Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Beyond Trans
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://heathfoggdavis.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://heathfoggdavis.com/about/cv/ * http://www.cla.temple.edu/politicalscience/faculty/heath-fogg-davis/ * http://www.phillymag.com/g-philly/2017/06/02/lgbtqa-heath-fogg-davis/ * http://www.broadstreetreview.com/wnwnbooks/beyond-trans-does-gender-matter-by-heath-fogg-davis#
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Children: yes.
EDUCATION:Harvard University, A.B., 1993; Princeton University, Ph.D., 1998.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, educator, consultant, and transgender activist. University of Wisconsin-Madison, assistant professor, 1999-2005, associate professor, 2005; University of Chicago, visiting professor in political science, 2001-02; Temple University, associate professor of political science and undergraduate chair, 2005-.
Consultant with businesses, schools, and organizations on transgender-inclusive policies. Mayor’s Commission on LGBT Affairs, Philadelphia, PA. Leeway Foundation, member of board. Manuscript reviewer for academic journals and book publishers.
MEMBER:Trans Masculine Advocacy Network (TMAN); James Weldon Johnson Institute Working Group on Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Civil Rights.
AWARDS:Anna Julia Cooper Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1998-99; Cornell Young Scholar Award, Program on Ethics and Public Life, 2000; Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Chicago, 2001-02; Faculty Research Award, Institute on Race and Ethnicity, University of Wisconsin, 2002; Leadership Academy Fellowship, Temple University, 2007-08; Provost’s Teaching Academy Fellowship, Temple University; 2013; and Eleanor Hofkin Award for Outstanding Teaching, Temple University, College of Liberal Arts, 2017.
WRITINGS
Contributor to books, including Genetics: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy, edited by Thomas Shannon, Rowman & Littlefield (Chicago, IL), 2005; Family-Making: Contemporary Ethical Challenges, edited by Françoise Baylis and Carolyn McLeod, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2014; and LGBTQ Politics: A Critical Reader, edited by Marla Brettschneider, Susan Burgess, and Christine Keating. New York University Press (New York, NY), 2017.
Contributor to periodicals and journals, including Perspectives on Politics, Politics & Gender, National Political Science Review, Contemporary Political Theory, Gender Policy Report, and Hastings Center Report.
SIDELIGHTS
Heath Fogg Davis is an associate professor of political science at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He teaches courses on subjects such as political philosophy, antidiscrimination law, and public policy. He also conducts research on topics such as family formation and urban public spaces. As a transgender man of color, Davis is particularly interested in social and political matters related to transgender issues, both from an academic and from a practical perspective. These include “the politics of race, gender, gender identity, sexuality, and class; feminist, queer, race and trans theory”; feminist bioethics; and social justice movements and social change, noted a writer on the Heath Fogg Davis Website. His activism and advocacy in these matters extends to multiple marginalized communities in the United States.
In addition to his scholarly work, “I also consult with businesses, schools, and organizations to help them imagine, develop, and implement trans-inclusive policies,” Davis stated in an interview with Ernest Owens in Philadelphia magazine. Davis holds an A.B. in government (magna cum laude) from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University.
During the interview with Owens, Davis provided insight into the profound challenges faced by transgender individuals of color in the United States. “You go from being perceived as a black or brown girl/woman and discriminated against based on those stereotypes to being a black or brown man and getting saddled with that set of stereotypes. Experiencing firsthand how our society treats black and brown men is traumatizing. For those of us who presented as masculine or androgynous girls/women in the past, we also carry around a lot of wounds based on our experiences of being gender-policed,” Davis told Owens.
Davis addresses multiple issues related to gender and the reporting of gender identity in his book Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter? In this work, Davis “challenges readers to consider why binary sex identity categories are used so pervasively in our everyday lives,” commented a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Further, Davis is interested in whether such identifiers are necessary or even useful. For the purposes of his book, Davis considers multiple places where individuals are asked to identify as either male or female: job applications, drivers licenses, applications for benefits, passports, even documents as simple as bus passes. He notes that gender discrimination can and does occur for transgender and cisgender people whose appearance or mannerisms do not conform to the accepted norms of how masculine or feminine persons should appear. Davis is further concerned about whether or not this type of gender-based sorting serves the purposes claimed by its proponents, such as combating identity fraud, addressing sexism in public spheres, and promoting personal and public health.
Davis’s main solution to this problem involves the wholesale replacement of male/female identifiers in personal and public spaces, from identity documents to restrooms. “Davis’s argument is so deftly constructed, his tone so reasonable, it’s easy to forget he’s proposing a tectonic shift in how U.S. organizations, from the Little League to the Department of Motor Vehicles, think of sex and gender identity,” observed Anndee Hochman on the website Broad Street Review.
Although he is suggesting a fundamental change in cultural and administrative methods of identifying gender, “Davis isn’t urging a deluge of lawsuits to undo decades of sex classification; he’d prefer to see organizations proactively evaluate the ways sex identification figures into employee handbooks, restroom designation, recruitment, hiring, and health insurance,” Hochman continued. Davis includes several useful tools in his book, such as guidelines for conducting company-wide gender audits of business’s policies, plus insight on the types of daily practices that reference sex and gender in unnecessary ways. In total, Hochman concluded, “Davis builds a thoughtful argument that, for bureaucratic purposes, gender should matter a lot less than it currently does.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Philadelphia, June 2, 2017, Ernest Owens, “LGBTQ&A: Heath Fogg Davis,” author interview.
Publishers Weekly, April 3, 2017, review of Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter?, p. 62.
ONLINE
Broad Street Review, http://www.broadstreetreview.com/ (August 14, 2017), Anndee Hochman, review of Beyond Trans.
Heath Fogg Davis Website, http://www.heathfoggdavis.com (January 8, 2018), author curriculum vitae.
Temple University College of Liberal Arts Website, http://www.cla.temple.edu/ (January 8, 2018), author faculty profile.
LGBTQ&A: Heath Fogg Davis
We chat with the trans male advocate on intersectionality, masculinity, and his new book that questions the need for gender altogether.
by ERNEST OWENS · 6/2/2017, 3:53 p.m.
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image: http://cdn.phillymag.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/06/Heath-Davis-940.jpg
Heath Fogg Davis
Heath Fogg Davis is a transgender male activist who teaches at Temple University, serves on the Mayor’s Commission on LGBT Affairs, and is a member of the Trans Masculine Advocacy Network (TMAN). We chat with the advocate on being a trans man of color, exploring masculinity through activism, and his new book, which challenges the role gender plays in society.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m a professor at Temple University, where I teach courses on political philosophy, anti-discrimination law, and public policy. I also consult with businesses, schools, and organizations to help them imagine, develop, and implement trans-inclusive policies. I’m also an appointed member of the Mayor’s Commission on LGBT Affairs here in Philly. My activism has included being a member of TMAN, serving on the planning committee of the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference, and serving on the board of the Leeway Foundation. At Temple I’m an active member of our LGBTQIA staff, student, and faculty coalition. I’m the faculty advisor for Temple’s STAR (Students for Trans Awareness and Rights).
You are transgender man of color in a community that doesn’t often hear about your experiences. What are the unique barriers transgender men face in the city and throughout society?
The challenges facing trans men of color, and black and brown trans men in particular, are a lot of the same things that cisgender men of color face, such as race-gender profiling and all the kinds of discrimination that stem from that. Christian Axavier Lovehall, the current organizer of TMAN, has written really eloquently about this experience. You go from being perceived as a black or brown girl/woman and discriminated against based on those stereotypes to being a black or brown man and getting saddled with that set of stereotypes. Experiencing firsthand how our society treats black and brown men is traumatizing. For those of us who presented as masculine or androgynous girls/women in the past, we also carry around a lot of wounds based on our experiences of being gender-policed. At the same time, because our society polices femaleness more heavily and differently than maleness, a lot of us benefit from not being read as trans in everyday life. Our trans sisters often bear the brunt of transphobia and oppression more relentlessly if they’re not able or don’t wish to meet prevailing standards of raced and classed femininity and beauty.
You’re a professor at Temple University. How do you navigate the academic space being transgender in a field that’s becoming more inclusive?
In the early days of my transition, it wasn’t easy. I think many people don’t realize the enormous amount of time and energy, not to mention money, it takes. Changing sex markers on various bureaucratic records and documents, and informing one’s employer and students felt like a full-time job. It was exhausting. I’m also more introverted than extroverted, so having to go explain to the DMV and the Social Security office, and human relations that I needed my gender markers changed was difficult. It took me a long time to recover from all of that. It’s a major reason why I’m so passionate these days about getting rid of gender markers as much as possible, so that others don’t have to go through what I experienced.
You’re a member of the Trans Masculinity Advocacy Network (TMAN). What have you learned the most from other local trans masculine individuals in this space?
TMAN was so incredibly important and helpful to me in the early years of my transition. The thing that stands out most when I think back to those Monday-night meetings we had is how good and affirming it felt to sit in a room with people who knew a lot of what you were going through before you even told them. It felt so good just to be in the room with these folks. I think that there’s real value in Facebook groups and other online communities, but nothing compares to having that face-to-face human connection of being in one another’s presence, sitting together in a circle, and feeling that support. Sometimes the room was packed, and at other times there were just three or four of us. But it didn’t matter. The meeting was happening, and there was always someone there for you, in the literal sense of that saying — really there for you. That said, as with any group, we had a lot of differences among us having to do with class, sexual orientation, age, and cultural backgrounds. That ruffled some feathers. I came to the group with a lot of class privilege and cultural differences, having grown up in a white adoptive family as a biracial (black and white) person. And although I identify as queer, I have a wife and I’m a dad, so I have to own the social privileges that come with that. Tying all of our differences together, however, were a lot of things we had in common: being racially profiled and discriminated against as black and brown men; navigating whether and how to come out in various settings such as school, family, and workplaces.
Your new book, Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter?, has just been released. In the book, you discuss the concept of gender being factored out of numerous things, including census surveys. Why do you think excluding gender in such a way will liberate us as a whole?
The gender question on the census is actually one of the administrative sex classification policies that I think has a lot of potential to be useful. The argument I make in the book is that we should always ask whether a gender policy is necessary. To do this, we need to think about the purpose of a given policy. Why are we being asked to check a male or female box on a form? More often than not, there is no good reason for asking about sex identity. But sometimes it makes sense and is tied to a legitimate policy goal. I think it makes sense to keep track of gendered experience statistically for the purposes of affirmative-action measures. For instance, it’s legitimate, in my view, that an employer should have numerical goals concerning gender equity. The census could be a good way to collect aggregate gender data. It’s also a self-reporting survey instrument, so there’s an opportunity for individuals to share their gender identities and relevant experience on their own terms.
As with any gender policy, the onus should be on the administrators of the census (the federal government) to clearly explain on the form what definition of gender/sex is being used. There’s a huge assumption that when we ask about sex classification that we all know what that means. Trans and intersex experiences challenge that assumption directly. Who counts as male? Who counts as female?
And coming back to your earlier question, we should also keep in mind that our sex/gender experiences are always complicated by race, class, and sexual orientation. A lot of times, people see “trans discrimination” as something that affects a tiny number of people who are visibly trans or that adopt that label. So why should the majority have to change in order to accommodate us? I show that “trans discrimination” affects a lot of people who don’t identify as trans, such as anyone whose appearance is in any way gender-non-conforming. And even cisgender straight people will benefit from fewer gender policies. Think, for example, of public restrooms. Gender-neutral restrooms help “trans appearing” people, but they also help parents of opposite sex children and caretakers of adults who require assistance using public restrooms. Policies that add a third gender option don’t go far enough, because they leave intact the primary source of gender-identity discrimination: sex-classification policies themselves.
Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/g-philly/2017/06/02/lgbtqa-heath-fogg-davis/#dSGW1i2FA38do3MD.99
Heath Fogg Davis
160919_HeathDavis-50
Associate Professor
Undergraduate Chair
hfd@temple.edu
215-204-7796
447 Gladfelter Hall
1115 Polett Walk
CV
website
Keywords
Antidiscrimination Law, Transgender Civil Rights, Political Theory, Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Biography
Heath Fogg Davis (Ph.D. in Politics, Princeton University, 1998) is the Undergraduate Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science.
His teaching and research examines individual and collective identity in contexts such as democratic political systems, administrative and anti-discrimination law, urban public space, and family formation. Prior to joining the Temple faculty, Davis was an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was a member of the groundbreaking James Weldon Johnson Institute Working Group on Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Civil Rights: the first U.S. working group bringing together activists and scholars to explore convergences and divergences between the African American civil rights movement and the Black LGBT civil rights movement.
He is the author of Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter? (NYU Press, 2017). Beyond Trans questions the need for gender markers on birth certificates, driver’s licenses, passports, college admissions, bathroom doors, and in sports. Are these and other sex-classification policies necessary? Are they legal? Does gender matter? Beyond Trans offers concrete strategies to help organizations, schools and businesses of all kinds design better gender policies that are trans-inclusive and meet their specific goals.
Davis extends his academic and pedagogical commitments to community spaces, collaborating with and advocating for marginalized communities. He was a board member of the Leeway Foundation, and has been an organizer of the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference and the Trans Masculine Advocacy Network.
Selected Publications
“Checking a Male or Female Box to get into College,” in LGBTQ Political Science: A Reader (Forthcoming Spring 17 from New York University Press)
“An Argument for Reviving the Pragmatism of Early Critical Race Feminism” (Contemporary Political Theory)
“Sex-Classification as Transgender Discrimination: An Intersectional Critique” (Perspectives on Politics)
“The Political Geography of Whites Adopting Black Children in the United States” (Family-Making: Contemporary Ethical Challenges)
“Theorizing Black Lesbians within Black Feminist Theory: A Critique of Same-Race Street Harassment” (Politics and Gender)
The Ethics of Transracial Adoption (Cornell University Press)
Courses Taught
Discrimination and the Law
Introduction to Political Theory
African American Political Theory
Feminist Political Theory
Gender, Sexuality and the Law
CV
Updated: 8/21/17
download pdf
Heath Fogg Davis
Email: hfd@temple.edu
Website: heathfoggdavis.com
Phone: 267-701-3246
Address: Temple University, Dept. of Political Science, 409 Gladfelter Hall, 1115 Polett Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19122-6089
Employment
Associate Professor of Political Science, Temple University. 2005–present
Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2005
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 1999–2005
Visiting Scholar in Political Science, University of Chicago. 2001–2002
Education
PhD in Politics, Princeton University. 1998
AB in Government, magna cum laude, Harvard University. 1993
Teaching + Research Interests
Discrimination law; the politics of race, gender, gender identity, sexuality, and class; feminist, queer, race and trans theory, African American political thought; democratic political theory; Feminist bioethics; social justice movements and social change
Publications
BOOKS
Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter? (New York University Press, 2017)
The Ethics of Transracial Adoption (Cornell University Press, 2002)
PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES
“Why the ‘Transgender’ Bathroom Controversy Should Make us Rethink Sex-Segregated Public Bathrooms.” Politics, Groups & Identities (forthcoming).
“Sex Classification Policies as Transgender Discrimination: An Intersectional Critique.” Perspectives on Politics 12, no. 1 (2014): 45–60.
“Theorizing Black Lesbians within Black Feminist Theory: A Critique of Same-Race Street Harassment.” Politics & Gender 2 (2006): 57–76.
“The Racial Retreat of Contemporary Political Theory.” Perspectives on Politics 1, no. 3 (2003): 555–64.
“Navigating Race in the Market for Human Gametes.” Hastings Center Report 31, no. 5 (2001): 13–21.
PEER-REVIEWED BOOK CHAPTERS
“Single-Sex Education and Checking a Male or Female Box to get into College” in LGBTQ Politics: A Reader: A Critical Reader, edited by Marla Brettshcneider, Susan Burgess, and Cricket Keating. New York: New York University Press, 2017.
“The Political Geography of Whites Adopting Black Children in the United States.” In Family-Making: Contemporary Ethical Challenges, edited by Françoise Baylis and Carolyn McLeod. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
“Navigating Race in the Market for Human Gametes.” In Genetics: Science, Ethics and Public Policy, edited by Thomas Shannon, 115-30. Chicago: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.
“Racial Navigation: Imagining Nondiscrimination in Adoption.” In Adoption Matters: Philosophical and Feminist Essays, edited by Charlotte Witt and Sally Haslanger, 247–64. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004.
ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS:
“Why Testosterone Ranges Should Replace Sex-Segregation in Title IX Sports.” The Gender Policy Report (Aug. 22, 2017).
“How We’re Redefining Gender in the 21st Century,” Op-Ed, CNN.com (Aug. 1,2017).
“Let’s Delete Sex from Birth Certificates,” Aeon Magazine (May 31, 2017).
“What the Trump Administration doesn’t get about Bathroom Access,” Op-Ed, CNN.com (Feb.23, 2017).
“An Argument for Reviving the Pragmatism in Early Critical Race Feminist Theory.” Contemporary Political Theory 1, no.15 (2016): 98–105.
“The Signs and Boxes Tell Us So: On Sex-Classification Policies.” Op-Ed, The Feminist Wire, November 13, 2014.
“Race in America.” Perspectives on Politics 10, no. 3 (2012): 752–54.
“Racial Intimacy and Racial Politics: Adoption in the U.S. and Brazil.” National Political Science Review 9 (2003): 76–86.
“A Race-Conscious Argument for Transracial Adoption.” Boston University Public Interest Law Journal 6, no. 2 (1997): 385–408.
“An Argument Against Ahistorical ‘Difference’ in Feminist Political Theory.” Circles: The Buffalo Women’s Journal of Law and Social Policy 4 (1996): 2–9.
BOOK REVIEWS
“Review of Gender Nonconformity and the Law, by Kimberly Yuracko. Perspectives on Politics (forthcoming).
Review of We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity, by Tommie Shelby. Perspectives on Politics 4, no. 3 (2006): 578–79.
Review of Along Racial Lines: Consequences of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, by David Michael Hudson. The Law and Politics Book Review 9, no. 2 (1999).
Awards + Fellowships
Eleanor Hofkin Award for Outstanding Teaching, Temple University, College of Liberal Arts. 2017.
Summer Research Award, Temple University. 2017, 2015.
Provost’s Teaching Academy Fellowship, Temple University. 2013
Betty Nesvold Award: Best Paper on Women and Politics, Western Political Science Association. 2012
Leadership Academy Fellowship, Temple University, 2007–2008
Dr. Brenda Pfaehler Award of Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring, TRIO Support Services, University of Wisconsin. 2004
Faculty Research Award, Graduate School, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2004, 2003, 1999
Faculty Research Award, Institute on Race and Ethnicity, University of Wisconsin. 2002
Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Chicago. 2001–2002
Cornell Young Scholar Award, Program on Ethics and Public Life. 2000
Race and Democracy in the Americas Fellowship, Ford Foundation. 2000–2005
Summer Institute Faculty Fellowship, Law and Society Association. 1999
Anna Julia Cooper Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 1998–1999
Christabel Pankhurst/Miss Ella Baker Award for Women and Politics Research. 1998
Invited Talks (selection)
“Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter?” Women and Society Seminar. Columbia University. New York, NY. Nov. 2016.
“Sex-Classification Policies and Transgender Discrimination.” Law and Society Reading Group. Drexel Law School. Philadelphia, PA. Mar. 2016.
“Male or Female? A Liberal Argument Against Sex-Marked Identity Documents.” Bernard Mayes LGBTQ Lecture Series. University of Virginia. Charlottesville, VA. Jan. 2016.
“Sex-Classification in Health Care Administration: Transgender, Intersex and Genderqueer Perspectives.” John Grant Endowed Lecture in Health Care Ethics. Loyola University. Chicago, IL. Oct. 2014.
“Gender Inspection in Public Transit: Transgender Identity and the Race-Class Politics of a Moving Urban Place.” Reed College. Portland, OR. Mar. 2013.
“Race and Gender Identity Discrimination in Public Transit: The Philadelphia Trans Pass Case.” James Weldon Johnson Institute Working Group on the Civil Rights Movement and the Black LGBT Rights Movement. Emory University. Atlanta, GA. Dec. 2011.
“Mobility, Marginalization, and Public Transit.” Social Science Research Council/Mellon Foundation Distinguished Faculty Lecture. University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, PA. Feb. 2011.
“Marginalization, Mobility, and Public Transit.” Political Theory Workshop. Temple University. Philadelphia, PA. Apr. 2010.
“Wiping Out and Keeping Going: My Academic Career Thus Far.” Keynote Address. Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Summer Conference. Oberlin College. Oberlin, OH. May 2009.
“How Black Women Structure America: A Future for Black Feminist Political Theory.” Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, MD. Oct. 2007.
“Transracial Adoption and the Law.” Boston University School of Law. Boston, MA. Mar. 2006
“A Black Feminist Critique of Same-Race Street Harassment.” Political Theory Workshop. University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, PA. Sep. 2005.
“A Black Feminist Critique of Same-Race Street Harassment.” Black Civil Society in American Political Life Conference. Temple University. Philadelphia, PA. Sep. 2005.
“The Allure of a Black Conservative Disposition.” Workshop on Gender and Politics. MIT. Cambridge, MA. Feb. 2004.
“Contemporary Bi-racial and Multi-racial Identities in the United States.” University Summer Forum: A Multicultural Society, American Ethnic Identity. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, WI. Jul. 2003.
“She Works Hard for the Money?: Addressing Employment Discrimination in Paid Egg Donation.” Feminism and Legal Theory Workshop. Cornell Law School. Ithaca, NY. Nov. 2000.
“Racial Randomization: Addressing State-Sponsored Racial Discrimination in Adoption.” Feminism and Law Workshop. University of Toronto School of Law. Toronto, Canada. Sep. 2000.
“Black Conservatism and the 2000 Presidential Campaigns.” Center for the Humanities. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Madison, WI. Aug. 2000.
“Navigating Race in the Market for Human Gametes.” Program on Ethics and Public Life. Cornell University. Ithaca, NY. Apr. 2000.
Conference Presentations (selection)
“Checking a Sex Box to Get into College: Single-Sex College Admissions.” American Political Science Association Conference. Philadelphia, PA. Aug. 2016.
LGBTQ Politics Roundtable. Western Political Science Association Conference. Las Vegas, NV. Apr. 2015.
“Sex-Classification Policies as Transgender Discrimination: An Intersectional Critique.” Perspectives on Politics Author Panel. American Political Science Association. Washington, DC. Aug. 2014.
“The Transgender Politics of the Netflix Series, Orange is the New Black,” American Political Science Association. Washington, DC. Aug. 2014.
“Imagining Queer Futures,” American Political Science Association. Washington, DC. Aug. 2014.
“Radical Politics and Education.” Western Political Science Association. Seattle, WA. Apr. 2014.
“Gender Intelligibility Inspection as Transgender Discrimination: An Intersectional Critique of Sex Classification Policies.” American Political Science Association Conference. Chicago, IL. Sep. 2013.
“A Rosa Parks in Philadelphia: Incorporating Transgender Discrimination into a Black Civil Rights Agenda.” American Political Science Association Conference. Chicago, IL. Sep. 2013.
“Transitioning While Teaching.” Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference. Philadelphia, PA. Jun. 2013.
“Decolonizing Political Theory.” Canadian Political Science Association Conference. Edmonton, Canada. Jun. 2012.
“Gender Inspection in Public Transit: Transgender Identity and the Race-Class Politics of a Moving Urban Place.” Western Political Science Association Conference. Portland, OR. Mar. 2012.
“Transgender Political Science?: A Roundtable Discussion on the Whats, Hows, and Whos of the Research.” American Political Science Association Conference. Seattle, WA. Sep. 2011.
“National Transgender Panel: A Discussion.” (panel chair) Equality Forum. Philadelphia, PA. Apr. 2011.
“Contours of Black Political Thought.” American Political Science Association Conference. Chicago, IL. Sep. 2007.
“Dynamic Intersection: Lessons from Canadian Discrimination Law.” Western Political Science Association Conference. Las Vegas, NV. Mar. 2007.
“Blacks in Political Theory.” American Political Science Association Conference. Philadelphia, PA. Sep. 2006.
“Roundtable on Gender and Black Politics.” National Association of Black Political Scientists Conference. Atlanta, GA. Mar. 2006.
“Black Feminism as Meta-Ideology: Black Feminism Meets Black Conservatism?” American Political Science Association Conference. Chicago, IL. Sep. 2004.
“The Allure of a Black Conservative Disposition.” Midwest Political Science Association Conference. Chicago, IL. Apr. 2004.
“Between Disease and Inconvenience: Toward a Non-Heterosexist Ethos of Reproduction and Family.” Gender, Sexuality, and Law International Conference. Keele University. Staffordshire, United Kingdom. Jun. 2002.
“The Ethics of Transracial Adoption: Author Meets Reader Panel Discussion.” Joint Meetings of the Canadian Law and Society Association and the Law and Society Association. Vancouver, Canada. May 2002.
“Race and Democracy in the Americas: A Roundtable.” National Conference of Black Political Scientists. Richmond, VA. Mar. 2001.
“She Works Hard for the Money?: Addressing Employment Discrimination in Paid Egg Donation.” American Political Science Association Conference. Washington, D.C. Sep. 2000.
“Comments on Community, Culture, and Citizenship: Roundtable Discussion.” American Political Science Association Conference. Washington, D.C. Sep. 2000.
“Racial Randomization: A Proposal for Race-Neutral Adoptive Placement.” American Political Science Association Conference. Boston, MA. Sep. 1998.
Teaching: Workshops
“Teaching Political Science: Tailoring Assignments to Meet Specific Learning Goals.” Teaching and Learning Center. Temple University. Philadelphia, PA. Mar. 2014.
“Transitioning While Teaching.” Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference. Philadelphia, PA. Jun. 2013.
“Trans Awareness among Queer Womyn of Color.” Co-facilitated with Elements. Philadelphia, PA. Feb. 2011.
“Trans 101.” Co-facilitated with Trans Masculine Advocacy Network. Atlanta Black Gay Pride. Atlanta, GA. Sep. 2009.
Teaching: Courses
African American Political Theory (undergraduate lecture/seminar)
Civil Rights and Liberties (graduate/undergraduate seminar)
Discrimination and the Law (graduate/undergraduate seminar)
Ethics and Public Policy (undergraduate lecture)
Gender and Sexuality (undergraduate honors capstone seminar)
Introduction to Political Philosophy (undergraduate honors seminar)
Feminist Political Theory (undergraduate lecture/seminar)
Feminist Research (graduate research seminar)
Law, Politics, and Society (undergraduate lecture)
Political Theory and Identity (undergraduate honors/graduate seminar)
Political Theory and the City (undergraduate seminar)
Politics of Identity (undergraduate general education lecture course)
Women and Politics (undergraduate lecture)
Service to the Department (Political Science Dept., Temple University)
Committee Member, Graduate Program Committee. 2009–2016
Chair, Undergraduate Program. 2017–present; 2006–2009
Director, Honors Program. 2006–2009
Service to the Department (Political Science Dept., University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Committee Member, Provost Search Committee. 2004
Committee Member, Graduate Admissions Committee. 2000–2003
Service to the University (Temple University)
Committee Member, Dean’s Strategic Planning Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. College of Liberal Arts. 2016–present
Steering Committee Member, Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies Program. 2016–present
Committee Member, LGBTQIA Ad Hoc Committee. 2016–present
Committee Member, Merit Committee. College of Liberal Arts. 2016–present
Committee Member, Student Grievance Committee. College of Liberal Arts. 2013–2016
Committee Member, Provost’s Master Plan Working Group: Organizational Change/Physical Space. 2013
Chair, Temple University Press Board of Review. 2008–2011
Representative for the College of Liberal Arts, General Education Executive Committee. 2007–2009
Committee Member, Provost’s Strategic Academic Planning Working Group. 2007–2008
Board Member, Temple University Press Board of Review. 2006–2008
Committee Member, Honors Oversight Committee. 2006–2009
Board Member, Center for the Humanities. 2005–2009
Service to the Profession
Editorial Board Member, Politics, Groups & Identities (journal). 2017–present
Editorial Board Member, National Political Science Review (journal). 2015–present
Plenary Speaker, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program Summer Conference. Macalester College, Minneapolis, MN. 2015
Committee Member, Committee on the Status of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and the Transgendered in the Profession. American Political Science Association. 2012–present
Leader/Facilitator, Strategic Future Planning (graduate initiative). Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program. 2011
Editorial Board Member. PS: Political Science & Politics (journal). 2010–present
Associate Editor. Politics & Gender (journal). 2008–2015
Co-Chair, Political Theory Division. Western Political Science Association. 2008
Chair, Normative Political Theory Division. American Political Science Association. 2008
Chair, Political Theory Division. Midwest Political Science Association. 2008
Faculty Mentor, “Preparing for the Professoriate Seminar” (graduate initiative). Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program. 2007–2013
Committee Member, Planning and Advisory Committee. Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program. 2007–2010
Presenter/Facilitator, Summer Conference Graduate Workshop. Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program. 2007–2008
Reviewer, Political Science Field. Ford Foundation’s “Transitions to College”. Study on the state of social science research in disadvantaged populations’ education and career paths. 2004–2005
Faculty Mentor/Presenter, Harvard Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program. 2003
Presenter, Program Coordinators’ Meeting. Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program. 2000
Presenter, Summer Conference Recent PhD Panel. Mellon Mays Undergraduate Program. 1999
Manuscript Reviewer
JOURNALS
American Journal of Political Science
American Political Science Review
Contemporary Political Theory
Critical Sociology
Governance
Journal of Bioethical Inquiry
Journal of Politics
Law and Society Review
Perspectives on Politics
Political Research Quarterly
Political Theory
Politics & Gender
Sociology Compass
BOOKS
New York University Press
Oxford University Press
Polity Press
Prentice Hall
Russell Sage
State University of New York Press
Temple University Press
University of British Columbia Press
Community Service + Activism
Appointed Member, Philadelphia Mayoral Commission on LGBT Affairs. 2017–present
Board Member, Leeway Foundation. 2013–2016
Mentor, Trans Masculine Alliance Network. 2008–present
Planning Committee Member, Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference. 2008–2009
Board Member, Equality Forum. 2011
Mentor for Homeless and Formerly Homeless Youth. Opportunities PA. 2010–2012
Media (selected)
Commentator, MSNBC (Aug. 2017)
National Public Radio Interview, NewsWorks with Dave Heller, WHYY Philadelphia (Jun. 2017)
National Public Radio Interview, Think Radio with Krys Boyd, KERA Dallas/Forth Worth (Jul. 2017)
National Public Radio Interview, Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane, WHYY Philadelphia (Jul. 2017)
I’m Heath Fogg Davis, a scholar-activist whose work in classrooms, boardrooms, community centers, and media seeks to alleviate discrimination and inequality. I’m the author of Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter? a book that offers pragmatic guidance to individuals and organizations on how to develop trans-inclusive administrative policies that are institutionally smart.
Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter?
Publishers Weekly.
264.14 (Apr. 3, 2017): p62.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter?
Heath Fogg Davis. New York Univ., $25 (208p) ISBN 978-1-4798-5540-7
Davis (The Ethics of Transracial Adoption), a professor of political science at Temple University in
Philadelphia, challenges readers to consider why binary sex identity categories are used so pervasively in
our everyday lives, and whether such routine categorization is needed. Sex-identity discrimination, the
author argues, happens to both transgender and cisgender individuals whose appearance is at odds with
observers' beliefs about how masculine and feminine people should look in public, and the routine sorting
of individuals into sex identity categories invites discriminatory social and institutional policing of
individuals' sex identities. In four brief chapters, this work examines four common locations of sex-identity
sorting: sex markers on identity documents, sex-segregated restrooms, single-sex colleges, and sexsegregated
sports. Davis consistently pushes readers to consider whether the practice of sex sorting bears
any rational relationship to the goals its proponents claim to further: fighting identity fraud, promoting
personal health and safety, addressing sexism in higher education, and encouraging fair play in competitive
sports. An appendix offers guidelines for conducting a "gender audit" of organizational policies and
practices, encouraging critical self-assessment of everyday acts that unnecessarily invoke sex and gender
classifications. The author, a transgender man of color, approaches this topic as both an expert scholar and
an individual whose own identity has been subject to hostile scrutiny. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter?" Publishers Weekly, 3 Apr. 2017, p. 62. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A489813738/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=402b4fe2.
Accessed 24 Dec. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A489813738
‘Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter?’ by Heath Fogg Davis
Getting on the bus
Anndee Hochman
August 14, 2017in BooksShare:faxEmailTwitterFacebookPinterestGoogle+
One day in 2007, a transgender African-American woman named Charlene Arcila tried to use her monthly SEPTA Transpass — marked with an F for "female" — only to be challenged by a bus driver who claimed the pass was invalid because, as he said, “You are not a female.”
Author Heath Fogg Davis makes a compelling argument. (Photo courtesy of NYU Press.)
Arcila wearily returned to the front of the bus and fed two dollars into the meter. She also filed a legal complaint with the city, alleging that SEPTA’s sex-sticker policy, instituted in 1981 as a fraud-prevention tactic, violated her civil right to be free of gender identity discrimination.
While the legal challenge is still in limbo, SEPTA quietly ceased the sex-sticker policy in 2013. For Heath Fogg Davis, an associate professor of political science at Temple University, the story is a painful illustration of the harm caused when public and private institutions — departments of vital records, schools and colleges, amateur and professional athletic associations — try to classify people by sex.
M, F, or nah?
In Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter? Davis builds a thoughtful argument that, for bureaucratic purposes, gender should matter a lot less than it currently does. Using four case studies, he explains why those who oversee identity documents, restrooms, universities, and sports teams should do what SEPTA did—that is, expunge the M and F stickers or their equivalents.
Davis’s argument is so deftly constructed, his tone so reasonable, it’s easy to forget he’s proposing a tectonic shift in how U.S. organizations, from the Little League to the Department of Motor Vehicles, think of sex and gender identity. “I believe that all of us would be better off in a society with dramatically fewer sex-classification policies,” he writes. “And I argue that the basic structure of antidiscrimination law can help us make this happen.”
Davis makes an important distinction between sexism — judgments about what people can or cannot do because they are male or female — and sex-identity discrimination, or assessments of whether a person belongs to the categories of male or female. It was sex-identity discrimination, he says, that nearly got Arcila booted off the bus (and, he notes, it didn’t help when she later obtained a “male” SEPTA pass; a driver rejected that one, too, because she didn’t look male).
He also notes that sex-identity discrimination hurts us all — not just trans or genderfluid people but also butch women and femme boys, anyone whose appearance, behavior, or self-concept doesn’t match conventional, gendered norms. Sex-classification "policies constrict everyone’s personal freedom to imagine and define not just our gender expression… but also our authority to make self-regarding decisions about our sex identities — about who we are in relation to the categories of male and female,” Davis writes.
Seeing privilege from all sides
He speaks from experience. As a transgender man who transitioned at 38 — and who, prior to transitioning, preferred boys’ clothes and short hair — Davis has been chided by girls and women for using the “wrong” bathroom. He writes of his unease with the privilege he now bears, in “men’s” restrooms and elsewhere, as a trans man who cleaves to expected male standards of dress, hairstyle, and behavior.
Well, does it? The author says no. (Photo courtesy of NYU Press.)
Well, does it? The author says no. (Photo courtesy of NYU Press.)
Davis isn’t urging a deluge of lawsuits to undo decades of sex classification; he’d prefer to see organizations proactively evaluate the ways sex identification figures into employee handbooks, restroom designation, recruitment, hiring, and health insurance, then question whether practices that label people “men” and “women” truly fulfill the group’s policy goals.
He’d also like those organizations to be more inclusive and transparent. If a health center's intake form has a check-off box for “male/female,” that form should explain why the information is necessary and what understanding of sex (birth sex, “legal” sex, self-identification) is requested. A truly innovative company or agency, he suggests, would go further, with a written commitment to affirm the self-reported gender identity of all employees, patients, or customers.
"Small and seismic"
Davis begins the book with a recommendation that is both small and seismic: removing sex-classification markers from drivers’ licenses, passports, and birth certificates. If the goal is to ascertain identity and prevent fraud, he argues, there are more effective tools, such as fingerprints, face recognition technology, and security questions.
He applies the same test to sex-segregated bathrooms. If the purpose of a public restroom is to provide a safe, clean, somewhat private space in which to relieve oneself, then all-gender bathrooms would fulfill that aim without causing the anxiety, humiliation, and potential for harassment that happen every time a trans or gender-nonconforming person pushes open the door marked “men” or “women.”
ADA accommodations (ramps, elevators, automatic doors) benefit non-disabled people, such as parents with strollers or travelers dragging wheeled luggage. All-gender restrooms would help a range of users: the father taking his young daughter to the bathroom, the elderly man with a female caregiver.
For single-sex colleges or professional sports teams to strip sex classification from their practices is more complicated and more controversial. What about the longtime mission of women’s colleges to provide a supportive and ambitious educational environment for a historically excluded group? What about the physiological differences that can give male bodies a competitive edge on the playing field?
In both cases, Davis calmly returns to the gauge he believes should guide all sex-classification policies: Is there a compelling reason — not mere habit or tradition — to label and divide people by sex? Are current practices relevant to the organization’s goals, whether those are to foster a feminist campus, provide recreation and camaraderie to amateur athletes, or ensure fair play in competitive sports? Even in high-stakes realms — say, the Olympics — he suggests that measures of height, weight, and androgen (“male hormone”) levels would be more meaningful ways to sort out who may compete on which team.
The greatest strength of Beyond Trans is its reminder that there is nothing “natural” and not necessarily anything “reasonable” in sorting people by sex. Davis points out that such policies, though ubiquitous, “are material artifacts that were conceived and codified by people, and thus can be rewritten and overwritten by the same people or their successors.” It’s not a moment too soon to start editing.