Estigma e resistência entre travestis e mulheres transexuais em Salvador, Bahia, Brasil

Abstract

This was a qualitative study based on an analysis of narratives produced by travestis and transsexual women in Salvador, Bahia State, Brazil, with the aim of analyzing their experiences with stigmatization by describing events, actors, and contexts that have marked their life stories, as well as elucidating the relationship between stigma and their female performances. The narratives came from 19 in-depth interviews during an epidemiological survey, based on a prior script that explored the production of narratives on lifestyles and experiences of travestis and transsexual women in the city of Salvador. The life stories that emerged in the field were transcribed and analyzed from a theoretical and narrative perspective. The narratives of many travestis and transsexual women described an "effeminate" gender performance that had been identified since their childhood by family and community members. This performance was presented as insubordination to the power established by heteronormative society's legal system. The process of stigmatization begins to operate when social expectations concerning the coherence between "biological sex" and "gender performance" are frustrated in social interactions, submitting the individuals to discrimination and violence. Thus, stigmatization is operated through the power exercised over bodies by the laws of compulsory heterosexuality. However, during the life stories of travestis and transsexual women, strategies of resistance to stigma are produced, with the potential to transform this situation.

Body construction and health itineraries: a survey among travestis and trans people in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…We agree with other researchers 32 that it is crucial to criticize individualizing discourses that blame trans people and travestis for illnesses resulting from excessive self-administered use of hormones (or even industrial silicone): after all, this health itinerary reflects a social context marked by stigmatization and discrimination processes 33,34 . This can also be seen in healthcare personnel's lack of training for dealing with transexuality 21 , and other more structural obstacles to hormone access 2 .…”

“…However, 35.2% said they were considering a vaginoplasty. The higher proportion of trans women and travestis who said that they were not considering vaginoplasty is meaningful, not only due to showing that gender is not defined by the genitals 4,34,37 , but also because it helps understand the health itineraries of these trans women and travestis.…”

Evidence of GLBT in Brazilian Scientific Research: A State of the Art

“…The same conditions mentioned before are noticed at other institutions, not only health institutions but also schools, as pointed out by Neves, Sadala, Silva, Teixeira, Ferreira, and Silva (2015) and Magno, Dourado, and Silva (2018), and also at police stations as pointed out by Souza, Malvasi, Signorelli, and Pereira (2015), and still in the labor market environment according to the study by Licciardi, Waitmann, and Oliveira (2015), and Murasaki and Galheigo (2016).…”

Itinerários Terapêuticos De Homens Trans Em Transição De Gênero

“…A entrada de pessoas trans no processo transexualizador de modificação corporal ainda se dá por intermédio da necessidade de uma categorização psiquiátrica, que viabiliza ou restringe a realização de tais procedimentos. Nesse sentido, o saber biomédico sobre essas populações ainda é privilegiado, insinuando-se sobre suas vivências (Magno, Dourado & Silva, 2018).…”