BONUS 0.13. Before We Were Trans
/For this bonus episode, Leigh sat down with Dr. Kit Heyam about their new book, Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender. We talked about gender diversity throughout the world, the importance of getting into “messy” or not easily-categorized gender variance in queer history, and more!
”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.”
The book is out in North America TODAY, September 13, 2022, so go check it out!
Dr Kit Heyam (they/them or he/him) is a university lecturer, a queer history activist, and a trans awareness trainer who has worked with organizations across the United Kingdom. They have written for academic publications as well as articles for NOTCHES and The Public Medievalist. They live in Leeds, UK, with their partner Alex.
Where To Find Kit Online:
@krheyam on Twitter
Some of Kit’s writing:“How Museums Hide Women’s and Queer Histories in Plain Sight”, The Public Medievalist
