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Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes (Worlds of Desire: The Chicago Series on Sexuality, Gender, and Culture)
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.77
EAN: 9780226461007
ISBN: 0226461009
Label: University Of Chicago Press
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 277
Publication Date: November 15, 1998
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
Studio: University Of Chicago Press
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Editorial Review:
It is wonderful and weirdly fitting that one of the jacket blurbs for this work of social anthropology is by sex educator and former porn star Annie Sprinkle. Just as there is nothing dry or remote about Annie Sprinkle's delivery, there is nothing dry or remote about Don Kulick's. In fact, this may be the most readable and engaging study of transgenderism to surface in years. For seven months in 1994, Kulick lived in a household of "travestis"--Brazilian male prostitutes who live as women. He constantly tape-recorded their casual conversations, whether on the street soliciting customers or in their small rooms in the ghettos of Salvador, and has been able to trace the motivations behind their behavior and body modifications with plausibility and compassion. So absorbing are the details of the travestis' lives, as recounted by Kulick, that the reader can easily miss the author's equally acute analysis of their often bizarre transformations and of what travestis, with their exaggerated performance of "femininity," suggest about the construction of gender in Brazil. --Regina Marler
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.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - excellent work
I was actually in the field in Salvador Bahia at the same time as Don Kulick was doing his fieldwork for this book, and I also read the manuscript before it was published. He and I have discussed at length various theoretical aspects of the book (I have a different interpretation of how gender works in Brazil). Knowing the accuracy of his ethnography as I do, I think this is one of the important books to have been published in anthropology and gender in recent years. It is also an engaging, insightful ... Read More
Rating: - very graphic
I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up Travesti. All I knew was that I would be in for a treat just by looking at the cover. Kulick who is an anthropologist who studied the lives transvestites in Brazil as he became friends with them he got all of the inside scoop and included it in his book. He talks about the travestis that come from Italy to do business in Brazil where these things are more acceptable. Some of the people he interviews talk about how they started in the business, they talk about ... Read More
Rating: - O bicho pegou!
I found this book to be very well written and, in several instances, it made me long to return to my anthropological studies at NYU. Had I only been a curious reader I probably would have found this book brilliant, but my reading was shaded by the fact that I personally know many travestis in Salvador (Peruco, Xuxuca, Kit Mahoney, Angelica) and therefore found the exclusion of several things to be particularly odd.
The importance of having a basic understanding of the language and culture of a ... Read More
Rating: - An Excellent Anthropological Work -- Worth the Read
Don Kulick provides an excellent example of anthropologists dealing with the tough issues of gender and sexuality research. He demonstrates how connected anthropologists become to those they study; and further challenges us to consider closeness, concern, and friendship with our informants as methodologies that speak not only to our own humanity as anthropologists but also to the humanity of our communities of study. I have used this book to teach introduction to cultural anthropology course and it is a perfect ... Read More
Rating:  - Another book equating transgenderism with prostitution
The editorial review says it all: "In fact, this may be the most readable and engaging study of transgenderism!" THIS BOOK IS NOT A STUDY OF TRANSGENDERISM. It is a study of TRANSGENDER PROSTITUTION. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING.
And anyway, haven't we written enough about transsexual hookers? Possibly an interesting subject, but how about the TS lawyers, doctors and scientists? Give us a break! Make some effort, skip over the easy score! Please!
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