Basic books on Gender Studies

[Andris]

I do cultural studies as minor at university (my major is Italian if it matters) but profs left the topic abandoned since some of them went abroad for doing some research, teaching etc. (There is nobody who takes care of GS as main part of his/her work. Of course there should be some profs around in the faculty of Bachelor of Art (Languages) who are interested in some smaller parts, minor and inner topics, but it'll be hard to find them who has something and who's "empty". Sooo...)
Could you name some books, essays, collections of text which are essential parts of understanding theories, trends, essence of GS..? What do you think, what is it really needed to read for the first time to take my baby steps?
In the future I want to link Italian culture and gender studies, to write my BA thesis - that's far enough now but I suppose I need to get know about things (to choose the best topic later which I prefer).

[Cindi Jones]

Andris,

There are many "authoritative texts" available. Just do a search on Amazon.com and you'll find many by people with titles.  Some are very good, some controversial, and some don't have a clue. I haven't perused the list for some time, but it might be enlightening to find an authoritative work by someone who has successfully undergone transition themself.  Harry Benjamin's work was the first book recognized in trans gender people. It's a good start.

Don't forget the information available on the internet. There are at least two potential theoretical causes behind trans gender issues. There is actually some data backing the theories although it is somewhat sparse. I'm sorry I don't have the links available on hand.

Cindi

[Andris]

Okay, I'll do that.
Thank you for recommending Harry Benjamin, I'll start with his work.
(Today I found a terrible book in the library - written by Gabriele Kuby, and is full of silly things... with root of misunderstanding and hate. But good to know about the other side's habits and thoughts.  )

[Constance]

The book Transgender History by Susan Stryker is a good high-level overview.

[gennee]

Transgender Warriors by Leslie Feinberg is also a good read.

[UCBerkeleyPostop]

 I typed "gender studies" into one  of my university's  library databases EBSCO host and received over a million articles, studies and ebooks! Here is just one of the "works cited" references from one of the studies:

Lorber, J. (1994). "Night to His Day: The
Social Construction of Gender." In J.
Lorber, Paradoxes of Gender. Binghamton,
NY: Yale University Press. 13-36.
Giroux, Henry A. and Peter McLaren.
"Teacher Education and the Politics of
Engagement: The Case for Democratic
Schooling." Harvard Educational Review,
August 1986.
Ingraham, C. (1996). "The Heterosexual
Imaginary: Feminist Sociology and Theories
of Gender." In S. Siedman (Ed.)
Queer theory/Sociology. Cambridge, MA:
Blackwell Publishers, Inc. 168-193.
Juang, R. (2006). "Transgendering the
Politics of Recognition." In S. Styrker and
S. Whittle (Eds.) The Transgender Studies
Reader. New York: Routledge. 706-719.
Neilson, J.M., Walden, G., & Kunkels,
C.A. (2000). "Gendered Heteronormativity:
Empirical Illustrations in Everyday
Life." Sociological Quarterly, 41, 283-296.
Serano, J. (2004). Cocky. Retrieved from
http://www.juliaserano.com/drawblood.
html#cocky.
Stryker, S. (2006). "(De)subjugated Knowledges:
An Introduction to Transgender
Studies." In S. Styrker and S. Whittle
(Eds.) The Transgender Studies Reader. New
York: Routledge. 1-19.
Wright, K. (2001). "To be poor and Transgender."
Progressive, 10, 21.

[justmeinoz]

That looks like most of the Selected Readings we had in Gender, Power and Change last semester. Lots of good stuff there, although some is a bit dated.
Hopefully some will have stuck in my brain and I will get a decent mark.