Sexuality in the formation of contemporary notions of transgender

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This project explores notions of 'transgender' and their interaction with ideas around 'sexuality' in the US since the 1990s, a period which, while not studied much historically, is crucial for understanding contemporary politics of transness. The project focuses on two changes in dominant figurations of transness in this time, the ascendant figure of the transgender child and the disappearing figure of the transvestite. It examines diverse, often understudied sources such as zines, parenting books and the archives of the annual transgender community event Fantasia Fair using a genealogical approach to explore how understandings of sexuality are taken up in the establishment of the category of transgender in use today. This project aims to fill a gap in trans studies by considering the status of sexuality in the field. In so doing it also aims to expand thinking about "sexuality" beyond a focus on identity.