The Beaumont Society: Trans Cultures, Identities and Everyday Subjectivities, 1966-2004

Proposed legislative changes have intensified debate about trans rights, with activists increasingly turning away from medical definitions and toward subjective experience and social identity. My research, the first comprehensive history of the Beaumont Society - a UK based trans support network - will explore these issues in historical perspective, interrogating the way trans people negotiated the medical and health discourse that have historically legitimised trans identity, alongside other ways of understanding gender crossing. Through the analysis of trans internet forums and websites, I will address the cultural shifts accompanying the formation of early online communities. Oral Histories will give voice to the subjective composure of trans people and close readings of Beaumont Society papers and material produced by other trans groups will further contextualise trans lived experience, in relation to broader social norms.