Some aspects of gender construction amongst low-income travestis

Abstract

This article starts proposing that travestis, especially the low-income ones, exceed the normative classification associated with gender and sexuality within the Brazilian society, which subjects them to intense discrimination. Subsequently, it decribes their life history, full of family and school violence, where we may see the assimilation of the viado (passive homossexual) identity, which is the oldest fragment in their patchwork identity. The migration to the big cities, along with the practice of prostitution, leads them to a new world, unique to travestis, which is analysed as a process of ressocialization. Finally, a reflection is made about one of the context related to their world - the relationship with their husbands (companions) - where we may see the incorporation of the image of the submissive woman as one of their identity fragments.