Transgender identities are cut through with multiple variables such as gender, sexuality, ‘race’ and ethnicity, class, age, transitional time span and geographical location. While the subsequent two chapters focus specifically on gender and sexuality in relation to the construction of transgender identities and subjectivities, this chapter explores how transgender identities are constructed and experienced in relation to a range of additional composites.

There is a wealth of autobiographical work on transgender identity formation and recently work that can be considered under the banner of ‘transgender theory’ offers a postmodern mix of critical analysis, political critique and autobiography to explore the experiences of gender transition. Nataf (1996) and Feinberg (1996), for example, articulate a range of female-to-male (FtM) gender and sexual identities. Although Nataf explores gender as a performative concept, he does so by drawing on a range of transgender lesbian subjective experiences of the expression and interpretation of gender. In Feinberg's work, the author is placed at the centre of the narrative as the analytical investigation of transgender histories links with Feinberg's gender trajectory. Feinberg's later work (1999) vocalises a diversity of (trans)gender and sexual identities, and calls for an inclusive trans politics that is able to dually celebrate and specify difference. Significantly Feinberg incorporates the structures of age, class and ethnicity, as well as gender and sexuality, into the discussion of transgender identities, thus paving the way for a material and social analysis of transgender.

There are a number of studies within sociology, social policy, anthropology and literature and cultural studies that adopt a micro analysis variously to explore transgender identity constructions, behaviour patterns and politics. Devor (1989), Lewins (1995), Nataf (1996) and Cromwell (1999) explore a range of FtM gender and sexual identities. Halberstam (1998) makes visible the historical and contemporary diversity of female masculinity. Kulick (1998) examines the identities and experiences of transgendered prostitutes in Brazil. Wilson (2002) looks at the formation of transgender identities in Western Australia. Monro (2005) explores collective identities and transgender politics. Ekins and King (1999) have developed a cartography of transgendering to take account of the ways in which transgender narratives are distinct. Hirschauer (1997), King (2003) and Ekins and King (2006) employ the concept of gender ‘migration’ to examine experiences of transition.