Recent and Upcoming Thoughtful Books About Gender

In recent years, gender has become a bigger battleground for political discussions than ever before, and trans and nonbinary people are too often used by authoritarians to stoke fear and outrage. In Who’s Afraid of Gender?, legendary feminist and queer theorist Judith Butler connects the dots of a variety of right-wing movements to illustrate the “phantasm” of anxieties and contradictions used to turn the public against gender nonconformance. Through this exploration, Butler calls for gender equality and freedom through a broad coalition of antiracism, anti-capitalism, and anti-imperialism. Known for their dense academic writing style, Butler wrote Who’s Afraid of Gender? for a broader audience, with clarity and driving calls to action.

When it comes to public discussions about gender, a lot of people have been talking about and on behalf of trans youth lately. Journalist Nico Lang didn’t want to hear more pundits speculating about how trans kids are faring in the current political climate. Instead, they went directly to trans and nonbinary teens across the country to hear what they had to say for themselves. American Teenager paints an intimate portrait of the real lives of eight teenagers across the country, in red and blue states, living in urban and rural areas, with different levels of familial support. While their stories are sometimes painful to read, they’re also funny, relatable, and joyful. If you’re interested in the future of gender, there’s no better place to look than today’s youth.

After transitioning, student-athlete Schuyler Bailar found himself in the middle of a public debate when he started competing on the Harvard men’s swimming team. Now, Bailar is a trans activist and educator who works to help educators, parents, and others understand how to support trans youth. He/She/They is a combination of his memoir and a guide to gender and trans identities. This book works as an excellent entry point for anyone looking to better understand the lived experiences of trans and nonbinary people, but Bailar’s personal story makes it an even more fascinating and engaging read.

Between institutionalized transphobia and the ever-changing language we use to discuss gender, many written records of transgender and queer figures throughout history have been lost. Trans historian and activist Kit Heyam seeks to change that with their book Before We Were Trans, which offers a new framework to help us understand and explore trans history. Heyam dives into the archives to highlight people across centuries and continents who broke from traditional gendered expectations and refused to fall clearly into categories of male or female. It’s a thought-provoking and accessible reflection on queer history that rejects a binary Western view of gender conformity.

The patriarchy is often presented as a power structure that has always existed and was always destined to exist. But in truth, the patriarchy was carefully built, reshaped, and maintained over millennia in cultures around the globe. Award-winning journalist Angela Saini traces the roots of the patriarchy from the earliest recorded human history to today in The Patriarchs, especially looking at how our modern understanding of gender is shaped by biological essentialism and surprising cultural turning points that led to male social domination. Both thoroughly researched and compellingly readable, it’s a perspective-shifting look at gender and power throughout history.

Music is a lens that can allow us to see ourselves more clearly. For writer Niko Stratis, her favorite musicians offered an escape from the hypermasculine world she inhabited in 1990s Yukon Territory. Stratis contemplates gender, sense of self, and transitions of many kinds alongside the music that shaped her in her memoir The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman. With chapters centered around classic and unexpected “dad rock” from Radiohead and R.E.M. to Sheryl Crow and Waxahatchee, it’s a moving reflection on how music can help us find our truest selves.

Although trans and nonbinary identities are often regarded as something new, queer people have always existed outside of the modern gender binary. To document this, award-winning author Caro de Robertis spent hundreds of hours interviewing 20 queer elders of color to gather their memories and reflections on gender throughout their lives. The result is So Many Stars, a beautifully crafted oral history of a diverse group of trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, and Two-Spirit people. Through the voices of 20 narrators, de Robertis weaves together an unforgettable conversation on gender over the course of lifetimes, family, art, community, and dreams for the future.

Marsha P. Johnson is an icon of the trans rights movement, known as the person who threw the first brick at the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, and her activism and refusal to conform to gender norms continue to inspire the queer community today. In Marsha, trans artist, activist, and writer Tourmaline invites us to witness and learn from Johnson’s life, from her legendary drag performances to her enduring legacy. Even further, Tourmaline uses Johnson’s story to expand into the history of drag, queer gender identity, and the fight for trans freedom.