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We Are Trans Women”: On-Street Sex Work and Transgender Politics in Mexico City

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We Are Trans Women”: On-Street Sex Work and Transgender Politics in Mexico City “WE ARE TRANS WOMEN”: ON-STREET SEX WORK AND TRANSGENDER POLITICS IN MEXICO CITY by ORALIA GÓMEZ-RAMÍREZ B.A., National Autonomous University of Mexico, 2002 B.A., Mexico’s National School of Anthropology and History, 2005 M.A., The University of British Columbia, 2007 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Anthropology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) November 2017 © Oralia Gómez-Ramírez, 2017 Abstract This dissertation is a feminist ethnography about on-street sex work and transgender politics in contemporary Mexico. It focuses on the socioeconomic and symbolic tensions existing between trans activists and trans vendors, mostly of sexual services, in Mexico City. It is based on ethnographic research consisting of participant-observation, formal interviews, informal conversations, and travel companionships with low-income female- gendered transpeople and self-identified trans activists in places of work, homes, social gatherings, and activist events about sexual diversity. The fieldwork for this study was conducted between 2010 and 2011, with shorter research periods spanning 2009 to 2014. The research also draws on bill proposals and official stenographic transcripts of socio- legal discussions held in Mexico City’s Legislative Assembly between 2001 and 2013. This study shows that, while not all transpeople are sex workers, a sizeable number of low-income trans women work as sexual labourers on the streets of Mexico City. Trans women have gained increasing visibility in on-street sex trade areas. Impoverished transpeople suffer the symbolic and material expressions of a generalized disrespect and disregard affecting on-street sex workers and low-income female-gendered transpeople. A sexual labour framework is thus critical to understand the ways in which social class and informal on-street vending shape the circumstances, livelihoods, and aspirations of low- income trans women. Their daily realities are shaped but not subsumed or exhausted by gender expressions and subjectivities or sex–gender systems alone. A class and labour lens, in addition to a gender lens, is necessary to shed light on the often-overlooked dimensions of socioeconomic standing and employment background that frame the lives of trans activists and trans sex workers. ii This project applies an intersecting critical trans and sexual labour analysis to understand the socioeconomic concerns and livelihoods of female-gendered transpeople. It contributes to the ethnographies of Mexico by underscoring regional and class diversity in the experiences and circumstances facing Mexicans. Lastly, this work helps refine feminist anthropology by demonstrating the utility of classic concepts to understand shifting intersecting realities and, more broadly, by refusing to conflate trans and sex work issues in Mexico with those found in other contexts. iii Lay Summary The main goal of this study is to provide a feminist understanding about the concerns and struggles of transgender women in contemporary Mexico City. It is based on qualitative research carried out with female transpeople who identified as trans activists or who worked as vendors, mostly of sexual services, on the streets. The information for this study was gathered primarily between 2010 and 2011. A key finding of this study is that the sociopolitical concerns and everyday lives of female-gendered transpeople were shaped by socioeconomic standing and employment background; on-street sexual labour of low- income transpeople was not considered to be critical to formal trans activist demands for legal rights and social recognition. Also, impoverished trans women suffered the daily expressions of a generalized misrecognition and dishonour affecting sex workers and transpeople. This study contributes to rethinking common understandings about the key issues that affect transpeople in Mexico today. iv Preface This dissertation is original, unpublished, independent work by the author, Oralia Gómez- Ramírez. The University of British Columbia’s Behavioural Research Ethics Board approved the research for this project (certificate numbers: H09-01461 and H09-02981). Jayme Taylor designed the maps that appear in this dissertation, and the author holds the copyright. The following peer-reviewed publication emerged as a result of this research project: Gómez-Ramírez, Oralia, and Frida García. 2012. Vivencias de las mujeres trans: base para la formulación de políticas públicas [Trans Women’s Experiences: The Basis to Formulate Public Policies]. Género y Salud en Cifras 10(2-3): 69–76. v Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... ii Lay Summary ........................................................................................................................ iv Preface .................................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... viii List of Acronyms ................................................................................................................... ix Glossary ................................................................................................................................. xi Note on Names and Last Names of Published Authors ...................................................... xvi Note on Italics and Translations ......................................................................................... xvii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... xviii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... xxiii Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 “We Are Trans Women” .................................................................................................. 1 Intersecting Critical Trans and Sex Work Studies ......................................................... 11 Ethnographies of Mexico and Mexicans ........................................................................ 21 Feminist Analytics ......................................................................................................... 24 Terminologies ................................................................................................................ 29 Outline of Chapters ........................................................................................................ 39 1. Feminist Ethnography in Mexico City ............................................................................. 43 Beloved Monster ............................................................................................................ 43 Bicentennials and “Wars on Drugs” at the Turn-of-the-21st-Century ........................... 50 Unexpected Turns, Auspicious Coincidences ................................................................ 56 Researching Trans and Sex Work Politics in Local and Translocal Spaces .................. 66 Positionings and “Puntos” ............................................................................................. 78 Confidentiality and Pseudonyms ................................................................................... 84 Presence ......................................................................................................................... 85 Interpreting and Reading Softly ..................................................................................... 88 2. Changing Sex Trade Geographies and Socio-Legal Regulation ...................................... 93 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 93 Regulating “Social Problems” ....................................................................................... 94 Sex Work in Mexico City ............................................................................................ 100 vi Changing Geographies in the On-Street Sex Trade ..................................................... 115 The Trans Law ............................................................................................................. 129 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 134 3. Trans Women’s Lives and Sociocultural Milieus ........................................................... 136 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 136 Names, Nicknames, Last Names, and Pronouns .......................................................... 137 Bodies and Embodiments ............................................................................................ 148 Maridos, Chacales, Kin, and Other Lovers and Beloveds .......................................... 158 Beliefs and Practices ...................................................................................................
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