Warrior Princess: A Transgender Navy SEAL's Journey

There are many stories now about brave transgender people. This story, though, confronts so many challenging and interesting issues that it is worth a close examination.

At a time in which Chelsea Manning's coming out prompted discussions of whether she has the right to corrective medical treatment while incarcerated, there are broader issues with human rights violations of LGBT prisoners, the criminalization and incarceration of LGBT people, and even broader issues with the general concept of human rights being afforded to all human beings (even those accused of or guilty of a crime). If you are not sure what we mean when we suggest that human rights are not applying to people who are considered criminals, listen to some of the After Innocence stories, and think about the debates over the use of torture in the war on terror, or take a look at HRW's prisons work.
So, the Warrior Princess story is timely and brings out all these interesting questions about patriotism, human rights, soldiers and their personal rights/personal identities.... as well as the broader questions about LGBT people and human rights..... and also broader questions about human rights and freedom of expression, dissent, incarceration, imprisonment, assumptions of guilt/innocence.

On top of that, this topic can help us confront in depth issues of gender, power, authenticity, masculinity, and more. For an introduction to basic terms and concepts that will help, check out Trans101. And read up on Fausto-Sterling.