

Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes by Don Kulick University of Chicago Press, 1998

Paper: 978-0-226-46100-7 | Cloth: 978-0-226-46099-4 | eISBN: 978-0-226-46101-4

Library of Congress Classification HQ77.2.B7K85 1998

Dewey Decimal Classification 306.77

ABOUT THIS BOOK | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE ABOUT THIS BOOK

In this dramatic and compelling narrative, anthropologist Don Kulick follows the lives of a group of transgendered prostitutes (called travestis in Portuguese) in the Brazilian city Salvador. Travestis are males who, often beginning at ages as young as ten, adopt female names, clothing styles, hairstyles, and linguistic pronouns. More dramatically, they ingest massive doses of female hormones and inject up to twenty liters of industrial silicone into their bodies to create breasts, wide hips, and large thighs and buttocks. Despite such irreversible physiological changes, virtually no travesti identifies herself as a woman. Moreover, travestis regard any male who does so as mentally disturbed.



Kulick analyzes the various ways travestis modify their bodies, explores the motivations that lead them to choose this particular gendered identity, and examines the complex relationships that they maintain with one another, their boyfriends, and their families. Kulick also looks at how travestis earn their living through prostitution and discusses the reasons prostitution, for most travestis, is a positive and affirmative experience.



Arguing that transgenderism never occurs in a "natural" or arbitrary form, Kulick shows how it is created in specific social contexts and assumes specific social forms. Furthermore, Kulick suggests that travestis—far from deviating from normative gendered expectations—may in fact distill and perfect the messages that give meaning to gender throughout Brazilian society and possibly throughout much of Latin America.



Through Kulick's engaging voice and sharp analysis, this elegantly rendered account is not only a landmark study in its discipline but also a fascinating read for anyone interested in sexuality and gender.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Note on the Transcriptions

Introduction

1: The Context of Travesti Life

2: Becoming a Travesti

3: A Man in the House

4: The Pleasure of Prostitution

5: Travesti Gendered Subjectivity

Notes

References

Index REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you with an electronic file for alternative access. Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form. It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled. See other books on: Cross-dressers | Human Sexuality | Sex | Transvestites

See other titles from See other books on: Brazil See other titles from University of Chicago Press