One of the newest and most innovative fields in diversity studies, Trans* Studies looks at various gender subjectivities and presentations, along with the cultural, political, and social implications of those gendered positionings. Two of the field's founding scholars, Susan Stryker and Paisley Currah, describe Trans* Studies as follows:
Although the field is only now gaining a foothold in the academy, the term transgender has a long history that reflects multiple, sometimes overlapping, sometimes even contested meanings. For some, it marks various forms of gender crossing; for others, it signals ways of occupying genders that confound the gender binary. For some, it confers the recognition necessary for identity-based rights claims; for others, it is a tool to critically explore the distribution of inequality. The term transgender, then, carries its own antinomies: Does it help make or undermine gender identities and expressions? Is it a way of being gendered or a way of doing gender? Is it an identification or a method? A promise or a threat? [...] We invite you to imagine the T in TSQ as standing in for whatever version of trans- best suits you — and we imagine many of our readers, like us, will move back and forth among several of them. (TSQ)
Building on Stryker's and Currah's perceptive overview, this page presents sources regarding the shifting boundaries of gender crossings. Below you'll find personal testimonials as well as academic analyses and cultural investigations. Because the field is so quickly developing, running a Summon search may well guide you to sources not contained here. Try it, and read all the new, exciting directions in thinking about gender.