9 PM
Cruel and Unusual trailer
Jessica Stern, "Transforming Justice," Left Turn Jan/Feb 2008
Recommended: "Violence against Transgender People in Prison," Rustbelt Radio 7 January 2008 (link to the MP3 audio is at top of page, report starts at 20:58)