Navigating Trans and Complex Gender Identities

We all encounter others whose gender identities differ from our own, whether it is in the classroom, in public, in the media or online. For many, there is anxiety about which words to use in conversation and sometimes people keep quiet so as to not offend someone whose gender identity may not be readily discernible, when in actuality, what they desire is to understand, learn, and interact.

This book offers practical research-based strategies for expanding personal, social and political awareness about gender-identity privileges - helping the reader to work through fears and unpack ingrained communication patterns and language. In order to better understand the ever-evolving landscape of gender identity the authors provide historical and political background for the transgender movement and consider how issues of age, culture, race, social class, media, celebrity and religion affect transgender identities.

The book includes a glossary of key terms, a foreword from leading transgender rights activist, Jamison Green, and an afterword by Meredith Talusan, Contributing Editor at them. Written for educators and individuals committed to learning about changes and shifts in gender identities, this book gives grounded, real-time, practical and solution-oriented ideas and language about how to be a better communicator, listener and responder to trans and non-binary gender identities.

Jamison Green is an educator and policy consultant in transgender and transsexual issues. He is the author of Becoming a Visible Man (2004).

Rhea Ashley Hoskin is a Researcher in the Department of Sociology, Queen's University, Canada.

Cris Mayo is Professor in Women's and Gender Studies and Director of the LGBTQ+ Center at West Virginia University, USA. Mayo's publications include Gay Straight Alliances and Associations Among Youth in Schools (2017).

sj Miller is Associate Professor of Teacher Education at Santa Fe Community College, USA, a trans*+ disciplinary award-winning teacher/writer/activist/scholar and an expert in secondary literacy across disciplines. sj is co-series editor of Social Justice Across Contexts in Education and series editor of Spaces In-between: Beyond Binary Gender Identities and Sexualities.

Meredith Talusan is an award-winning journalist and author of Fairest: A Memoir from Viking / Penguin Random House.