On “Evil,” “Mutilation,” and “Castration:” Rhetoric and the Politics of Trans Disposability in Florida

• In Event: 30407 - Trans Life Chances under Institutionalized Violence and Discrimination

Abstract

Over the last several years, anti-trans policies have been introduced more frequently in more and more states in the US, including bills that restrict bathroom use, education, and access to gender-affirming healthcare. Using the case of Florida, which has passed multiple very restrictive anti-trans bills, I seek to understand the rhetoric used by those who support and oppose these bills, and how this is tied to notions of trans life as unlivable and disposable. I analyze 50 legislative sessions about 29 bills submitted in Florida, finding that supporters of these bills offer a unified argument that relies on dehumanization of trans people and a denial of their agency to make informed choices. Meanwhile, opponents of these bills employ either a neoliberal rights-based framework where trans people are productive citizens, or a more radical trans-feminist framework that names the state as violent, and locates the goal of these bills as the eradication of trans people. Through this analysis, I aim to explain how trans disposability and eradication are justified by state actors and everyday people, and how and why opposition is often ineffective against this rhetoric.

Author

• Emily Via, University of Illinois-Chicago