About This Book

What does it mean to be trans? What does learning about trans history reveal about modern views on gender? Why do we care whether historical figures were trans or not? Diversity in human sex and gender is nothing new, as readers will discover through illustrated stories and records from ancient times through the present day. Tales of figures like the controversial Roman emperor Elagabalus or the swashbuckling seventeenth-century conquistador Antonio de Erauso can shed light on modern gender experiences, create spaces for thought, and most importantly, foreground a past that, for hundreds of years, has been erased, rewritten, and ignored. In this remarkable compendium, Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett explore some of the societal roles played by trans people beginning in ancient times and show how European ideas about gender were spread across the globe. They explain how the science of sexology and the growing acceptance of (and backlash to) gender nonconformity have helped to shape what it means to be trans today. And through illustrated conversations with activists, scholars, and creatives, they give readers a deeper sense of the diversity of trans people, a group numbering in the millions.