Une brève histoire de la transmisogynie

Gill-Peterson does an excellent job of displaying the ways in which transfemininity was extant, recognizable and known going back to the 19th century, the way transfem identities/roles/subject positions have been in flux, and the accompanying history of transmisogyny.

I especially appreciate Gill-Peterson's attention to outsiders investment in transfemininity as a symbol/trophy/cultural embodiment to the exclusion of any kind of recognition of transfem agency or interiority.

It's great to see more work being published on transmisogyny, however Gill-Peterson is clearly a stronger historian than a theorist. Meticulously documented historical work is interspaced with unsubstantiated claims. This is especially evident in her coverage of Mary Jones and the second chapter in general and the claim that theur scandal was primarily about race and class, not about them being transfem.

This may be the case, but Peterson fails to ground her claims and to the extent that transmisogyny really is peripheral to these case studies, it's unclear why Gill-Peterson makes them a focal point of her book on transmisogny/how she intents to connect them to her broader narrative.

Her introductory framing that ~we are all affected by transmisogny~ is similarly disappointing. Still, it's a valuable work and Gill-Peterson's attention to nuance around temporally shifting identity/subject positions is excellent.

Between the Hijras under the British Raj, the genocide of two-spirit people by the US, and the persecution of transvesti in Latin America, this book demonstrates that the persecution of groups often now identified as trans massively predates the modern concept of trans women. This book outlines how deeply ingrained trans misogyny is in our society and its connections with aspects of class and race. It's a vital and challenging read in outlining the inherent violence of trans misogyny, how broadly it impacts peoples swept up under medicalised labels, and how the broader gay rights movement abandoned those who started it.

This is a richly researched work, and one of my only complaints is that I wish it was much longer (of course "short" is in the title). Gill-Peterson focuses much more on specific people as emblematic of broader trends, with the paucity of quantitative data until extremely recently making that a necessity. It's quite US focused, but the examples from US history are insightful. Highly recommend