The Figure of the Transwoman of Color Through the Lens of “Doing Gender”

Abstract

often visit my birth family in Manati, a mid-size town in Puerto Rico.For over 20 years, I have driven on a main road (before the expresswaywas built) that connected the West and the North parts of the Island. At theoutskirts of town, there is often a voluptuous woman—with low hips, darkhair, tight jeans, and more often than not smoking a cigarette. She standsby the side of the road in what seems to be a small pathway to a house.She cruises the passing cars, but sometimes just stands there—waiting tobe noticed. Growing up queer in Manati, I have noticed this woman manytimes in the last two decades; although I have never spoken to her, Ilearned long ago that she is a transwoman. Recently, Mom and I drove by,and I checked to see if she was still there. With the rise of the AIDS epi-demic since the 1980s, and my (erroneous) assumptions about sex workand HIV risk, I have wondered if she is still alive. “Oh she is still there,”says my mom. And I see her. I try to understand why she signifies so muchin my imagination, how she reassures me by being alive, why I need to seeher standing there. This transwoman signifies to me the figure of thetranswoman of color. Who do you imagine her to be? What is your figureof the transwoman of color?This vignette illustrates both my assumptions about what the readermight (not) know, as well as my own position vis-a-vis “trans” people. Asa nontranssexual queer man, I hold a set of readings on gender (West andZimmerman 1987) that shape how I view nontranssexual women andmen, and transpeople. As a professor from a U.S. ethno-racial minoritygroup, I also bring an understanding about the varied raced (and classed)experiences—in general, and of transpeople in particular. The figure of thetranswoman of color helps illustrate the extent to which the “doing gen-der” framework has dealt with transgender/transsexual people.

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