FTM reading list

table of contents

trans men & transmasculinity

  • We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan

    Lou Sullivan, edited by Zach Ozma & Ellis Martin

    2019

    We Both Laughed In Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan narrates the inner life of a gay man moving through the shifting social, political, and medical mores of the second half of the 20th century. more

  • Letters for My Brothers: Transitional Wisdom in Retrospect

    edited by Megan M. Rohrer & Zander Keig

    2010

    Letter to my Brothers features essays from respected trans men mentors who share the wisdom they wish they would have known at the beginning of their journey into manhood. more

  • Becoming a Visible Man

    Jamison Green

    2004

    In a clear and logical style, Becoming a Visible Man tackles the history, biology, medicine, philosophy, and politics that claim to define and control gender in the US. more

  • Self-Made Men: Identity and Embodiment Among Transsexual Men

    Henry Rubin

    2003

    Henry Rubin explores the production of male identities in the lives of twenty-two FTM transsexuals--people who have changed their sex from female to male. more

  • FTM: Female-To-Male Transsexuals in Society

    Aaron Devor

    1997

    In this ground-breaking study, Aaron Devor provides a compassionate, intimate, and incisive look at the life experiences of forty-five trans men. more

  • Stone Butch Blues

    Leslie Feinberg

    1993

    Feinberg’s 1993 first novel is widely considered to be a groundbreaking work about the complexities of gender. Stone Butch Blues follows the life of Jess Goldberg, a gender-nonconforming butch lesbian, from her childhood in the 1940s through the 1970s. more

  • Manning Up: Transexual Men on Finding Brotherhood, Family and Themselves

    edited by Zander Keig & Mitch Ellis

    1993

    Twenty-eight men who transitioned from female to male discuss their roles as male community members: fathers, sons, brothers, husbands, boyfriends, friends, and mentors. more

transgender

  • Transgender History, Third Edition: A Resource for Today's Struggle—And Tomorrow's

    Susan Stryker

    2026

    Through her explanation of central concepts and terms, informative sidebars, and brief biographies of trans pioneers, Stryker reminds readers of one crucial truth: Transgender people have always been here. more

  • So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color

    Caro De Robertis

    2025

    So Many Stars knits together the voices of trans, nonbinary, genderqueer and two-spirit elders of color as they share authentic, intimate accounts of how they created space for themselves and their communities in the world, how they pursued their passions, and how they continue to be at the vanguard of social change. more

  • Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity

    Julia Serano

    2007

    Julia Serano shares her powerful experiences and observations - both pre- and post-transition - to reveal the ways in which fear, suspicion, and dismissiveness toward femininity shape our societal attitudes toward trans women, as well as gender and sexuality as a whole. more

  • Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman

    Leslie Feinberg

    1996

    In this fascinating, personal journey hrough history, Leslie Feinberg uncovers persuasive evidence that there have always been people who crossed the cultural boundaries of gender. more

  • Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue

    Leslie Feinberg

    1998

    In Trans Liberation, Feinberg has gathered a collection of hir speeches on trans liberation and its essential connection to the liberation of all people. more

  • Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us

    Kate Bornstein

    1994

    On one level, Gender Outlaw details Bornstein’s transformation from heterosexual male to lesbian woman. But this particular coming-of-age story is also a provocative investigation into our notions of male and female, from a self-described nonbinary transfeminine diesel femme dyke who never stops questioning our cultural assumptions. more

  • Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity

    Judith Butler

    1990

    Arguing that traditional feminism is wrong to look to a natural, 'essential' notion of the female, or indeed of sex or gender, Butler starts by questioning the category 'woman' and continues in this vein with examinations of 'the masculine' and 'the feminine'. Best known however, but also most often misinterpreted, is Butler's concept of gender as a reiterated social performance rather than the expression of a prior reality. more