Breaking Down Trans Erotica

Queerty.com – The Boundaries Issue: Eliza Steinbock

For today’s installment of The Boundaries Issue, we’d like to offer you an essay by critical theorist Eliza Steinbock. Reviewing M. Christian’s Transgender Erotica: Trans Figures from Haworth Press, Steinbock traces the evolution of trannies in popular culture.

From The Crying Game to Tootsie, Steinbock hones in on the good, bad and ugly of trans representation, particulary with regard to trans sexuality – a concept we’re sure many of you haven’t even considered. As the new year approaches, why not expand your boundaries? Besides, your sex life’s pretty stale anyway. (Trust us, we know.)

Trans Sexuality?

Do you have a diclit? Did you know that fags have pussies too? Are you in a reverse or a cross couple? Have you met your mixed gender neighbor? Ever have a genderfuck porn star fantasy? How about tasting a mangina today? These are just some of the creative terms and likely situations put forward by mounting numbers of English-language cultural products that advocate for the social recognition of a specifically trans-sexuality. This movement is about claiming the erotic rights, or the right to be erotic, of transfolk. To be clear, I am talking about the horizon of trans (mind the gap) sexuality, that is, the sexuality of trans people and those who love them.