With presidential elections looming, 2008 promises to be a politically contentious year. At least this summer's Olympic Games promise to distract us from American politics, and there's some hope—via trans cyclist Kirsten Worley ( nominated as one of the most influential women in Canadian sports in 2007 ) —of having an openly trans contender. To get through the rest of the year, there's plenty of trans-themed material coming your way in 2008.
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Pictured: Catch trans actress Alexandra Billings in the theater version of cult fav, The House of Yes.
get through the rest of the year, there's plenty of trans-themed material coming your way in 2008.
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Books
When it comes to academic works, Haworth Press may cement its position as the leading publisher of nonfiction addressing trans subjects. Several of their new books address medical professionals, like Principles of Transgender Medicine and Surgery and Guidelines for Transgender Care; the latter written and edited in part by trans activist/health educator Joshua M. Goldberg. For a psychological and sociological perspective Haworth, offers Head Over Heels: Wives Who Stay With Cross-Dressers and Transsexuals and Male Bodies, Women's Souls: Personal Narratives of Thailand's Transgender Youth.
Duke University Press addresses a similar audience with Imagining Transgender: An Ethnography of a Category, which documents the rise and development of 'transgender' as a category of collective identity and political activism. The Lives of Transgender People, a collaboration between genderqueer college administrator Brett-Genny Beemyn and feminist scholar Sue Rankin will be published by Columbia University Press later this year.
Trans People in Love, edited by partners Tracie O' Keefe and Katrina Fox, offers personal essays by notable trans folk ( including yours truly ) . Other trans authors are releasing memoirs, including Kate Bornstein Is A Queer And Pleasant Danger; Two Lies and a Truth, Scott Turner Schofield's collection of autobiographical plays and former Sandy, Utah city councilman K J Jackson Prince's Forbidden Identity, which details Prince's return to a male identity—at the request of his son—after four years living as Jennifer Jackson.
Janice Josephine Carney will release Mantra's From the Great Void—a collection of her 'Perspectives from a Trans Woman' column along with new poems. Look for trans photographer Del LaGrace Volcano and Ulrika Dahl's Femmes of Power: Exploding Queer Femininities. Homofactus Press, the growing trans publishing house will release Kicked Out! a collection of essays by current and former youth ejected from their homes for being trans or queer.
Films
Transparent filmmaker Jules Rosskam's new feature film, Remember: Repair: Retell premiers this summer and he's also working on a documentary with Boy I Am director Sam Feder, which examines feminism through the eyes of trans women. Meanwhile, Feder is completing Funny, You Don't Look Like a Jew, an experimental documentary examining the implications of assumptions about people's appearances.
Rosskam and Feder are also collaborating with trans band Actor Slash Model to create a new bimonthly queer film/video screening series in Chicago. 'Threat Level: An Evening of Queer Shorts' is recruiting submissions from around the globe. One of the first to screen was Actor Slash Model's documentary-in-progress about trans musicians, which features Lipstick Conspiracy, Katastrophe and Anderson Toone.
This year may also spark an explosion of adult videos featuring trans men. In January 2007, the original FTM porn star, Buck Angel won Transsexual Performer of the Year at the Adult Video News Awards, the first female-to-male performer to do so. He's nominated for a second award this year, and he belives the industry is ready for some other trans guys. Angel will be moving behind the camera, directing and producing adult films and ushering other trans guys into adult entertainment.
Meanwhile, Trannywood Pictures, the guys behind Cubbyholes: Trans Men in Action hope for greater distribution of the film while releasing their second, Couch Surfers, and developing sexual educational resources, including the instructional First Timers Guide to Playing with Trans Guys. Look for Couch Surfers 2 this summer. And finally, after some delays, trans filmmaker Luke Woodward's queer bicycle porn, Tour de Pants, will debut in 2008.
Television
Making history, two shows focusing on trans women are coming soon to the small screen near you. Debuting on Logo next month, Transamerican Love Story, is a one-hour reality dating show starring transgender activist, actress and author Calpernia Addams and featuring her best friend, fellow trans activist Andrea James. FX okayed 4 oz., a drama by Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy about the metamorphosis of a male-bodied individual who realizes she's transsexual. No word yet on actors involved, but Brad Pitt is reportedly attached—as an executive producer.
Meanwhile trans actress Candis Cayne will continue her role on ABC's Dirty Sexy Money and has a guest spot on Logo's new series Sordid Lives playing a trans therapist. Real life trans doctor Marci Bowers has a busy year, appearing on MSNBC's special Girls will be Boys, 20/20 with Barbara Walters and the BBC docu-series Sex Change Hospital ( airing on WE beginning in January ) . A proposed follow-up series has reportedly sparked interest from Bravo, TLC and A& E.
Other performances and shows
You can catch another trans actress this spring when Alexandra Billings appears in the theater version of cult fav, The House of Yes. Award-winning performer Scott Turner Schofield will spend the year touring his one-man-show, Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps, and speaking at high schools about trans discrimination.
Aaron Raz Link, author of the biographical What Becomes You—out in paperback this April—has developed a solo performance based on the book that will be part of University of Maryland's Take Five series. Link currently has two art shows touring: Other Visions, an ethnographic exhibit of an imagined culture, and FAMILY, a collection of objects and stories inspired by the word 'family.'
In January, trans musician Joshua Klipp has his second appearances on The Tyra Banks Show with comedian Margaret Cho. Then he'll be singing and dancing with his girlfriend's dance company, the Sarah Bush Dance Project, in the 8th annual San Francisco Women on the Way Festival. Klipp's own company, Freeplay Dance Crew, will be part of the 2008 San Francisco's National Queer Arts Fest in June. Klipp will be on tour twice this year; one to the Southeast in May, the other through the Northwest in August.
In the art world an unlikely collusion brings the Genderqueer Hackers Collective's safe2pee—an online database of gender-friendly bathrooms—to New York's prestigious Museum of Modern Art where it will appear this in the exhibition 'Design and the Elastic Mind.'
The online world
Speaking of digital projects, Nancy Nangeroni and Gordene MacKenzie, the trans women behind and co-hosts of the now-defunct GenderTalk Radio are developing a video follow-up, GenderVision ( gendervision.org ) .
Early in 2008, trans photographer Kael Block will launch a new website for his XX Boys project—photographs of trans men from around the globe that honor their sex appeal. The new site will feature Block's photos, invite other FTM artist to showcase their work and display trailers of trans films and music videos by trans musicians.
Last but not least, you can now find the transgender comic Between the Lines online at BetweenTheLines.sosdg.org .
Trans author Jacob Anderson-Minshall has an essay in the forthcoming anthology Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex and Power. He apologizes in advance for failing to mention the work of other notable trans folk. If you or someone you know deserves attention for their work, please contact jake@quirkyguys.com .
© 2008 Jacob Anderson-Minshall
