I’ve written a lot of articles on this site for transgender allies—from a lexicon of transgender terms to a coming out letter to an explanation of why I pretended to be a woman. But there are brilliant trans writers elsewhere who have powerful stories and perspectives.
Many of them have already written about concepts I haven’t gotten around to writing about—and cover important topics better than I could ever cover them myself.
Online posts and articles (free)
I’ll be continuously collecting short thoughts and articles written by trans folks that I think need to be shared, and adding them to this page. They’ll be framed by topic and description. I hope you read them—I think anyone who does will be a better person for it.
I Am A Transwoman. I Am In The Closet. I Am Not Coming Out.
An incredibly powerful article originally written as a private note by a closeted trans woman. She describes her experience, along with her decision not to transition. Most everyone in her life believes she is a man.
Common misperceptions made by well-intentioned trans allies.
This quick Quora answer by Casey Jones does a wonderful job briefly explaining gender dysphoria in contrast to how it’s often misunderstood. Madsen Zimric shares a personal story of how someone’s attempt to show support made them feel very unsafe. And Katie Ann Holton shares on why it can be hurtful to speak for a trans person if you yourself are not one.
Why “cisgender” is not a slur.
Some thoughts by Elliot Mason on how people with privilege can take offense to not being seen as the standard model of human, and some more thoughts by Kate Bendenbaugh on a variety of problems folks might have with the term.
Books by trans and gender nonconforming people
Sissy by Jacob Tobia
This is just the very beginning of what I hope becomes a rich resource. Feel free to comment about articles you think should be included here, and why.