Being Trans in Philosophy

❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Happy LGBTQ+ History Month!

To celebrate, we’ve been asking CLSR members how their experiences shape their work, and what it’s like being LGBTQ+ in philosophy 👇

Special shoutout this month and all months to the amazing work going on over at @being.transinphilosophy.org - check them out!

QT (queer, trans, & fellow feminists, allies, underlings) Smoker, dm for location. Fri 1/9/26, 9pm-??. Eastern APA, Baltimore. Brought to you by Being Trans in Philosophy.

Wednesday Session 2-5pm Book Symposium: Talia Mae Bettcher, among others. Friday Session 2-3:50pm Status of Trans People in the Profession: Perry Zurn, Willow Starr, Ding.

2026 Eastern APA goers: We’re hosting a session on the status of trans people in the profession, and an alt-smoker Friday night at a local queer club. Hope to see you there 🫶🏼

We just put out an OPEN CALL FOR PITCHES & QUESTIONS for the @being.transinphilosophy.org zine! Submit by Dec 20!!

The extremely rad editors of @being.transinphilosophy.org have put out a call for pitches for the next edition of their zine! They are also hosting cool events at the Eastern and Pacific meetings of the APA (details on the website). being.transinphilosophy.org/cfp/

We realize that our zines are also read and circulated beyond academia, so there is a longer-term question of our positioning with community vs. university that we feel unsure about at the moment. Sorry! 2/2

Hi Lauryl- thank you for your interest & question! I wish we had a better answer; we recognize the equity issue. As we are speaking primarily to the discipline of philosophy as scholars and students, we are not putting our zines behind a paywall and do not operate under a budget. 1/2

being.transinphilosophy.org/cfp/

call for pitches & questions! For the spring 2026 edition of being trans in philosophy called “#1 issue: the job market”. Submit pitches & questions by Dec 20th to our website: https://being.transinphilosophy.org.

Reflections, news, opinions, interviews, analyses, announcements, poetry, fiction, humor, cartoons, memes, drawings, tips & resources. Surprise us!

We’re not going anywhere, sorry

CALL FOR PITCHES! Our Spring 2026 edition “the #1 issue: the job market” needs you. See the full CFP on our website. The theme is the job market and the content is however you all need and want to engage with that 💥

Cover of Auto Anon’s Reverse Tomboy: A Novel, photographed against the background of a backyard.

The back cover, which reads: Naomi Soloveitchik has taken the first steps towards the womanhood she hopes to embody but does not yet understand what that means for her relationships to friends, lovers, and her own body. She wrestles with the more masculinized womanhood she aspires to, asking herself if it is possible for a trans woman to be a tomboy. In addition to the central story, also included is a small collection of poems and a brief essay on trans femme butch identity. "Sweet, poignant, and achingly honest, Reverse Tomboy is a gorgeously-sketched portrait of trans loneliness and pleasure." - GRETCHEN FELKER-MARTIN "An extremely personable writing voice, with moments of various joy - overwhelming joy, a stopping joy, a we-must-sit-in-this-joy — cut against usual romantic woes and the sense a fuller life, a social life, can lead to total ease, the opportunity to be newly still. Allusive and sweet and insightful with no caricature bogeymen or manufactured hand-wringing necessary, as AA brings an incredible millesimal fineness to bear on the Bildungsroman to fill out its every nook and cranny instead. In turns light as Hemingway and as funny and sharp as Torrey Peters, Reverse Tomboy is a remarkably brisk and exacting novel of small and sure steps toward grace in the garden of untamed harmony that is made by trans people alive and well in the public sphere." - BENJAMIN C. DUGDALE "Reverse Tomboy offers an intimate exploration of the lives of trans people today. Following in the footsteps of Leslie Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues and Imogen Binnie's Nevada, Auto Anon shares a semi-autobiographical narrative of how one becomes oneself. Wedged in the intersection of trans literature and philosophy, readers won't be able to put down the hilariously scathing — and satisfying — critique of the gender roles our society still clings to." - ELI ERLICK

got @autoanon.bsky.social ’s new release in the mail (in physical form no less)!! still working my way through it so will have more to share, but this is the kind of texts I wish I could’ve held in my hands when I was figuring things out, and I really can’t wait to see how Naomi’s story unfolds 🫶

A reminder that we love this zine, in case you somehow haven’t read it yet!

we’re so excited to read Reverse Tomboy from cover to cover!! find the pre-order link in the comments!

tysssm for all ur support!!!

Phot of the Trans in Philosophy zine spotted on a table at the Diversity Reading List 10th Anniversary conference, under the conference program booklet.

Photo of co-editor Ding holding the zine, with a yellow cover, in front of four flying Pride flags at the San Francisco civic center plaza.

Photo of a dozen copies of the Being Trans in Philosophy zine on a circular table, in different colors arranged to create a trans pride, at the society for philosophy and psychology conference.

Photo of Maximiliana and co-editor Willow posing with copies of the zine. Maximiliana's shirt says “Black Trans Lives Matter.”

did you hear that you could read and print Being Trans in Philosophy today?! seriously, like woahhh!! being.transinphilosophy.org

the zine @diversityread.bsky.social 10th anniversary conference (happy bday!!) by @nonamename.bsky.social, SF pride @not.dingherself.com, & SPP @willow-starr.bsky.social

Photo of a page from the Being Trans in Philosophy zine, showing a “grammar lesson” under a gender-neutral sign and the text “they (singular)”: ‘They’ is versatile! In its singular use, it can be used to refer to a person (or thing) without the needless trappings of grammatical gender. For example: “I saw someone at the march. They had a sign that said ‘All my homies hate ICE.’” BUT, when it’s in the mood, ‘they’ can switch to a plural meaning, for example: “I saw two women kissing at the march. They had shirts on that said ‘I love it when girls.’” This latest example also illustrates the distinction between grammatical gender and social gender: ‘they’ refers to two women (social gender) but is gender-neutral (grammatical gender). Some novices in gender and language make the mistake of believing that grammatical gender refers to some Real Gender or even... SEX. But all my homies know that’s silly.

A grammar lesson, from our zine launched last week 🧑‍🏫

omg thank you & we are so delighted to hear this! please let us know if there’s any way we can be of help/support! 🖤

A must read - share widely, print it for your departments, etc. We'll have physical copies printed at our #DRLAnniversaryConference.

Your friendly reminder of exactly how centrist ‘just asking questions’ does harm. Cosplaying curiosity for attention comes with a death toll for trans people.

Supporting trans kids is so easy when you’re in their actual life. The bullies in the White House and Supreme Court think the State should be used to destroy them instead. Fuck them. We will find ways to support them anyway ✨

being.transinphilosophy.org?fbclid=IwY2x...

New zine!

i follow a listserv for trans librarians where i learned about this zine: Being Trans in Philosophy. being an ex-academic philosopher and being quite aware of the transphobia that pervades academic philosophy, i am eager to read it. free to all.
being.transinphilosophy.org

I've been harassed and sexualized by students and on campus, was drawn into wildly transphobic discussions by random colleagues, people assuming my relation to my genitals and just putting it out there, and am confronted with awkward silence when talking about transphobic harrassement and barriers

I am lucky to have one of the more accepting academic environments in critical theory, but even they were an absolute disgrace when dealing with trans students criticizing an obviously transphobic seminar

I think it's super cool when philosophers use creative formats to share their expertise and engage the public on serious social justice issues. Check it out!

This is a must-read for anyone invested in the health of the discipline of philosophy and its institutions

Yay! So glad this is out.

New, gorgeous zine out today! Being trans in philosophy. Read & share.

note how many of the contributers, especially the grad students, are anonymous