Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender

Before We Were Trans is a brilliant book exploring trans history in an intersectional way. The author shows how the history of trans identities overlaps with history of intersex people, women, lesbians, non-western cultures & spirituality and how they were warped by colonization. Dr. Heyam does a wonderful job of explaining the nuances of how trans history is interconnected with all those things above and directly questions how interpretation of history can harm certain communities even if unintentionally. This book was really thought-provoking and even if you have a good understanding of intersectional theory regarding activism and feminism, I still recommend this book because of how detailed Dr. Heyam is and how well-researched his book is. The audiobook was narrated by the author and I really enjoyed it. Although it might be worth getting your hands on a physical copy or ebook to at least see the names of the historical figures and communities mentioned.

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valkyri_anna's review against another edition

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informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

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sydapel's review against another edition

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challenging informative medium-paced

5.0

Incredibly thoughtful, detailed and informative examination of what gender has meant to different cultures and groups over history. Really made me consider how much of a social and political construct gender can be, and how it's possible to discuss it in a respectful and intriguing way. Kit does such a good job of bringing the figures they're writing about into a broader context, pushing the readers conceptions of gender and identity.

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the_reading_wren's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Fascinating, challenging and most of all comforting.

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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frog_appreciator's review against another edition

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3.75

While jarring to see AGAB language used so often in a historical context, the author is extremely self aware which is important when talking about other cultures, even if it bordered on excessive at times (repeating themself in footnotes) I definitely learned a lot while reading so it was worthwhile. I’m excited to dive into other texts mentioned in the book.

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leweylibrary's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

I DEVOURED this in one sitting so 🙌 As a history major in college, I appreciate this book and how it approaches trans history so much. Obviously the language we have now was not always around, but that doesn't mean trans people were not. I appreciate how the author explains so many of the flaws in how we study history--needing hard proof of someone's queerness and considering them cis by default unless proven otherwise and how hard that is to do. I appreciate that this book really is an exploration of gender nonconformity across many cultures, races, etc. Not only was the research and everything else about the content fantastic, but I loved how it was structured (issue-based more than chronological). This book has me thinking a lot about a recent book I read about women rulers of the past bending gender and their reasons for doing so, and I love it when I can make connections like that. I feel quite strongly that everyone should read this book and hopefully have a better understanding not just of trans people and their history but also of how we have looked at gender in the past, present, and future.

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