The Emergence of Travesti Identities in Argentina

Abstract

This research reconstructs the conditions of emergence of travestis’ lifestyles between the 1950s and 1980s. The main hypothesis will be that both gays and travestis are contemporary productions that emerged in the marica cultures of the past through a process of mutual differentiation. This process required, as a condition of possibility, the separation of sexual identity and gender identity —previously inseparably intertwined— as two independent and autonomous dimensions. The work will examine the transformations in the sexuality and usage of gender of maricas, gays, and travestis. It will analyze how the incorporation of knowledge and practices related to the manipulation of the body and the imposition of femininity in carnivals and cabarets opened a space of possibility for the emergence of the contemporary travesti experience. I will argue that the emergence of travestis is parallel to the emergence of gay identities from a simultaneous process of transphobic differentiation that requires the denial and repudiation of travestis by the latter. The research is based on the historiographical analysis of a diverse corpus of cultural, newspaper, and testimonial materials.