Sexual Violence and the Trans Latina Condition

• In Event: Racialized Transmisogyny, Necropolitics, and New Methodologies for Survival

Abstract

An inescapable component of trans femme of color life is the necropolitical emphasis on death, particularly through moments of sexual violence. Indeed, the compounding weight of misogyny, classism, racism, and transphobia structures the life chances of many femmes. What has not been thoroughly examined is the capaciousness of the sexual economy that produces these deaths for trans Latinas. What has been under studied in these moments are the dynamics of sexual violence preceding, predicting, and predicating upon the moment of death. How can scholars better understand the conditions of transmisogyny and racism of sexual violence when rather than citing the climax of death or the denouement of its reflection scholars meditate on the litany of encounters that precede death? To reflect on this questions, this presentation will review Cecilia Gentili’s Faltas, Farrah Fang’s Quererme en la Luz, and Piri Thomas’ Down These Mean Streets.

Author

• Esperanza O Santos, Rutgers University-Newark