Susan Stryker, an associate professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Arizona, has been asked about the significance of her “new” field of study for about 25 years.
“It’s not as new as some people think,” she says. “The question for me is why is it suddenly something people are paying attention to in new ways, rather than it being new. There is a strong connection between theoretical and research-oriented interest in transgender phenomena.”
Now she will be presenting at the University of Arizona’s Trans*Studies Conference, which bills itself as the first such event to focus on transgender studies independent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues more broadly. It is hosted by the UA Institute for LGBT Studies.