So You Might Be a Trans Woman
This list is a "welcome package" for anyone who's recently realized that they're a trans woman. We initially joked that it might include a vegan cookbook and a how-to guide for installing Linux, but we settled on titles that tackle bodies, relationships, activism, and resilience with an intersectional feminist lens. We're so glad you're here! xo
(PS - You can also find fiction with transfem protagonists in our catalog.)
In Jules Gill-Peterson’s provocative and generative framing, trans misogyny is not a minoritizing term for describing the disparagement of femininity in trans women; it is a ubiquitous, infrastructural pressure that effects everyone to some degree, informing the hierarchy of lives deemed worth living.
—Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History
Julia Serano did not invent transfeminism, but she’s done more to promote its ideas and demonstrate its necessity than any other writer. Her analysis of the misogyny at the root of transphobia is vital… read it, teach it, learn from it, and act on it.
—Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History
Imogen Binnie’s gimlet-eyed prose is raw, funny, and then devastating. I can’t get Maria Griffiths out of my head: she’s an edgy heroine, a new archetype—the quintessential late 20s punk rock trans girl blowing up her life and making friends on the road (or in the parking lot)."
—Andrea Lawlor, author of Paul Takes the Form of the Mortal Girl
In this collection that bridges poetry, list-making, cultural criticism, queer archaeology, and personal essay, Thom tackles the shadowy underbelly of today’s social justice movements with urgency and, more importantly, a stunning amount of care
—Jaz Papadopoulos, PRISM Magazine
In these times, where queer and trans people are continually the targets of violence, discrimination, and archaic public accommodation policies, it is hopeful and necessary that we focus on power and resilience. The Queer and Transgender Resilience Workbook is a useful and refreshing guide to the possibilities of restoration and transformation for queer and transgender people.
—Holiday Simmons, MSW
Super Late Bloomer, which chronicles the first year of Julia’s life after she decided to transition, could turn any pessimist into the most ardent optimist… It’s a guidebook that will last the years and be an important resource for queer libraries, bookstores, coffee shops, school LGBTQ clubs and bedrooms of trans kids deciding to come out for a long, long time.
—Mey, Autostraddle
A 649-page resource guide by and for the trans, gender expansive, and non-binary community and their families. It includes information on health, legal issues, cultural and social questions, relationships, history, activism, and much more.
[A] captivating tale of betrayal, murder, mysticism, legend and compassion. I devoured it within a few days and was terribly sad when I closed it, wishing that Thom could write a never-ending tale for every trans girl who needs more escapism, more vision and more badass resiliency.
—Luna, Autostraddle