Beyond either/or: Reading trans* lesbian identities

ABSTRACT

Previous research has explored the affiliation and distancing strategies employed in published memoirs of gender transition. In this article, we are particularly interested in elucidating the ways in which individuals construct identities and characterize their sexualities, and how sociohistorical constraints might influence what is expressed with respect to this in personal narratives of transition. Using the memoirs of Lili Elbe (Hoyer, 1933) and Joy Ladin (2013) as conceptual brackets, this article investigates the complex relationship between the development and articulation of trans* identities and lesbian sexualities within the context of published memoirs of gender transition.

KEYWORDS:

• Lesbian
• trans*
• memoirs
• identity
• sexuality
• feminist movements

Notes on contributors

Nerissa Gailey has a B.A. (Honors) in Sociology and Anthropology, and is pursuing graduate research on identity and sexuality at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario.

AD Brown is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, Connecticut.

Notes

1. See Gilman (1999: 298–299) for more about “rejuvenation” treatments for the endocrine system in the 1920s. Gilman describes how the endocrine glands were viewed as the key to reversing the aging process. Testicular implants were attempted for men, while X-ray treatments were used to stimulate the ovaries of women.

2. See, for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lili_Elbe or http://web.archive.org/web/20070927182419/ http://www.cphpost.dk/get/59398.html

3. Robert Allen's But for the Grace: The True Story of a Dual Existence (1954) describes Allen's social and legal transition from female to male, but Allen does not identify as transsexual. He states: “I had not changed my sex, because that is a physical impossibility and unknown to medical science” (56). He contends that his physical transition was spontaneously occurring, and he repeatedly condemns those who would seek to change their gender presentation through hormones or surgery.

4. Jan and Elizabeth Morris remained together, living as “sisters-in-law,” and remarried when it became legal to do so. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/love-story-jan-morris–divorce-the-death-of-a-child-and-a-sex-change-but-still-together-839602.html

5. In Mirror Image (1978), Hunt recounts being rebuffed by Morris when requesting a “pen pal” relationship. Morris argued that if she were to correspond with everyone who requested it, she would never get another book written. This speaks to quite a contrast between Morris' sense of obligation to her readers, and that of Michael Dillon, who took it upon himself to perform Roberta Cowell's orchiectomy when she contacted him after reading Self (Kennedy, 2006).

6. See https://anahorvatquimichipilli.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/trans-autobiographies-max-wolf-valerios-testosterone-files/ for a scathing review of The Testosterone Files, posted by “Quimichipilli” of Edmonton, Alberta on July 21, 2014. This blog on “queer literature” appears to be authored by Ana Horvat.

7. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/testosterone-files-max-wolf-valerio/1110897859?ean=9781580051736 (June) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.