It is all too easy in these heady ‘tipping point’ days to forget the long history of the struggle for transgender rights, dignities and respect.
It is all too easy to imagine that our appearing on or in magazines denotes freedoms and acceptance, on some levels it does, but in its media acceptance it glosses over our history of immensely hard fought battles and erases our journey towards equality.
We are not there yet and therefore it makes good sense to know and hear the words of those upon whose shoulders we stand. We have a chance to hear one of them in this great month of LGBT History.
There are some names who stand out in fighting for freedom and justice, one of those is Professor Susan Stryker, Director of the Institute for LGBT Studies, and Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies, at the University of Arizona. She is author or editor of numerous articles, books, and anthologies on trans and queer topics, including Transgender History (Seal Press 2008; nominee, Alan Bray Memorial Prize), The Transgender Studies Reader (Routledge 2006; co-edited with Stephen Whittle; winner, Lambda Literary Award) and with colleague Victor Silverman, she co-wrote, -directed, and -produced the Emmy Award-winning documentary film Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria (Frameline/ITVS 2005), which told a story of militant trans resistance to police oppression in San Francisco in 1966.
As part of the Schools Out academic festival, The Third ‘What is & How to Do LGBT History?’ Conference Professor Susan Stryker will be delivering the Allan Horsfall Lecture On the 26th February 6pm to 7-30pm at the Martin Harris Centre, Manchester University. Susan will also be delivering several keynotes as part of the academic calendar.
Book early in order to avoid disappointment.
Juno Roche
Trans Educationalist and Activist
Susan Stryker is Director of the Institute for LGBT Studies, and Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies, at the University of Arizona. She is author or editor of numerous articles, books, and anthologies on trans and queer topics, including Transgender History (Seal Press 2008; nominee, Alan Bray Memorial Prize), The Transgender Studies Reader (Routledge 2006; co-edited with Stephen Whittle; winner, Lambda Literary Award), and The Transgender Studies Reader 2 (Routledge, 2013; co-edited with Aren Aizura; winner, Ruth Benedict Book Prize). With colleague Victor Silverman, she co-wrote, -directed, and -produced the Emmy Award-winning documentary film Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria (Frameline/ITVS 2005), which told a story of militant trans resistance to police oppression in San Francisco in 1966. In 2014, she and colleague Paisley Currah co-founded the Duke University Press journal TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. She has published in such journals as GLQ: a Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, Women’s Studies Quarterly, Radical History Review, Journal of WOmen’s History, and Parallax. She is currently working on a narrative history of the US transgender movement from the 19th-21st centuries, as well as an experimental medial project on the 1950s transsexual celebrity Christine Jorgensen.
Susan appears as part of our Academic Programme of Events, see here
Watch Susan’s Lecture “Every Breath”, recorded at the National Festival 2016 below