Review: 'Gendertrash from Hell' Makes Trans History Feel Brand New

Trans people are often told that ‘we have always been here’, but it's rare to see that laid out in a way where we feel lifelike.  It's one thing to show idealized images of past figures; it's another to make them feel real

Gendertrash from Hell manages to take the words of the past and make them feel as if they were written yesterday.

Gendertrash is a zine series published from 1993 to 1995, with notes that go into the next year.  It was hardly the first trans publication in North America, but it was unique for combining trans news, advocacy, interviews, and culture.  This combination is common today, but was revolutionary then.

It was the first trans publication made with the goal of covering the full spectrum of trans life.  The style was not unlike the other magazines of the time, albeit with the punk aesthetic that was common to zines.

What also made it unique was the topics it covered.  

Gendertrash was one of the first publications to take sex work seriously, both as a political issue, and as a legitimate profession which many of the contemporary readers were either currently or formerly employed in.  Seeing that the original editor of the paper, Mirha-Soleil Ross, was herself working as a street sex worker while she was working on the paper, the focus is a natural fit.  The discussions of the issue are honest, sometimes funny and irreverent, but never voyeuristic, as is the norm even today.  

The people who do this job (and those like them) were given pride of place as notable members of the community.  One interview named Justine Piaget “Hooker of the Year” for her personal achievements in a field which is so thoroughly marginalized.  We should not forget that these whores are the foundation that the modern trans rights movement was built upon.

Another big issue that they highlight is the abysmal situation of trans people in prisons.  The issue covers multiple articles over almost every edition.  All the articles could have been written today without any changes.  The magazine took them into account, allowing issues to be shipped for free to any prison, jail, or mental institution.

At the same time, many issues feel like time capsules.  The emphasis on HIV/AIDS and its death toll feels otherworldly, especially since most trans people today don't remember a time when it wasn't a treatable illness like any other.  Also, the preoccupation with the trans ban at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival sounds downright quaint in a world where similar bans are often codified into law.

Despite that, so much of the culture, discussion and politics felt as if it could have been written today, albeit with the language changed.  The writers use the term ‘genetic’ the way we today use the terms ‘cissexual’ and ‘cisgender’.  The word cisgender hadn’t even been coined when the first edition was published, and wouldn’t be popularized for another decade.  

There was also no consensus on whether trans people should refer to themselves as transsexual or transgender.  The zines came out when transgender was first entering widespread use, but before it became the preferred term.  The editor and creative director of Gendertrash use transsexual to describe themselves and others, and refer to the zine as a transsexual publication, but there is no attempt to standardize this among all the writers.

The leads also express apprehension at the rising popularity of the term transgender, and what it signifies for the movement.  In issue 3, they explain that “The transgender liberation movement will be beneficial to a great number of people with different backgrounds.  The main concern that we (& many other transsexuals) have is that it is becoming way too general & will end up emancipating everybody except us.”  This expresses the exact apprehensions that I and others have recently touched on, whereby the specific needs of transsexuals are being sidelined in favor of a more nebulous fight for acceptance within existing social structures.  Sadly, the writers appear to have been right on that point.

Frankly, I look at Gendertrash as an example of what I want The Needle to be.  It is a full look into the trans life of its time, complete with an emphasis of group solidarity and the fledgeling trans culture of its time.  

If you want to understand the roots of the Transsexual People as we exist today, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.