The photo is a 1974 photo of Leslie Feinberg, from the FBI file on hir. I've written a piece on my interpretation of Transgender Warriors and Trans Liberation, but I don't think it's quite polished enough, so I'll post it later. Instead, I'll go over hir FBI file: https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/dc-metro/rg-065/6282555/Batch0010/6282555_100-HQ-480756.PDF.
The FBI thought Feinberg could be violating the Communist Control Act, advocating the overthrow of the government, and engaging in rebellion. Needless to say, a hero to all of us. Feinberg was a member of the Workers World Party (the party still exists, but more notably PSL split from it), which apparently wasn't openly advocating for the overthrow of the U.S, they just think it's inevitable.
My favorite line? "captioned subject is believed to be a white female, who became male through some kind of sex change operation, and is possibly homosexual". Some interesting language choice, and it's an interesting snapshot into the evolution of Leslie's identity.
The FBI found Leslie's place of birth and birthdate from public school records. It's a bit of an interesting look into all of the many places the FBI can get their information, along with how information like that was so much more patchwork before the digital age.
"Interview of subject is not being recommended because of the questionable nature of his sexuality". Hmm, interesting.
It's interesting how their investigation spanned multiple cities, from Kansas City to NYC to Bufffalo to Boston. It probably involved quite a few officers, though I'm sure it wasn't the main focus for all of them.
There's some interesting mention about changes in Leslie's gender identity. Born a girl, for a time wearing a beard and mustache, then going back to "she". I'm sure we all know, Feinberg's gender didn't stop evolving there.
"Subject reportedly contributes all extra money to WWP", Leslie definitely was dedicated to the cause. Leslie doesn't attend NYC WWP meetings, but the FBI doesn't mention why.
The FBI isn't immune to typoes, Leslie did some "criminal terspass" that garnered some attention.They wasted some time checking if Leslie was in Boston, but verified where Leslie in NYC lived by pretending to be a part of the Voter Registration Commission.
There's a whole 43 pages of documents, all just from 1974-75. There's plenty of interesting tidbits in there, so maybe check it out.
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slop
I love romance novel slop and read too much of it (and not like cool queer romance but mainstream cishet trash (dear god I wish there was more trans romance
)) and I hate how the plot really is always about the “falling in love” part and the solidifying of a relationship. And don’t get me wrong, reading about that is really fun, but it’s like stopping just when you get to the good part! I get why people focus on the start of a relationship, since it provides a nice narrative arc with a natural endpoint and built-in tension (will they or won’t they? (even though we all fucking know that they will (“hea guaranteed!”) so the tension has to actually come from something else anyway)). But romance is ultimately about two (or more if it’s a cool romance) people people coming together and growing closer and understanding more about each other and while a slice-of-life approach to that may not be as dramatic, it’s annoying how it isn’t really explored. You do see books trying to create this dynamic by contriving scenarios for characters to cohabitate before forming a relationship (the flatshare by beth o’leary was really nice 
) but it’s not quite the same thing. Personally I blame Western Literary Brainworms like “narrative” and “plot” and bullshit like that 
. I mean they can publish thinly veiled excuses for characters to fuck then why not this? 
spoiler
Okay I agree with literally everything you have said. You extracted these words direct from my mind, I could have written this albeit it would have been less funny.
Except you referenced a het romance... Do you wanna talk trans romance? I have one or two. Do you wanna talk sapphic romance? I have a lot of those.
Ooh trans romance please
OKAY
the permanent undisputed reigning champ of transbian romance is easily The Weight of Living by MA Hinkle. Slow burn, domestic, slice of life, wonderful. I wrote about it once then deleted it.
filth, nsfw
It's a smut comp but In The Court of the Nameless Queen by Natalie Ironside is the best trans smut I have ever read.
The Price on Her Head by Suzanne Clay is good too.
Not Like Before and Fake It by Lily Seabrooke are archetypal slop but pretty darn good, I like Seabrooke even when she's not writing trans femme protagonists.
Tengoku by Rae D Magdon is a genre hybrid but pretty good and has a romance as a major component.
I have some others but they kind of suck :3
Thanks, these all look really good! Trans romance is really hard to find, and trying to browse the “transgender romance” section of goodreads is, uh,
and it seems like het trans romance, specifically het trans romance with a transfem protagonist (trans men seem to have more representation here, which good for them honestly), is even harder. I mean, I’ll definitely still read and enjoy tranbian romance (and the books you recommended look great!), but transfem het has sort of become my white whale (I swear I’m totally bi, I just prefer het stuff for very mysterious reasons). Even the few transfem het romances there are usually aren’t written by trans women and typically feel like they’re intended for a broader, non-trans, audience. I know it’s a bit silly to expect queer vibes from het romances, but I still really want that by-and-for-trans-women feel that seems to be more common with transbian stories.
Anyway, if you want any of my recommendations, my favourite romance novel is Show Girl by Alyson Greaves (the dorley author). I’ve only read the free Ao3/scribblehub version (she wrote that version first and then went back and added more stuff and put that version on her patreon, I haven’t read it because pirating from her feels weird and I don’t want to figure out digital payments for patreon
) but I really liked it. Like dorley it’s sort of a deconstruction/recontextualization of forced fem tropes into something more positive but having read forced fem isn’t important to enjoying it. It’s actually the first romance novel I read and I’m still sort of chasing that dragon lol (and no, it’s not great for the constant questioning of my sexuality that the book that made me realize how much I like men was written by a lesbian)
Yeah it's been a really long time since I went venturing into the fuckin badlands but it's rough out there even for sapphic romance. Fwiw I don't think I've ever passed on a decent looking romance due to heterosexuality, a lot of them sounded awful Idk. Don't see many though for sure, and lots of them are by non-trans authors too.
No, why? There are plenty of types of queer people who are straight, sounds reasonable to me.
That sounds pretty good, frankly various things make me progressively more tempted to read Greaves. I was a big fan of The Masker by Torrey Peters so it sounds up my alley...
also lol/lmao
The “transgender romance” category goodreads is basically just porn, some transmasc-centred novels that may or may not be thinly veiled smut or objectifying, and A Lady for a Duke
Mainly just insecurities about not being queer enough (probably stemming back to when I thought I was a straight boy and was like “man I wish I was gay so I could be effeminate
” lol)
Yeah the Sisters of Dorley is actually my favourite book/series/whatever-you’d-call-it. I don’t wanna hype it up too much in case you read and get disappointed that it’s not literally perfect or that it doesn’t have a professional editor or something like that but it’s really good. Steph just like me fr fr. I haven’t read The Masker but from what I’ve heard I’m pretty sure Show Girl is much more wholesome lol. It’s basically My Fair Lady but trans
I find it so weird that there's erotica that's male-gaze about trans women. Men don't read books to get off, they log onto xvideos or whatever the fuck. Pretty much sadcringe.
Well too bad, you are in fact queer enough
I discovered Dorley a long while back and have watched the hype chorus go up about it. I do like the sounds of it.
Who would do such a thing? Why would do such a thing? Death to amerikkka. Serialised media does bug me but tbh the vast majority of truly good trans media is A) imperfect and B) doesn't have any editor, let alone an editor at all. Case study: The Last Girl Scout, which has sectarianism and is a pacing disaster, but I still love it anyway. Also wtf is My Fair Lady tbh ✨
Yeah I don’t get it either. I actually have seen erotica before that looked like it was written for the male gaze, but it’s pretty unusual and it’s weird that there’s so much of it focused on trans people.
Thanks
Yeah it is a serialized story that’s been going on for a few years now and it does have the accompanying issues of shifting voice and inconsistent pacing, but that aside I think does have genuinely good writing. Even when the pacing is off it still feels like what it’s spending time on is worth it you know?
My Fair Lady is an old movie/musical. I haven’t actually seen it, but Show Girl makes a references to it
I think it's somewhat because attraction to trans people is incredibly stigmatised, even as a horrific kink, so it gets relegated to independent fiction and shit. I guess if bro wants to get his masculinity shattered by big womanhood in detail, he has to go read what would have been pulp filth in the 1960s.
My desperate hope is that the novel release ends some kind of satisfyingly so I don't get roped in like with Unjust Depths, I guess. Does it have like little arcs it wraps up and such?
Oh yeah. The chapters get released one at a time but, at least conceptually, they’re grouped into books that encapsulate different arcs of the story and are then published on amazon or wherever. So while there’s still an overarching narrative about the hall, each part of the story centres around a conflict that gets resolved (plus all the side plots in each book, like the majority of dorley is side plots). The last chapter I read (which was actually a few months ago) looked like it was close to the end of book 3, and greaves has said something to the effect of there being 5 or 4 books total, so in theory it’s not a forever series but I guess we’ll see.
Yeah the synopsis on wikipedia was a bit sus, but show girl at least is more anti-classist and the love interest learns his lesson about being pushy and controlling
Okay that sounds pretty okay actually, I can probably fuck with that as far as serialised media goes...