Trans people have been thrust into the spotlight in recent years across the world as never before. Trans groups have become targets of intense online abuse and hostile political and religious campaigns. The media abound with reports on a few glamorous trans women, or anti-trans attacks, but say little about the everyday realities of trans lives or their global diversity.

In this book, Raewyn Connell, a world-leading sociologist and gender researcher, gathers the evidence and writes about the lives of trans women and men, hijra, travesti, and other groups around the world. She looks at the forces shaping trans lives, including medicine and its limitations, precarity and poverty, unequal gender relations, the role of sex work, and encounters with the state and the corporate economy. She discusses what is behind anti-trans campaigns, criticizing the simplistic idea that 'transphobia' explains these, and suggesting more potent causes. Finally, by exploring the creative ways trans groups have organized, she argues for the contribution they can and should make to solving our shared contemporary crises.

Written in clear and vivid language, this book offers illuminating new perspectives on gender transitions, and on gender itself.

About the Author

Raewyn Connell is among the world's leading sociologists and gender researchers, and is herself a trans woman. Her books include Masculinities, Gender and Power, Making the Difference, and Southern Theory. She is Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney.

Reviews
"Truly world-class scholarship. Reflections on trans issues need to be grounded in the realities of trans people and in a framework that is truly global. This timely work achieves this with both nuance and accessibility."
Viviane Namaste, author of Invisible Lives

"An inviting book about the herstories, lives and rights of trans women, trans men and gender diverse people around the world, true to Connell's commitment to a feminist lens on gender as power and on what justice and freedom might be, for all of us."
Finn Mackay, author of Female Masculinities and the Gender Wars

"Impressively comprehensive overview of trans issues from a global perspective."
Peter Tatchell, human rights campaigner



Book Information
ISBN 9781509572045
Author Raewyn Connell
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint Polity Press
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 249g
Dimensions(mm) 213mm * 137mm * 18mm