Thinking Trans/Sex: Erotic Justice and the Trans-Subject

Abstract

abstract:My gender identity is trans-fag bottom boy. I characterize my trans-masculinity as a technologically enabled creation that gives embodied form to the fantasies that structure my desire. I cannot think my gender without recourse to my sexuality. In fact, I conceive of my transness as wholly motivated by the sexual. According to hegemonic trends in Transgender Studies and many political and community discourses, however, I am mistaken at best, and at worst, I am an impossibility. Gender and sexuality are commonly maintained as separate phenomena that emerge from distinct ontological and epistemological foundations. In this article, I trace the historical emergence of the contemporary conceptual frame that holds that gender and sexuality are separate aspects of being. I then argue that the separation of gender and sexuality is not a necessary or sufficient condition for transness. Finally, I discuss the consequences of not considering even the possibility that some trans- people cannot separate their felt sense of gender and sexuality. I conclude by offering thoughts about what might constitute erotic justice for trans- subjects.