Trap Door

Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibilty

Author: Reina Gossett
Secondary Author: Eric A. Stanley
ISBN: 9780262036603

Essays, conversations, and archival investigations explore the paradoxes, limitations, and social ramifications of trans representation within contemporary culture. The increasing representation of trans identity throughout art and popular culture in recent years has been nothing if not paradoxical. Trans visibility is touted as a sign of a liberal society, but it has coincided with a political moment marked both by heightened violence against trans people (especially trans women of color) and by the suppression of trans rights under civil law. Trap Door grapples with these contradictions. The essays, conversations, and dossiers gathered here delve into themes as wide-ranging yet interconnected as beauty, performativity, activism, and police brutality. Collectively, they attest to how trans people are frequently offered "doors"--entrances to visibility and recognition--that are actually "traps," accommodating trans bodies and communities only insofar as they cooperate with dominant no

Publisher: MIT Press
Publish Date: 2017

Subjects: Art / Criticism & Theory, Art / Art & Politics, Social Science / LGBT Studies / General

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Women's Center (Location: Trans Justice)