It can take a while to figure out the major authors and theories in an academic discipline. Certain kinds of books (handbooks, companions, readers, encyclopedias) can be helpful for finding your way.
Here are a few examples for gender and sexuality studies:
Traces the intellectual and political emergence of queer studies, addresses relevant critical debates in the field, provides an overview of queer approaches to genres, and explains how queer approaches have transformed understandings of key concepts in multiple fields.
This book traces the emergence and development of Queer Studies as a field of scholarship, presenting key critical essays alongside more recent criticism that explores new directions.
Swarthmore students: sign into Tripod to request a copy
Fifty influential texts with new introductions by the editors that, taken together, document the evolution of transgender studies in the English-speaking world.
An interdisciplinary essay collection bringing together leading experts in the growing field of Trans Studies and offering insights about how transgender activism and scholarship might transform scholarship and public policy.