The Two Revolutions: A History of the Transgender Internet (Queer / Trans / Digital)

The internet origins of the American transgender movement The Two Revolutions explores how the rise of the internet shaped transgender identity and activism from the 1980s to the present. Through extensive archival research and media archeology, Avery Dame-Griff reconstructs the manifold digital networks of transgender activists, cross-dressing computer hobbyists, and others interested in gender nonconformity who incited the second revolution of the title: the ascendance of “transgender” as an umbrella identity in the mid-1990s. Dame-Griff argues that digital communications sparked significant momentum within what would become the transgender movement, but also further cemented existing power structures. Covering both a historical period that is largely neglected within the history of computing, and the poorly understood role of technology in queer and trans social movements, The Two Revolutions offers a new understanding of both revolutions―the internet’s early development and the structures of communication that would take us to today’s tipping point of trans visibility politics. Through a history of how trans people online exploited different digital infrastructures in the early days of the internet to build a community, The Two Revolutions tells a crucial part of trans history itself. Cover Series Editors Title Page Copyright Contents Introduction: Laying the Foundations 1. Dialing into the Revolution: The Bulletin Board System 2. Out of the Cybercloset, into the Cyberstreets: Gender Community Spaces on AOL and Beyond 3. Politics and “Petty Useless Bickering”: Transgender Usenet and the Emergence of “Cisgender” 4. Always On: Information, Circulation, and the World Wide Web 5. Becoming “Obsolete in Your Own Lifetime”: Membership Declines and Generation Gaps 6. Transgender in the Platform Era Conclusion: Owning Our History Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index About the Author "The Two Revolutions tells the long history of transgender communities online, reconstructing the various digital networks of transgender activists, cross-dressing computer hobbyists, and others interested in gender nonconformity who laid the foundations for contemporary trans life"-- Provided by publisher