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Allies of Trans People: Trans@MIT Allies Toolkit

The Trans@MIT Allies Toolkit provides educational tools for anyone who would like to better understand trans people and gender differences.

We will continue to add new pieces to this page as they are developed.

What is Transgender?   (an educational brochure in PDF)

Action Tips for Allies of Trans People (an info sheet in PDF)

Recommended Reading List (info sheet in PDF)

Recommended Reading for Medical and Mental Health Providers
Lists medical and history-of-science focused books, as well as online resources for clinical guidelines, health information brochures, and examples of hormone protocols
(info sheet in PDF)

Trans and Gender Variant Terminology (12-page glossary, PDF)

Table: Gender Neutral Pronoun Usage (PDF info sheet)

Trans Film/TV List

The Rainbow Lounge Resource Library contains transgender-related books and movies that members of the MIT community may check out. Several transgender-themed movies are listed below. The staff of the Rainbow Lounge is happy to refer you to additional media resources as well.

The Aggressives, 2005.
The Aggressives: young, hot, male-identified lesbians who don't call themselves men but
pass nonetheless. This documentary follows five members of a New York City butch subculture: army recruit Marquise; runway model Kisha; pretty boy Rjai; Tiffany; club kid Octavia; and Flo.

Boy’s Don’t Cry, 1999.
The story of the life of Brandon Teena, a transgender teen in Nebraska. Based on a true story.

Iron Ladies, 2001.
A volleyball team composed mostly of gay men and one transsexual athlete competes in the 1996 Thailand national championships. Based on a true story.

Ma Vie En Rose, 1997.
Seven-year-old Ludovic (Georges Du Fresne) is convinced he's a girl trapped in a boy's body in this Belgian film. His expressions of sexual identity, which include wearing dresses and starring in a classroom performance of "Snow White," put a strain on his family and elicit teasing and intolerance from his schoolmates and neighbors.

Normal, 2003.
After being married to Irma for 25 years, Roy decides the stress of being a woman in a man's body has grown intolerable. Roy's decision to pursue a sex confirmation operation is greeted with intolerance and disgust by some of his co-workers and members of his church. Irma eventually comes to some understanding, and supports Roy through his journey to becoming Ruth.

Southern Comfort, 2001.
Documents the last year of Robert Ead’s life before his death from cervical cancer. Portrays Robert and his adopted family of transsexuals living in the depths of Georgia, including his vivacious male-to-female transsexual girlfriend, Lola.

TransAmerica, 2005.
Bree (Felicity Huffman) gets the shock of her life when she discovers a son she didn't know she had, just a week before her final sex confirmation surgery. After bailing him out of jail, the two set out on a cross-country journey riddled with road bumps.

Transgeneration, 2005.
A year-in-the-life documentary series that follows four college students--Gabbie, Lucas, Raci, and T.S.--who are juggling the challenges of academia with their commitment to transition from their birth sex.

Transgender Book List:

Alice in Genderland: A Crossdresser Comes of Age
Richard J. Novic M.D.

Becoming a Visible Man
Jamison Green

Butch Is a Noun
S. Bear Bergman

Finding the Real Me: True Tales of Sex and Gender Diversity
Tracie O'Keefe; Katrina Fox;

From The Inside Out: Radical Gender Transformation, FTM and Beyond
Morty Diamond

The Gender Frontier
Mariette Pathy Allen

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

How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States
Joanne Meyerowitz

Just Add Hormones: An Insider's Guide to the Transsexual Experience
Matt Kailey

The Last Time I Wore a Dress
Daphne Scholinski; Jane Meredith Adams;

Made In God's Image: A Resource for Dialogue About the Church and Gender Difference
Cook, Ann Thompson.

My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or
Something Else Entirely
Kate Bornstein

My Husband Betty: Love, Sex, and Life With a Crossdresser
Helen Boyd

Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity
Matt Bernstein Sycamore

The Riddle of Gender: Science, Activism, And Transgender Rights
Deborah Rudacille

Self Made Men: Identity, Embodiment and Recognition Among Transsexual Men
Henry Rubin

Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism
Pat Califia

Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality
Anne Fausto-Sterling

Stone Butch Blues
Leslie Feinberg

Toward a Recognition of Androgyny
Carolyn G. Heilbrun

Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue
Leslie Feinberg

Trans-Sister Radio: A Novel
Chris A. Bohjalian

Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working With Gender-Variant
People and Their Families
Arlene Istar Lev

Transmen and FTMs: Identities, Bodies, Genders, and Sexualities
Jason Cromwell

Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers
Cris Beam

True Selves: Understanding Transsexualism-For Families, Friends, Coworkers, and
Helping Professionals
Mildred L. Brown; Chloe Ann Rounsley; Cloe Ann Rounsley;

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