title: Strange Bedfellows: Anachronisms, Identity Politics, and the Queer Case of Trans.
abstract: This article explores trans identities, as articulated within a few historical texts. From early literary depictions of gender difference, to medicalized conceptions of transsexualism, to a proliferation of trans and queer identities represented by an ever-expanding "alphabet soup" of identity labels, our understandings of identities, sexualities, and queer community-building continue to change. I use the notion of "kind-making," as elaborated on in the work of Ian Hacking, to illustrate that some queer and trans identifications are affiliative, whereas others are contrastive or oppositional in nature, and these structural differences have important implications with respect to understanding identity and sexuality, and also trans inclusion within LGBT communities and activist efforts.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Sociology and Anthropology , Carleton University , Ottawa , Ontario , Canada.
authors.forename: Nerissa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gailey
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008091:Literature; D008297:Male; D011057:Politics; D000072339:Sexual and Gender Minorities / Q000523:psychology*; D014189:Transsexualism / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Identity politics; Lili Elbe; Man Into Woman; The Well of Loneliness; trans*; transgender; transsexual