paintitback replied to your post “can we get some transgender feminist/gender literary theorists in...”
Totally agree. Everyone reads Gender Trouble in uni, but never really bring up the fact that Butler does attempt to address the issue of trans identity in Bodies that Matter (in an essay called 'Undiagnosing Gender'). Also! Jack Halberstam and Jay Prosser are often looked over in academia, but they are both trans and study gender and lit theory. So there *are* trans people doing good work, but academia has a stupid love affair with early, out-of-date Butler. Sigh.
Ugh, thank you for understanding, though, because every time I bring up trans identity when discussing Gender Trouble in class (which has come up in a few separate courses) the professors just stare and don't know how to respond. They never bring up Butler's other works or comments concerning it (or any theorist who addresses trans identity, for that matter). They all just seem like they never really considered trans identity beforehand. And postgraduate courses may be better addressing trans identity, but undergraduate lit theory still seems too obsessed with Gender Trouble's postmodern analysis to recognize its weak points.
I've never even heard of Prosser or Halberstam. I'll have to check out their work, then! Are there any essays in particular that you'd recommend?
