Travestis and traviesas: in memory of Miriam Rivera
Earlier this year, one of the travestis best-known in the West, Miriam Rivera was killed in a manner as yet unknown. Miriam was a Mexican traviesa, similar to Brazilian travestis. In order to mark the passing of this beautiful but troubled individual, I am publishing this article about travestis and traviesas.
Who are the Travestis?
Travestis and traviesas are pre-operative or non-operative MtF transwomen; that is to say, they are feminised males who take hormones and have body enhancements, but they retain their male genitalia. They are found across Latin America and also in southern Europe.
They are most often prostitutes. They live in cultures where prostitution may not be considered a desirable career, but it is fully legal. Therefore it is a legitimate way to earn money – perhaps the only legitimate way available.
The most complete description of travesti life was in a 1998 book by Professor Don Kulick, called 'Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture amo
Re travestis/HSTS: males who are so “womanly” – you say they are “women” – yet they gravitate in huge numbers towards a job which frequently involves penetrating men with their penises? Something odd here.
HSTS are women, AGPs are men dressed as women, to start with. That’s a big difference. Few HSTS will actually penetrate but it depends a bit on culture. Most who will are actually AGP – far more travestis are AGP than many realise. Further, they compartmentalise – penetration may be a part of their professional work but they will absolutely reject it in their private lives, because it is de-affirmative. You have to remember that there are economic imperatives; in some cultures, prostitution is the only well-paying job a transwoman can get because her appearance does not match the gender marker on her ID, so she learns to accommodate her revulsion at using her ‘money-maker’. They have no choice, in other words. What would you do, work in a dumb job for three dollars a day or go for broke and get ten times that or more for an hour of boom-boom? And there is always the thrill of affirmation — men paying to have sex with you when they could pay a real girl.
Those HSTS prostitutes, wherever they might be, who will penetrate, speak of their clients who demand this with complete contempt and disgust, by the way, whereas AGPs often prefer it. Travestis get really tough as a part of their lives and having to deal with this.
You should read Don Kulick ‘Travesti’ I think I linked to it, on this. Although he doesn’t understand the difference between HSTS and AGP, his overall assessment of sex work and its place in the lives of all travestis is excellent. It’s not like here in the Phils; here, transwomen (baklas) are not expected to be prostitutes in the same way that it is a part of travesti identity in Latin America, and as a result, far fewer are. (They are expected to find boyfriends, which usually amounts to a sort of ‘sugar-daddy/sugar baby relationship, but that’s not the same as street prostitution.)
In Thailand, a significant number of kathoeys in street prostitution are AGP; the proportion seems much lower here. Each culture is different in the ways that transwomen appear and interface with it.
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