Maegan Clark Transgender Representation in Photography Independent Study, Spring 2016 Leesa Rittelmann

Maegan Clark Transgender Representation in Photography Independent Study, Spring 2016 Leesa Rittelmann The LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) community has pushed its way into history and broken barriers to be seen in public media. While the “LGB” in LGBT has been more widely accepted and understood in society at large, be it because of representation and people learning more about sexuality rather than gender identity, the “T” seems to be just now really breaking through and getting noticed. With names like Laverne Cox on the cover of Time magazine in 2014 or Caitlyn Jenner on the cover of Vanity Fair in 2015(Figure 1), the American society at large is quickly trying to grasp the terms surrounding the transgender community. As we still live in a world where the biases and restrictions of heteronormative labels are still being unlearned as we try to expand our minds, we also still have to consider and realize that we live in a society where cisnormativity is strongly taught and hindering our acceptance of trans individuals and terms. Cisnormativity, the belief that all people are the gender they were assigned at birth, not only erases trans identities but also creates a strict man/woman binary that furthers heteronormativity and creates harsh gender roles. All of these concepts thrown together are why artists are slamming portraits of transgender individuals in our faces – to tell everyone that “We exist!” To start off everything, breaking down and introducing terms becomes important. “LGBT” has been the most widely used acronym for the community that these topics are about. For this paper, I am choosing to use the acronym “MOGII” from here on out. MOGII stands for Marginalized Orientations, Gender Identity, and Intersex. MOGII is viewed as being a more inclusive acronym than “LGBT” since our vocabulary is always shifting, changing, and being expanded. “MOGII” is also much easier and faster than stringing on more letters such as “LGBTQIAP” and so on. When talking about transgender identities in particular, it is necessary 2 to establish a base from which we will be discussing these identities. First, understanding that transgender simply means that a person does not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. Even using the word “assigned” brings significance to this paper. Saying “assigned” keeps in mind that gender is a social construct that is placed upon us – a doctor labels us these words “male” or “female” and we do not have a say in this assignment. Cisgender people keep the label they were assigned at birth – if they were labeled “male” they identify as a man, if they were labeled “female” they identify as a woman. These terms can be easier to grasp since our concept of the binary is already set in place. Going beyond the binary can be when people dismiss certain trans identities. Non-binary trans people are just that – people who do not identify within the binary of man or woman. They might express femininity or masculinity or androgyny, but they don’t identify strictly as a man or woman. Non-binary is an umbrella term as well as an identifier. Some non-binary identities are demi-girl, gender fluid, genderqueer, and agender, but the term non-binary can be a label someone chooses for themselves as well. Although I will not go into each gender identity individually, it is important to note that these identities exist and some are represented in my project. “Ex-GI becomes Blonde Beauty” (see figure 2) was part of the headline that hit papers on December 1st, 1952. Christine Jorgenson, the person who these headlines were about, quickly became the face for transsexuals or more specifically the term “sex change” (which is usually referred to as gender affirmation surgery more recently). The headline was accompanied with pictures of Christine “before and after” – a sentiment that doesn’t seem to go away when talking about trans lives who go through surgery. The headline itself was latent with enticing language that pulled in curious readers and allowed them to gawk at this “freak” or “pervert” (Meyerowitz, 2002). This headline also was centered around the appearance of Christine and reduced her from 3 the important societal role of an “EX-GI” to the simple, cosmetic role of a “blonde beauty.” Not only does this scream misogyny, it also reflects a lot of what the trans community goes through when talking about appearance – that a transgender person must “pass” (look like their target gender and “pass” as cisgender) to be seen as “real.” In 2015, the moment that Caitlyn Jenner appeared on Vanity Fair, history mirrored what happened around 63 years after Christine’s newspaper headline. Although Caitlyn’s headline was “I Am Cait” which was way less misogynistic, what was happening online may as well been saying “EX-Olympian becomes Brunette Bombshell.” People reduced Caitlyn down to her beauty, an object to be looked at, and no longer seen as her achievements. It goes to show that transgender people have been put into this “freakish” narrative continually over time. Public media doesn’t even begin to cover how photographs of transgender people have been used construed in ways that dehumanize and critique trans people’s existence. Ben Singer, a gender theorist and transgender healthcare activist, talks about the “medical gaze” in which intersex and transgender people have often been exposed to. The medical gaze refers to photographs of the body often taken in medical settings or with intentions of being used medically. These photographs may be taken in a room with a blank background or grid like background (to capture height and width of bodies) and the person’s facial features (at least eyes) are censored or blocked out. In his essay, Ben compares a photograph (figure 3) of a trans woman used in a medical book by doctor J. Money and a photo of Marsha P. Johnson, a trans woman who helped lead the fight of the Stonewall riots. His comparison points out how depersonalized and anonymous the photo on the left is while the photo of Marsha P. Johnson on the right is personable and in a social setting. 4 Singer then brings in artist Loren Cameron and talks about his self portraits, particularly his portrait titled “God’s Will” (figure 4). Singer says: In “God’s Will,” Cameron asserts control over the image-making process, showing the shutter release bulb in his left hand while injecting body-modifying testosterone with the syringe in his right hand. The image is provocatively self-representational, simultaneously connecting his material and aesthetic manipulation of his own body. Cameron’s self-portrait refutes the Frankensteinian logic of medical expertise that puts the doctor and the medical establishment in the role of creator; it recasts the sense of sacrality and power typically associated with the concept of God as an expression of self- actualization and self-determination, rather than as subjection to an inscrutable external force. While the medical model asserts that Cameron is a product of medical intervention—or even invention, and thus a proper subject of the medical gaze—this self- image represents him as an active moral and ethical agent assuming responsibility for his own embodiment. Although Cameron lingers on the medical gaze aesthetic, the control he has in this photograph (along with the others in his Body Alchemy series) puts consent back into the photo. Consent is a good word to use here. The medical gaze gives a feeling of exposure, coercion, uncomfortable, while Loren Cameron’s feel more like a statement done consensually and purposefully. When it comes to representing transgender people in photographs, consent is one factor that needs to be given. When artists like Loren Cameron are consenting to these photos being taken (in his case, since he is the one taking them) it gives a whole new meaning to the photograph. In his piece Distortions (see figure 5), Cameron uses portraits of himself and Barbara Kruger-esque quotations to bring up discourse surrounding trans bodies and transphobia. 5 This direct way of using text and imagery can be a way to take the gaze and throw it back at the viewer – blatantly giving the viewer just what you want them to see and having them question what they know. “Cameron’s work challenges this desubjectification and pathologization, not by promoting naïvely celebratory images in an attempt to make stigma vanish; but rather, by restaging and re-presenting the ambivalence experienced by a person trapped, not in a wrong body, but in the wrong cultural context.” (Singer, 2006) Singer also brings in photographer Del LaGrace Volcano who often photographs transgender subjects and does self portraits to bring in conversations about the transgender community. As pointed out in Singer’s essay, Volcano also plays with the cold “medical” feel for some portraits, while other portraits show trans people in an everyday, diaristic photos, with a Nan Goldin vibe. Some of Volcano’s portraits are what influenced me to look more into this subject, for instance the portrait “Kael & Vincent” (figure 6) and other portraits from the “Genderqueer” gallery on Volcano’s website. While many artists stated above heavily influenced my intrigue in researching a project about the representation of transgender people in photography and executing the creation of a trans calendar, there are also many contemporary artists that I found to be inspiring. Heather Cassils, Zanele Muholi, Chloe Aftel, and Dave Naz are a few artists that photograph themselves (as a trans person) or photographs other trans people within their works. Although each artist has a distinct style, all of their work is based in trying to get these transgender identities brought to the light.

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