Transgender Resources

From Bentley Library Research Help

1 About This Guide
2 Getting Started with Reference Works
3 Locating Books on Transgender Issues
4 Finding Articles in Online Databases
5 LGBTQ Newspapers
6 LGBTQ Book Awards
7 Finding Career Information
8 Library Allies
9 Finding Videos
10 Organization Websites
11 Further Assistance - Questions

[edit] 1 About This Guide

Library Resources for Transgender Studies.

For more campus resources see: LGBTQ@Bentley

If you can not find the information you are looking for ask a Reference Librarian for assistance!

[edit] 2 Getting Started with Reference Works

Getting Started With Reference Works: Reference works can provide background information, subject overviews, facts, and statistics. They also help you identify concepts, issues, keywords, and synonyms or related terms to use in your research. Look for bibliographies to direct you to important works in an academic field. Encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, directories, and other reference works in the Bentley Library include:

Continuum Complete International Encyclopedia of Sexuality edited by R.T. Francoeur and R.J. Noonan

Ref HQ21 .I68 2004 A completely updated volume covering nearly 60 countries and places.Country entries include Subsection Seven: Gender Diversity and Transgender Issues.

Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in America edited by Marc Stein

Ref HQ76.3 E53 2004 Compilation of more than 500 topical and biographical entries on the major events, personalities, places, and themes in a queer reading of more than 400 years of U.S. history.

Gay & Lesbian Literature edited by Sharon Malinowski Ref PN56 .H57 G36 1994

Resource for information on major LGBTQ themed novels, plays, poems, screenplays, and stories, as well as on key nonfiction works. International in scope. Includes writings with sexual identity and transgender themes. Focuses on works with sexual identity themes rather than on the sexual identity of the featured authors.

Gay Histories and Cultures edited by George E. Haggerty Ref HQ75.13 .G37 2000

Signed articles ranging from half a page to about six pages with a bibliography and cross references. Includes entries on Transgender and Transsexualism. "Outstanding Reference Sources," American Libraries, May 2001.

Gay Rights by Rachel Kranz and Tim Cusick Ref HQ76.8 .U5 K73 2005

A concise treatment of the major issues in the gay rights movement. Includes an overview of the movement and its history; legal issues; cultural issues in the areas of education, the arts, popular culture, religion, and public opinion; brief biographies of key figures; a glossary of terms; and a variety of resources for further research, including an annotated bibliography of recent articles and major books, and lists of organizations, both pro and con. Includes sections of Transgender Rights and Trangender issues.

Lavender Road to Success: Career Guide for the Gay Community by K. Snyder Careers Ref HD6285 .S693

Based on a groundbreaking two year study of more than 300 gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender alumni from the University of Southern California (USC). This is the first career guide written specifically for the gay community.

A Legal Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples by H. Curry, D. Clifford, and F. Hertz Ref KF539 .L44 2005

Most legal guidebooks including those written for lawyers ignore lesbian and gay couples. For almost 20 years, this has been the outstanding exception, and it remains the standard for lesbians and gay men who want solid, basic answers. -- Matt Coles, Director, Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, ACLU. Index includes the term, transgender persons.

Lesbian Histories and Cultures edited by Bonnie Zimmerman Ref HQ75.5 .L43395 2000

Signed articles ranging from half a page to about six pages with a bibliography and cross references. Includes entries on Transgender, TransActivism and TransInclusion. "Outstanding Reference Sources," American Libraries, May 2001.

Queer Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts edited by Claude J. Summers Ref N72 .H64 Q44 2004

This reference work looks at the history of elite and popular art with a queer eye. Almost 200 short essays explore representations of same sex desire across time, from homoeroticism in Classical sculpture to postmodern lesbian photography; and space, from cross-dressing in African art to AIDS activism in contemporary U.S. art. Topical Index includes Cross-Dressing, Transsexualism.

Reader's Guide to Lesbian and Gay Studies edited by Timothy F. Murphy Ref HQ75.15 .R43 2000

A guide to existing academic literature on issues, persons, periods, and topics important in LGBTQ studies. Includes entries on Transsexualism/Transgenderism: Autobiography, Transsexualism/Transgenderism: History and Politics, Transsexualism/Transgenderism: Psychological Accounts.

St. James Press Gay & Lesbian Almanac edited by Neil Schlager Ref HQ76.3.U5 S75 1998

The book's 23 sections include a chronology, an annotated list of organizations, significant historical documents important to the gay and lesbian movement, and in-depth discussions of gay and lesbian involvement in such fields as politics, film, music, science, sports, travel, leisure, and visual and performing arts. Each section includes biographical profiles of prominent people in each field and extensive bibliographies of books, articles, and Web sites. Index includes Transgender Identities and Issues.

[edit] 3 Locating Books on Transgender Issues

Search the Library Catalog. to find books available in the Bentley Library.

Keyword* Searching:

Use names of specific people, authors, geographies, issues, events, etc. Important keywords include: transgender, transsexual, gender identity, hermaphroditism, transvestite, intersexed, gender expression, gender queer or genderqueer, gender variant, two-spirit or two-spirited.

Subject Searching:

Run an alphabetical subject search by entering a keyword, such as `transsexual` in the Search box, and select `Subject` in the dropdown box.
When you locate a book on your subject look for the subject heading links in the detailed catalog record to find other relevant titles.

Finding Fiction and Literature:

Try the keyword searches: `transsexuals and fiction` and `gender identity and fiction`
Type `gender identity in literature` in the Search box, and `Subject` in the dropdown box.

* These keywords are helpful to use while searching in Library databases and other resources. Some may be obsolete and/or not appropriate current terminology. For example: hermaphroditism and transvestite.

Browse the Book Stacks by call number Transgender studies is an interdisciplinary field so related books will be found in different call number ranges. Some important areas are:

Careers Collection HD6285 Labor and Employment LBBTQ issues
HQ71-75.26 General Works on LQBTQ Studies
HQ76.5 Gay Rights Movement
HQ77.7 -77.9 Transsexualism
KF4754.5 LGBTQ Law and Legislation United States
PN56 .H57 LGBTQ Literature
PN1995.9 S47 Sex Role in Motion Pictures
PN1995.9 T69 Transexuals in Motion Pictures
RC558-560 Homosexuality Psychology

The Library Collection includes:

Body Alchemy Transexual Protrairs, by Loren Cameron HQ77.95 .U6 C36 1996

Honey, Honey, Miss Thang: Being Black, Gay and on the Streets, by Leon Pettiway HQ77 .P44 1996

How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the U. S., by Joanne Meyerowitz HQ77.95 .E85 M48 2002

Last Time I Wore a Dress, by Daphne Scholinski RC560 .G45 S34

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides PS3555. U42003

Rights of Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals, and Transgender People, by Nan D. Hunter KF4754.5 .Z9 H86 2004B

Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism, by Pat Califia HQ77.9 .C35 1997

She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders, by Jennifer Finney Boylen PS3552 .O914 Z477 2003

Stone Butch Blues, by Leslie Feinburg PS3556 .E427 S71 1993

Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender Variant People and Their Families, by Arlene Lev RC560 .G45 L48 2004

Transgender on Screen, by John Phillips PN1995.9 .T69 P35 2006

Transgender Rights, Currah, Paisley, et al, editors. HQ77.9 .T716 2006

Transgender Warriors, by Leslie Feinberg HQ77.9 .F44 1996

[edit] 4 Finding Articles in Online Databases

Articles in scholarly journals, newspapers, and popular magazines on Transgender studies and issues can be found in many of the Library's Online Databases. You can access all of these databases from the Database drop-down box on the Library homepageIf the page opens to a listing of databases, scroll down and select the desired database.

ABI Informbusiness, management, marketing, scholarly and trade publications
Academic Search Premier (from Ebscohost) multidisciplinary, scholarly publications
Business Source Premierbusiness, management, marketing, scholarly and trade publications
Communication and Mass Media Completejournals in communication,mass media and other closely-related fields
Congressional Quarterly Researcher individual reports examine an issue of compelling public interest
DiversityInccutting edge news, commentary, and analysis from an inclusive point of view. Registration Required. Try this search: `transgender` in the Quick Search box.
ERICeducational and education related publications
Infotrac - Expanded Academic multidisciplinary, scholarly, popular and news publications
JSTOR multidisciplinary, arts and sciences, scholarly, embargoes that go back from zero to five years
LexisNexis Academiclegal research and multidisciplinary scholarly, popular and news publications
Massachusetts Newsstandmajor Massachusetts papers including the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Quincy Patriot Ledger, Worcester Telegram & Gazette
MEDLINE medical publications
MLA International Bibliographymodern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics
New York Times Historical Collection 1851 through 2004
Project Musehumanities, arts, and social sciences journals
Proquest Psychology Jlsacademic journals in psychology and related fields
Proquest Research Library Completemultidisciplinary scholarly, popular and news publications
PsycARTICLESacademic journals in psychology and related fields

[edit] 5 LGBTQ Newspapers

The Library has print subscriptions to the following LGBTQ publications:

The Advocate

Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide

[edit] 6 LGBTQ Book Awards

Lambda Literary Award

The Lambda Literary Foundation is a leading organization for LGBT literature. Its stated mission is to celebrate LGBT literature and provide resources for writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians. Award categories include: Anthology, Biography, Mystery, Humor, Poetry, LGBT Studies, SciFi/Fantasy/Horror, Spirituality, Transgender/Gender Queer. Check the website for a listing of winning and nominated titles.

Stonewall Book Awards

Initiated in 1971 and sponsored by the American Library Association's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table, the Stonewall Awards are the first honoring works in LQBTQ publishing. Annual awards are given for literature and nonfiction. Check the website for a listing of winning and nominated titles.

Check the Library Catalog for titles available in the Bentley Library.

[edit] 7 Finding Career Information

In the Library Catalog try the keyword searches `transgender and employment`, `gay and employment`,`lesbian and employment`. Many of the titles will be in the Careers Collection on the Second Floor of the Library. The general call number is HD6285.

Additional Career Information

DiversityInc Database

Top 10 Companies for GLBT Employees

Career Center

This is an online internet resource purchased by the Bentley Library. Registration is Required. If these links do not work see the access information for DiversityInc in Database Section above.

Human Rights Foundation

The State of the Workplace Annual for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Americans. Rates major U.S. corporations on their records toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees,consumers, and investors. Covers equal employment practices, policies and benefits.

[edit] 8 Library Allies

Catherine Cronin, Library Services, ext. 2233

Karen Delorey, Reference, ext. 2305

Sheila Ekman, Reference, ext. 2303

Colleen Mullally, Reference, ext. 2806

[edit] 9 Finding Videos

Check the DVD search in the Library Catalog. From the Library home page click on the Search for Books/DVDs icon. New titles are added to the collection regularly.

The collection includes:

Transgender Documentaries

Boy or Girl? When Doctors Choose a Child's Sex VHS 15 min.

Produced by T. Berman; edited by G. Pampinella. Princeton: Films for the Humanities and Sciences, c1999. A look at the decisions made when chromosomal abnormalities or accident leave a baby with what is known as "ambiguous genitalia". Investigates the once accepted belief that surgical sex assignment would determine gender in these cases.

The Brandon Teena Story DVD 88 min.

By Susan Muska & Greta Olafsdottir. New York, NY: Marketed and distributed by New Video, 1999, c1998. Documentary film about Brandon Teena who arrived in rural Falls City, Nebraska in 1993. There he finds some new friends. Three weeks later he is brutally raped and beaten by friends who discover that he is actually a woman. A week later the same two men murder Teena along with two other people. This is a tale of Brandon's coming of age struggle with identity and how his gender ambiguity induced feelings of betrayal, confusion and hostility among residents of a town in America's heartland.

Female Misbehavior VHS 81 min.

A Hyena Films Production Germany/US,directed by Monika Treut. New York: First Run Features, c1993, 1992. Four short films featuring controversial women and provocative sexual issues. Dr. Paglia(1992)a confrontation with the infamous author of "Sexual Personae" Camille Paglia. Annie (1989) an inside look at Annie Sprinkle, porn star, performance artist and sexual diva. Bondage centers on an SM practitioner and her use of pain as pleasure. Max the story of a transexual's journey from female to male.

Just Call Me Kade VHS 26 min.

Produced, photographed, scripted and edited by Sam Zolten. San Francisco, CA: Frameline Distribution, 2001. Kade Farlow Collins is a sixteen year old FTM (female to male transgendered person). Kade's parents maintain a supportive relationship to Kade, despite it not always being easy.

Middle Sexes DVD-R (may not play on all DVD players of drives) 75 min.

Directed by Antony Thomas. Princeton, N.J.:Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2006. Explores the lives of those who do not conform to rigid gender concepts and examines changes in brain science that are shedding light on grey areas between male and female.

No Dumb Questions VHS 24 min.

A documentary film by Melissa Ragan. S.I.:Epiphany Productions, c2001. The program follows three sisters as they struggle to understand why and how Uncle Bill is becoming Aunt Barbara.

Paris is Burning VHS 76 min.

Produced and directed by Jennie Livingston. Burbank, CA: Miramax Home Entertainment, 2005. A documentary about the young homosexual men of Harlem who originated "voguing" and turned these stylized dance competitions into glittering expressions of fierce personal pride. A story of streetwise urban survival, gay selfaffirmation, and the pursuit of a desperate dream.

Southern Comfort DVD 90 min. ON ORDER

This documentary follows the final year of Robert Eads' life. Robert Eads, a 52 year old female to male transsexual who lives in the back hills of Georgia is diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Speak Up! Improving the Lives of Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgender Youth DVD 30 min.

Conceived, written, filmed and assembled by John Kazlauskas. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation, c2002. Explores what these students have done to transform their schools into safer and more welcoming environments. Interviews with students, parents, teachers, administrators and national activists highlight not only the need for transformation, but offer resources and advice for those actively working for change.

Toilet Training DVD 30 min.

New York: Sylvia Rivera Law Project, 2003. The video addresses the persistent discrimination, harassment, and violence that people who transgress gender norms face in gender segregated bathrooms. Using the stories of people who have been harassed, arrested or beaten for trying to use bathrooms, Toilet Training focuses on bathroom access in public space, in schools, and at work.

Transgender Revolution VHS 50 min.

Produced and directed by Kate Davis. New York: A&E Home Video,Distributed in the U.S. by New Video Group, c1998. A look at a growing segment of people who do not accept their biological gender and how they are coping in a society with distinct sex roles.

Transgeneration 2 DVDs 300 min.

Directed by Jeremy Simmons.S.I.:Docurama, c2005.Originally aired as a five hour, eight episode series on the Sundance Channel. Follows four American college students as they prepare for gender reassignment. They discuss their lives, their hopes and setbacks, and deal with varying reactions from family and friends.

Transparent DVD-R (may not play on all DVD players or drives) 61 min.

A Jules Rosskam film. San Franciso: Frameline, 2005. Looks at 19 female-to-male transsexuals living in the U.S. who have given birth and, in all but a few cases, gone on to raise their biological children.

Venus Boyz DVD 103 min.

Directed by Gabriel Baur. New York: First Run Features, 2004. Filmed in New York City and London, this documentary uses the performances of drag kings as a starting point into the topic of transgendering.

You Don't Know Dick: Courageous Hearts of Transsexual Men VHS 58 min.

Directed and produced by Candace Schermerhorn. Berkeley University of California Extension Center for Media and Independent Learning, 1977? Provides honest and riveting portraits of six men who once were women. Through their commentaries and the experiences of partners, friends, and family emerges an unforgettable story of self discovery.

Transgender Feature Films

Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert DVD 103 min.

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Australian Film Finance Corporation presents Latent Image/Specific Films production. Santa Monica: CA MGM Home Entertainment, 2000. With a contract to perform a drag show way out in the Australian desert, Tick, Adam, and Ralph each has his own reason for wanting to leave the safety of Sydney. Christening their battered pink tour bus "Priscilla," the trio heads for theoutback and into crazy adventures in even crazier outfits.

Ballad of Little Jo DVD 122 min.

Written and directed by Maggie Greenwald. Fine Line Features & PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, 2003. Based on a true story, this is the tale of Josephine Monaghan, a young woman of the mid19th century who is thrown out of her parents' home. Josephine disguises herself as "Jo", a young man, and struggles to make a life for herself in a dingy frontier mining town.

Boys Don't Cry VHS 118 min.

Direct by Kimberly Peirce. Beverly Hills: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, c2000 Hilary Swank, Chloe Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard, Brendan Sexton III, Alison Folland, Alicia Goranson, Matt McGrath, Rob Campbell, Jeannetta Arnette. The story of the life of Teena Brandon, a transgender youth who preferred life in her male identity as Brandon Teena. See The Brandon Teena Story documentary above.

Crying Game DVD 112 min.

Director, Neil Jordan. Santa Monica, CA: Artisan Home Entertainment, c1999. Videodisc, release of the 1992 motion picture. A haunting, humorous and shocking romantic thriller about Irish terrorists, their hostage and the hostage's exotic girlfriend.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch VHS 91 min.

New Line Cinema presents a Killer Films production. United States: New Line Home Entertainment, c2000. John Cameron Mitchell, Andrea Martin, Michael Pitt, Miriam Shor. Based on the smash hit New York show, this is a high energy rock musical in the tradition of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This is the story of Hedwig, an ambitious glamrocker who comes to America determined to find fame, fortune, and his "other half."

Ma Vie en Rose - My Life in Pink DVD 88 min.

Directed by Alain Berliner. Culver City, CA: Columbia TriStar Home Video, c1999. Ludovic is waiting for a miracle. With six year old certainty, he believes he was meant to be a little girl and that the mistake will soon be corrected. But where he expects the miraculous, Ludo finds only rejection, isolation and guilt as the intense reactions of family, friends, and neighbors strip away every innocent lace and bauble.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show VHS 100 min.

Directed by Jim Sharman. Beverly Hills: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2000. Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick. A mixture of fantastical rock opera and horror movie spoof. A couple of ordinary kids have car trouble one dark and rainy night and knock on the door of a looming gothic mansion. They are stunned to learn that they have stumbled into an ongoing convention of kinky characters, hosted by Dr. FrankNFurter,a mad scientist from the planet Transsexual.

Soldier`s Girl DVD 112 min.

Directed by Frank Pierson. Showtime Entertainment, 2004. Originally released as a television motion picture in 2003. The true story of 21 year old Army private Barry Winchell who falls in love with a transgendered night club singer. Barry ignites the jealous fury of his homophobic brothers-in-arms.

Transamerica DVD 104 min.

Directed by Duncan Tucker. United States: IFC Films, 2006. Felicity Huffman, Kevin Zegers, Fionnula Flanagan, Burt Young, Elizabeth Pena, Graham Greene. Bree Osborne, a preoperative transsexual, learns she fathered a child back when she was Stanley Osborne. The wheels of fortune take Bree and her teenaged son on a cross country trip that will change both their lives.