Brazilian 'Travesti' Migrations by Julieta Vartabedian

Author:Julieta Vartabedian
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Travestis’ Sexualities

For this popular and hierarchical model of classification, the boundaries between the masculine and feminine are not based on the sexed bodies, as the sexual practices and the values associated with masculinity and femininity establish who behaves as a ‘man’ or a ‘woman.’ However, as we see later, travestis make a rigid and binary use of what is perceived as masculine and feminine through their sexual and erotic interactions: ‘real’ men should only penetrate; travestis should only dar and be possessed . Moreover, the rigidity of values and meanings attributed to the sexual practices categorise travestis as if they were homosexual or viados (Benedetti 2005). Indeed, most of the travestis consider themselves as homosexuals or bichas (Klein 1999; Kulick 1998) to describe who they are.2 It is useful to take into account that the construction of travesti identities is crossed by an ‘erotic engineering’ (Denizart 1997) that not only guides the construction of a highly sexualised body but also organises the desire. From the moment they decide to modify their bodies, feminising and beautifying themselves, travestis are, simultaneously, heterosexualising the desire (Butler 1990) as they construct intelligible bodies that will supposedly maintain some coherence through the active/passive sexual practices. It is no longer a ‘male’ body that will relate to another ‘male’ body; rather, it is a travesti with a considered feminine appearance that interacts sexually with men. Within this model of sexuality, the homosexual (self-)definition depends more on the roles assumed in their sexual interactions than on the sexual-object choice (that is, being two ‘men’ together).

Those who have a greater political awareness and participate in social movements have reflected more on travesti identities and distinguish that it is not the same being travestis as being homosexuals. Mara, who was the president of ASTRA Rio (Association of Transsexuals and Transsexuals of the State of Rio de Janeiro), discussed with other activists that homosexuality is a sexual orientation, while travesti expressions remain at the level of (gender) identities. Therefore, according to her, travestis could be homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual. She stated that a travesti should not be identified directly as a homosexual. In this way, she moved away from an analysis of sexuality following the active/passive model and approached a more egalitarian one based on the heterosexual/homosexual axis. She described that based on the recognition that a travesti is not a man or a woman, ‘A travesti who has sex with a man has a heterosexual relationship . A travesti who has sex with a woman has a heterosexual relationship. And a travesti who has sex with another travesti maintains a homosexual relationship’ (Field notes, 18 April 2008). It is observed that she did not define a person as homosexual according to their ‘passive’ role in the sexual encounter; on the contrary, she focused on the orientation of the desire (among men, women, or travestis). Thus, as soon as travestis do not recognise themselves as men, and feel desire for men, they are heterosexualising the desire . However, this way

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.