trans-argentina | Was Sex Inflexible? Practices, Knowledge, Techniques, and Technologies of “Sex Change” Embodiment in Argentina during the Twentieth Century

Summary
My project seeks to analyse the making of transsexual bodies in Argentina during the twentieth century. It has three keygoals: (i) to investigate the history of a repertoire of medical and social practices that includes the use of self-injected hormones, cosmetic and sex change surgeries, prosthetics, as well as international travel to attain medical treatment, document falsification, among others; (ii) to examine the transformations of the notion of “sex,” and the development of the multiple meanings that doctors, patients, journalists, and judges assigned to it; and (iii) to establish a connection between transsexual embodiment practices and gender-normative technologies performed in the first half of the twentieth century for cissexual men and women.
Unlike other countries where sex change surgery access was restricted (the United States) or existed in a legal vacuum (Chile and Mexico), Argentina prohibited surgeries that affected reproductive organs and punished public display of attributes of the “other sex.” As a consequence, the daily lives of transvestites, transsexuals and female homosexuals became public transgressions and “sex change” procedures became clandestine, expensive and dangerous. By analyzing documents such as trial records and using oral history techniques, I will write the first book of the trans* body making in Argentina.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/886496
Start date: 15-10-2020
End date: 27-02-2023
Total budget - Public funding: 212 933,76 Euro - 212 933,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

My project seeks to analyse the making of transsexual bodies in Argentina during the twentieth century. It has three keygoals: (i) to investigate the history of a repertoire of medical and social practices that includes the use of self-injected hormones, cosmetic and sex change surgeries, prosthetics, as well as international travel to attain medical treatment, document falsification, among others; (ii) to examine the transformations of the notion of “sex,” and the development of the multiple meanings that doctors, patients, journalists, and judges assigned to it; and (iii) to establish a connection between transsexual embodiment practices and gender-normative technologies performed in the first half of the twentieth century for cissexual men and women.
Unlike other countries where sex change surgery access was restricted (the United States) or existed in a legal vacuum (Chile and Mexico), Argentina prohibited surgeries that affected reproductive organs and punished public display of attributes of the “other sex.” As a consequence, the daily lives of transvestites, transsexuals and female homosexuals became public transgressions and “sex change” procedures became clandestine, expensive and dangerous. By analyzing documents such as trial records and using oral history techniques, I will write the first book of the trans* body making in Argentina.

Status

TERMINATED

Call topic

MSCA-IF-2019

Update Date

28-04-2024
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Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.1. EXCELLENT SCIENCE
H2020-EU.1.3. EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
H2020-EU.1.3.2. Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
MSCA-IF-2019