Susan Stryker

Susan O'Neal Stryker (born 1961)^[3] is an American professor, historian, author, filmmaker, and theorist whose work focuses on gender and human sexuality. She is a professor of Gender and Women's Studies, former director of the Institute for LGBT Studies, and founder of the Transgender Studies Initiative at the University of Arizona, and is currently on leave while holding an appointment as Barbara Lee Distinguished Chair in Women's Leadership at Mills College. Stryker serves on the Advisory Council of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and the Advisory Board of the Digital Transgender Archive.^[4] Stryker, who is a transgender woman, is the author of several books about LGBT history and culture. She is a leading scholar of transgender history.^[5]

Susan Stryker
At Trans March San Francisco, June 2017
Born	Susan O'Neil Stryker 1961 (age 62–63)
Occupation	Professor author editor filmmaker historian
Language	English
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Oklahoma (BA) University of California, Berkeley (PhD)
Subject	Gender studies LGBT culture LGBT rights in the United States Women's studies
Notable works	The Transgender Studies Reader (2006)
Notable awards	Lambda Literary Award^[1] San Francisco / Northern California Emmy Award^[2]
Website
www.susanstryker.net/home

Education

Stryker received a bachelor's degree in Letters from University of Oklahoma in 1983. She earned a Ph.D. in United States History at the University of California, Berkeley in 1992;^[6] the doctoral thesis she presented was Making Mormonism: A Critical and Historical Analysis of Cultural Formation.^[7]

Career

Stryker is Professor of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Arizona, and is the former director of the university's Institute for LGBT Studies.^[8][9] She has served as a visiting professor at Harvard University, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Simon Fraser University.^[10] She is an openly lesbian trans woman who has produced a significant body of work about transgender and queer culture.^[11]

She came out as transgender and began to transition shortly after earning her doctorate.^[12][13] Her scholarly article "My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix", published in 1994, was her first published academic article, and after trail-blazing Australian transgender academic Roberta Perkins who began publishing her research on female sex workers in the 1980s, one of the first articles ever published in a peer-reviewed academic journal by an openly transgender author.^[14]

She was later awarded a postdoctoral research fellowship in human sexuality studies at Stanford University, sponsored by the Social Science Research Council and the Ford Foundation.^[10] From 1999 to 2003, she was the executive director of the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco.

In 2004, Stryker was distinguished visiting faculty in the Department of Critical and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University. In 2007-8 she held the Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Visiting Professorship in Women's Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. In fall 2008 she was distinguished visiting faculty with the Committee on Degrees in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Harvard University, and in Spring 2009 she was Regents' Distinguished Lecturer in Feminist Studies at University of California-Santa Cruz. She was hired with tenure as Associate Professor of Gender Studies at Indiana University in 2009, and left to accept a position as Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies and Director of the Institute for LGBT Studies at the University of Arizona in 2011.

In 2013, Stryker established the Transgender Studies Initiative at the University of Arizona.^[15] She focused on "hiring faculty of color", in her own words.^[15]

In 2015, Yale University awarded Stryker the James Robert Brudner Class of 1983 Memorial Prize for lifetime accomplishment and scholarly contributions in the field of lesbian and gay studies. In 2007, the Monette-Horowitz Trust honored her for her anti-homophobia activism.^[16][17] Among her other honors are a Community Vanguard Award from the Transgender Law Center, and recognition as a "Local Hero" by San Francisco public television station KQED.^[16]

In 2014, Stryker gave the keynote speech at the first Moving Trans History Forward conference, organized by the Chair in Transgender Studies, Aaron Devor, and held at the University of Victoria.^[18]

Publications

Books

Stryker's first book, Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area (Chronicle Books 1996), coauthored with Jim Van Buskirk, is an illustrated account of the evolution of LGBT culture in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. This book and its successor, Queer Pulp, were each nominated for a Lambda Literary Award.^[19]

In the critical survey Queer Pulp: Perverted Passions from the Golden Age of the Paperback (Chronicle Books 2001), Stryker turned her attention to the lesbian pulp fiction and gay male pulp fiction published in the United States from the 1930s through the 1960s.

With Stephen Whittle she co-edited The Transgender Studies Reader (Routledge 2006), which was her first work to win a Lambda Literary Award. Her following book, Transgender History (Seal Press 2008), covers transvestism, transgender people, and transsexualism in the United States from the conclusion of World War II to the 2000s.^{[20][21][22][23]}

Stryker is now working on a new book project, Cross-Dressing for Empire: Gender and Performance at the Bohemian Grove. The Bohemian Grove is a campground in Northern California, and the summer meeting-place of the Bohemian Club, a private organization of American men with considerable political and economic power or cultural influence.^[24][25][26]

Film and video

 

Stryker presenting Screaming Queens in 2019

Stryker received a San Francisco / Northern California Emmy Award for her directorial work on Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria (2005),^[27] a documentary film about the Gene Compton's Cafeteria riot of 1966; the film was co-written, -directed, and -produced by Victor Silverman. With director Michelle Lawler and executive producer Kim Klausner she subsequently co-produced Forever's Gonna Start Tonight (2009), a documentary film about Vicki Marlane, an HIV-positive, transgender performer at nightclubs and lounges. Stryker's most recent documentary is Christine in the Cutting Room (2013), an experimental film about Christine Jorgensen.^[28]

Monika Treut filmed and interviewed Stryker for the 1999 documentary film Gendernauts: A Journey Through Shifting Identities. She was also interviewed for a 2002 episode of the long-running television documentary series SexTV, and for two episodes of Sex: The Revolution (2008). She is featured in the documentary Diagnosing Difference^[29] (2009) and in the film Reel in the Closet (2015), directed by Stu Maddux.

In 2021, Stryker appeared and served as a consulting producer on The Lady and the Dale, an HBO documentary series revolving around Elizabeth Carmichael, the founder of Twentieth Century Motor Car Corporation.^[30] She also appeared as herself in Pride, a 6-part documentary series focusing on LGBT history decade-by-decade, for FX.^[31]

Articles, essays, and scholarly papers

Stryker and Paisley Currah co-edit TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, the first non-medical academic journal devoted to transgender issues.^[32] The journal premiered in 2014.

Stryker's scholarly papers have been published in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies,^[33] WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly,^[34] parallax, Radical History Review, and other academic journals. In 2008, she was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for her Salon.com article "Why the T in LGBT is Here to Stay",^[35] a response to John Aravosis' 2007 article "How did the T get in LGBT?".^[36]

In one paper, "Transgender Studies: Queer Theory's Evil Twin" (2004), Stryker describes how transgender people are often marginalized within the queer community, and how the academic discipline of Queer Studies privileges specific narratives of sexual orientation over gender identity.^[13]

Bibliography

Books

• Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area (1996), Chronicle, ISBN 978-0811811873
• Queer Pulp: Perverted Passions from the Golden Age of the Paperback (2001), Chronicle, ISBN 978-0811830201
• Transgender History (2008), Seal Press, ISBN 978-1580052245

Edited Volumes

• The Transgender Studies Reader (2006), Routledge, ISBN 978-0415947091
• The Transgender Studies Reader 2 (2013), Routledge, ISBN 978-0415517720
• The Transgender Studies Reader Remix (2022), Routledge, ISBN 978-1032062471

Filmography

The following films have involved Stryker, as either a director, producer, or interviewee:

• Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria (June 18, 2005)
• Forever's Gonna Start Tonight (2009)
• Christine in the Cutting Room (2013)
• Masculinity/Femininity (2014)
• Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen (2020)
• No Ordinary Man (2020)
• The Lady and the Dale (2021)
• Pride (2021)

See also

• Family and consumer science
• LGBT history in the United States
• List of LGBT writers
• List of University of California, Berkeley alumni
• List of University of Oklahoma people
• Timeline of LGBT history
• Transgender studies

References

1. . Seattle Gay News. Vol. 37, no. 6. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
2. Szymanski, Zak (14 September 2006). "Friends set up defense fund for author". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
3. "Meet the FAC - The Institute for LGBT Studies is pleased to introduce FAC member, Professor Susan Stryker". University of Arizona LGBT Studies.
4. "Advisory Board - Digital Transgender Archive". www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
5. Livia, Anna (1995). Pronoun Envy: Literary Uses of Linguistic Gender. University of California, Berkeley. p. 215.
6. Rudacille, Deborah (2006). "Conversation with Susan Stryker, Ph.D.". The Riddle of Gender. New York: Anchor Books. pp. 52–61. ISBN 978-0-385-72197-4.
7. Stryker, Susan O'Neal. Making Mormonism: A Critical and Historical Analysis of Cultural Formation (Thesis). University of California, Berkeley. OCLC 32257293.
8. "Susan Stryker, Ph.D." Department of Gender & Women's Studies. University of Arizona College of Social & Behavioral Sciences]. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
9. Bolinger, Joyce (8 June 2011). "Susan Stryker takes Ariz. post". Windy City Times. Windy City Media Group. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
10. "Susan Stryker". The Center for Sex and Gender Research. California State University, Northridge. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
11. ""My Words to Victor Frankenstein..." by Susan Stryker". Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
12. Silverman, Victor (director, writer); Stryker, Susan (director, writer, presenter) (2005). (DVD). San Francisco, California: Frameline Distribution. 3 minutes in. OCLC 68045197. Archived from the original on 13 August 2006. Retrieved 20 July 2012. I had recently finished my Ph.D. in History, come out as transsexual, and started my transition from man to woman—all in the same year.
13. Stryker, Susan (2004). "Transgender Studies: Queer Theory's Evil Twin". GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. 10 (2). Duke University Press: 212–215. doi:10.1215/10642684-10-2-212. S2CID 144659528.
14. Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women. New York [u.a.]: Routledge. 2000. p. 440. ISBN 978-0-415-92088-9.
15. Joselow, Maxine (22 June 2016). "A Push for Transgender Studies". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 22 June 2016. "One reason why the search didn't work the first year is that the three people who had been hired were all white, and we were really trying to prioritize hiring faculty of color," she said.
16. Cassell, Heather (1 March 2007). "Vote is on for SF Pride marshals". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
17. "2008 Awards". Monette-Horowitz Trust. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
18. "Victoria hosts first conference on archiving trans history | Xtra Magazine". 25 March 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
19. Sullivan, Nikki; Murray, Samantha, eds. (2009). Somatechnics: Queering the Technologisation of Bodies. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing. p. viii. ISBN 978-0-7546-7530-3. OCLC 319247423. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
20. Roth, Benita (2010). "Book Reviews: Transgender History". Signs (Spring). University of Chicago Press: 762–5. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
21. Kornstein, Harris (2008). "Trans Activism". Left Turn (October/November). Retrieved 4 September 2012.
22. Tebbutt, Clare. "Book Review: Transgender History". Women's History Review. Taylor & Francis. doi:10.1080/09612025.2011.643006. S2CID 162813931.
23. Kelly, Reese C. (2009). "Moving Across and Beyond Boundaries". GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. 15 (4). Duke University Press: 646–8. doi:10.1215/10642684-2009-007. S2CID 146657462. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
24. Kay, Jane (6 July 2009). "No retreat from uproar over Bohemian Club woods". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
25. Bohemian Club. Constitution, By-laws, and Rules, Officers, Committees, and Members, Bohemian Club, 1904, p. 11. Semi-centennial high jinks in the Grove, 1922, Bohemian Club, 1922, pp. 11–22.
26. Parry, 2005, pp. 218–219.
27. . AScribe Law News Service. 24 May 2006. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
28. . Frameline. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
29. Diagnosing Difference (2009) - IMDb, retrieved 28 February 2023
30. "HBO Documentary Films' THE LADY AND THE DALE Debuts January 31". WarnerMedia. 6 January 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
31. ""Pride" - Six-Part Docuseries on the Struggle for LGBTQ+ Civil Rights in America Premieres May 14, 2021 at 8pm ET/PT on FX". The Futon Critic. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
32. "Duke Univ. Press Debuts Academic Journal for Transgender Studies". www.advocate.com. 27 May 2014.
33. Stryker, Susan (1998). "The Transgender Issue: An Introduction". GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. 4 (2). Duke University Press: 145–58. doi:10.1215/10642684-4-2-145.
34. Stryker, Susan; Currah, Paisley; Moore, Lisa Jean (2008). "Introduction: Trans-, Trans, or Transgender?". WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly. 36 (3–4). The Feminist Press: 11–22. doi:10.1353/wsq.0.0112. S2CID 84521879.
35. Stryker, Susan (11 October 2007). "Why the T in LGBT is Here to Stay". Salon. Salon Media Group. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
36. Aravosis, John (8 October 2007). "How did the T get in LGBT?". Salon. Salon Media Group. Retrieved 6 May 2012.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Susan Stryker.

• Stryker, Susan (2 November 2005). "Five Questions With… Susan Stryker". en|Gender (Interview). Interviewed by Helen Boyd. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
• Susan Stryker 2012-01-17 at the Wayback Machine at California Thinkers 2012-08-10 at the Wayback Machine
• Susan Stryker at IMDb
• Susan Stryker on Facebook
• Susan Stryker on Twitter