Transgressive: A Trans Woman on Gender, Feminism, and Politics launches on May 21st. It represents years of work since I started my gender transition almost four years ago. I’ve been blogging on various topics surrounding philosophy and psychology for well over a decade but when I started transition I began writing about trans issues and I’ve never stopped. Transgressive compiles my best essays from the first three years, majorly revises and expands them, and adds 5 new essays. My hope is that it’s a game-changer.

My biggest inspiration is Julia Serano’s seminal work Whipping Girl. I want Transgressive to be Whipping Girl 2.0. The book is broken into 40 short essays in six different loosely overlapping sections: transfeminine blues, feminist musings, life in transition, gender and politics, metaphysics and epistemology, and autobiographical notes. Each essay can be read in about 5–10 minutes. But they are not necessarily easy to read — I tackle some complex issues and give the reader something to think about.

The biggest motif running through the book is that transphobia is fueled by a lack of intersectional empathy. Another theme is that the trans experience is diverse and each of us has our own story to tell. There is no universal trans experience and much theorizing is hampered by attempting to fit all trans people into a single narrative.

While the book is very theoretical, I weave my own experiences throughout the book because I think the very best feminism is always autobiographical. How else can we learn to stay in our own lanes? At the same time, I try my best to discuss the diversity of experiences within the trans experience, albeit a lot of my focus (by necessity) is of the trans feminine experience.

My hope is that the book starts some new conversations and changes the course of some very old conversations. I’m also thrilled that this is my first book and that Jessica Kingsley Publishers has been so supportive of trans authors with their excellent Gender Diversity line of books. We need more trans authors. It’s vital to hear our voices and let us tell our stories.

The book is out May 21st and will available at all major sellers.