A Very Brief Introduction To Trans Philosophy For Casual Readers

November 9, 2024

Introduction

This article is meant to be a very short and very informal introduction to Trans Philosophy, briefly summarizing each chapter and offering some very personal critique.

The physical build of the book itself is pretty good—the cover design is brilliant and iconic, the paper is fountain pen friendly, and if a hardcover version was to be offered, I would have definitely bought it.

The book was easier to read than most philosophy, based on my experience with western, modern philosophy. Most of the sentences make sense, even when they’re stripped of arbitrary meaning attached by academia. The jargon level of this book can be described as low to intermediate, based on my opinion and my friend’s, who is a professor in Chinese literature and knows nothing about gender studies jargon in English. Mostly speaking, it can be pursued by the casual reader, as opposed to, in my opinion, most book in the UofMinnesota press catalog.

If you came here looking for an answer to the transgender experience or a solution to the transgender struggle, you won’t find it. Most chapters here are based on a number of assumptions and theorize upon it to the depth of maybe one tenth of an inch. I’m not denying their achievements academically—it’s simply a sad reality that most philosophy done in academia now are like this. However, if you are trying to familiarize yourself with transgender studies, transgender theories, and transgender jargon, as a foundation for your own theory, this is indeed the right place. Therefore, without further ado, let’s get to the synopses.

Synopses

Introduction: Situating and Desituating Trans Philosophy by the four editors talks about the history of trans studies, proposing a new field of study of trans philosophy, the risks that come with a field of study, guiding questions in trans philosophy, and how trans thinking drives trans philosophy. Personally, I found it to be an extremely boring but necessary foreword, and it inspired thoughts about philosophy itself as activism. You might want to take a look at the Transgender Studies Reader or familiarize yourself with some history before reading this.

Metaphilosophy, Categories, and Kinds

What Is Trans Philosophy? by Talia Mae Bettcher digs an inch deeper than the introduction on the concept of trans philosophy itself. It introduces the very relatable concept of a “WTF question”, which hints at the reason for trans fatigue. A very important assumption, that transgender identity is inherently valid, is introduced at this particular moment. With these philosophical tools, it goes on to discuss what should we speak about, who should we speak to, and how we can see our own limitations.

Reimagining Transgender by Robin Dembroff explores the trans experience. It starts with an example, where someone who “seems” transgender does not identify as transgender. This example helps the author to build a new definition of transgender by measuring the intensity of the subject’s trans experience. Some very interesting and powerful insights stem from this. You might want to know about Imagining Transgender before reading this.

Replicating Gender by Stephanie Kapusta traces some historical definitions of gender, which, ridiculously, includes analogies of humans to car parts. It goes on to discuss trans exclusion that may arise from these definitions, and puts forward a very important point about gender “continuity”, which is central to the “always been this way” rhetoric. You might want to know the theories of gender by Theodore Bach and Tomas Bogardus before reading this.

Laughing At Trans Women by Amy Marvin starts with a “we can always tell” scenario and tries to unveil what lies at the heart of ridicule targeted to trans people. It goes on to discuss the duality of disgust and ridicule that arises from the supposed deception of trans people, then, the underlying structure of misogyny from which it feeds off from. You might want to watch a little of The Jerry Springer Show and There’s Something About Miriam before reading this.

Embodiment, Materiality, and Phenomenologies of Flesh

Thinking Trans Embodiment by Ryan Gustafsson starts by analyzing the “wrong body” rhetoric, and with the tool of the concept of contingent home, arrives at a particular weird conclusion that is comparable to Lacan’s object petit a. Despite this, the author uses this concept to analyze trans fatigue, which is personally very relatable, and relatable for many trans people, I believe. This chapter references a number of other philosophers, but their ideas are described clearly enough that you won’t need to read them all.

”I Look Too Good Not To Be Seen” by PJ DiPietro opens with a discussion on multiple meaning realism which maked no sense to me. However, its later discussion on contexts, or systems of oppression, and how it changed the supposed “real” made the meaning a little bit clearer. In multiple other contexts, it tried to make the plurality of gender make more sense, followed by a particularly unamusing ending. You might enjoy this if you like the work of Sally Haslanger.

The Art(s) of Ecstasy by Che Gossett discusses the specific intersectionality of black, transgender art. The main framework here derives the terms free→unfree→unenslaved→enslaved, with god-knows-what ordering makes sense, accentuating the sense of in-between-ness. If you haven’t seen the movie Salacia, it would be a bit hard to follow; but reading the Mary Jones court transcript seems optional.

Temporality, Technicity, and Bioethics of Becoming

Genealogies Of Trans Technicity by Hil Malatino focuses on analyzing the relationship between technology and trans people. It proceeds to argue that technology and people are one, and the “unnatural” transphobic argument is deconstructed from there. Excitingly, it includes a brief critique of the white avant-garde posthumanism. It also references a lot of works, but in my very personal opinion, you might most want to read Testo Junkie after reading this.

Misgendering As Temporal Capture by Megan Burke perhaps looks at misgendering a little bit closer than you would like. It opens with the author’s experience with misgendering, and with a perhaps overly dramatic depiction, connects this with temporal rhetoric. Namely, misgendering as connecting someone with their “normal trajectory through time”, and their past-gender, present-gender, and future-gender. You might want to know about the murder of Latisha King before reading this.

Sylvia Rivera And The Fight Against Carceral Medicine by Andrea J. Pitts is an awesome introduction to Rivera’s work against medicine that aim to punish people, instead of cure them. If you’re not familiar with them already, it’s a good summary of abolitionist rhetoric and action, even though it focuses on Rivera in particular. Understanding how carceral medicine and prisons, in general, works in the world will greatly benefit this read.

tRacing Face by Tamsin Kimito analyzes literature about face feminization surgery and compares it to the infamous Blumenbach analysis of skulls. I have a feeling that beauty and femininity doesn’t come straight from a racial paradigm but is a weird twist of it instead, but the analysis is still really informative and illuminating. You might want to know about Johann Friedrich Blumenbach’s skull collections before reading this.

Politics, Institutions, and World-Making

Scatter by Perry Zurn opens with a bathroom narrative and goes on to do a weird psychoanalysis-like study of the word scat/ter in particular. The chapter follows a smooth narrative and reveals that the people that are supposed to be one are just scattered all along (and we need the magical power of friendship to bring everyone together). You might want to read about disability studies before reading this.

The Racializing Work Of Biological Sex by Marie Draz opens by arguing that antitrans stuff could be colonial and racist as well in nature. It goes on to talk about the role biological sex serves in racial oppression, and I think gives a better intersectional analysis than tRacing Face. You might want to be familiar with Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí’s work before reading this.

Latin American Travesti/Tran Theory by Marlene Wayer is translated by Rocío Pichon-Rivière. It gives an overview of Latin American “TTT” theory, along with a discussion on identity and embodiment, and on how Latin American “TTT” seeks to disrupt current political practices. If you know little about current and historicla Travesti movements, this might be a bit hard to follow.

Summary

As a summary, the book is largely unstructured. This is evident from the fact that they had to use multiple commas in the titles of the parts although the parts are 3-4 chapters long. However, like a foreign language graded reader, the themes, rhetoric, and ideas are repeated again and again. This familiarizes the casual reader about things people must consider in gender studies and trans philosophy, which is good if one wants to produce writing in this field.

Perhaps disappointingly, though, just like psychoanalysis, these studies does not usually propose actionable solutions to parts of the trans struggle for the ordinary person. It only helps you better understand the question of why. However, as someone in analysis, I do think that I understand the trans drive to theorize one’s own existence, so maybe a little bit of trans philosophy is exactly what you need.

mi tawa.