To talk about LGTBIQ imaginaries and representations in the media and other aspects of the image, we have invited Pol Galofre, activist and sonidist specialized in documentary film, linked to the trans and feminist struggle in Barcelona. Your project Trans Culture It seeks to promote new references and discourses that transform the collective imagination about trans. Pol has co-edited the book
Políticas Trans- Una Antología de Textos desde los Estudios Trans
and regularly collaborates with
La Bonne
, Centre de Cultura de Dones Francesca Bonnemaison.
E.P.- IN AN INTERVIEW YOU MENTIONED THAT “WE LIVE IN A VERY VISUAL WORLD”. I UNDERSTAND THAT NOT ONLY BECAUSE OF THE IMAGES THAT THE WORLD TELLS US, BUT ALSO BECAUSE OF THOSE THAT SEEK TO STANDARDIZE OUR ROLES. WHAT ARE THESE STEREOTYPES AROUND THE MALE-FEMALE CONSTRUCTION THAT PREVENT US FROM UNDERSTANDING THAT GENDER IS A MORE COMPLEX ISSUE THAT GOES BEYOND BIOLOGICAL SEX?
PG.- I don’t know if these are just images that try to standardize our roles, but perhaps we are part of a system that feeds off each other. It is like a fish biting its tail: the products we consume are aimed at men or women, not because the world is divided in two and we have opposing tastes or needs – I think with a little global vision it is obvious that tastes are totally temporary and cultural – but because we have been taught to have them that way.
We see this from toys For children, from pink or blue razors instead of yellow, orange or green, to different models of cars. There are cars designed “for women” and cars designed “for men”. Normally the former tend to be smaller and more manageable and the latter large, fast and with a lot of power, which is still another way of explaining and reaffirming that women occupy less space in society than men.
Some things are already changing, because discourses on the social construction of gender They interest a higher percentage of the population today, which translates, for example, into many clothing brands having “unisex” collections. I don’t know to what extent these collections are not a trap of this well-assembled system that we have and that self-regulates perfectly. Many of these clothes respond to a notion of androgen that refers to masculinity. I miss collections Unisex with skirts, dresses, neckline or hybrid garments.
All this may seem superfluous, deep down we are only talking about consumer products, but if it is an aspect that we have so absolutely marked, I understand that for many people it can be difficult to think that there is something else. I am not only referring to gender expressions or identities that come out of the binomial man and woman, but directly to think that there may be other ways of being a woman or a man.
EP.- LET’S KEEP TALKING ABOUT IMAGES. WHAT ARE THE STEREOTYPES THAT EXIST ABOUT THE DIFFERENT IDENTITIES THAT MAKE UP THE SCHOOL? LGBTQ COLLECTIVE?
P.G.- I think the recent history of LGBTQ experiences is fascinating and how its representation in the media in Europe and the United States has changed. It is fascinating because we first experienced a paradigm shift in which gay went from absolute marginality in the 70s to being an apparently accepted sexual orientation. We see it reflected in prime-time series such as Modern Family, in which one part of the family is a gay male couple with an adopted daughter. The same is happening to the Transsexuality, which now seems to have captured the interest of many channels and producers. It is not an isolated fact, I think at a global level the interest in gender issues and related to the Feminism is expanding, and the trans experience is very interesting within this context.
What I find most interesting about these two processes of centralization of previously marginalized experiences is to think about which experiences of homosexuality have been left out again and which experiences within transsexuality they’re left out right now. To prove this, it is interesting to ask some questions: How is it that the image of homosexuality is still that of two men and not that of two women? Why, oddly enough, are men overrepresented again in this case? What kind of gay man is represented? How much feather does it have? What’s your masculinity like? What does their gender expression look like? The trans people we see in the media, what kind of stories do they have? Are they all similar? What kind of men and women are they? Are there any of these depictions of people who do not identify as male or female? What types of processes do they do?
It is clear that in this process of assimilation we have forgotten many people along the way. The Maricas
, las marimachos, the bolleras who decide to have children with their friend Marica
and raise them together, the locas
, crips, blacks, non-binary people, visible trans people who don’t want or can’t fit into society’s idea of “woman or man.” The whores, the
Sudakas
, those of queer Islam… In short: those who annoy are still out.
EP.- YOU SAY THAT “WHAT WE HAVE TO DO IS GENERATE LITTLE BY LITTLE (…) THOSE IMAGINARY, SO THAT OUR CULTURE CHANGES PROGRESSIVELY UNTIL THERE IS ROOM FOR THEM.” WE ARE TALKING ABOUT CASES IN SPAIN AND CATALONIA SUCH AS MERLÍ, ORGIINAL OF TV3, DUBBED INTO SPANISH BY LA SEXTA AND NOW ALSO BROADCAST ON NETFLIX. IT WAS SAID AT THE TIME THAT BRUNO (PROTAGONIST) WAS CHARGED WITH THE “HETERONORMATIVITY” OF THE SERIES. WHAT DO YOU THINK? IS THIS THE MOST REPRESENTATIVE CASE OF THE SPANISH PANORAMA? DO YOU KNOW OF ANY OTHER CASES?
PG.- Yes, what we have to do is resume this space to expand the framework of possibilities of existence. Specifically Merlin I don’t think I’m doing that job. The series has been widely criticized by the Catalan feminism, a fact that writers and producers have ignored. The female characters still have virtually no plot arc other than to accompany the lead boys. In two seasons of the series, they haven’t talked about any female philosopher or thinkers in class. Head. Neither Beauvoir, nor Haraway, nor Anzaldúa, nor Davis… One day they decided to do a chapter on transsexuality (following the thread of Transparent) and they talked about Judith Butler.
Machismo in
Merlin
It is subtle because for those who do not have an eye on, it goes unnoticed. It’s subtle because they talk about sexuality and homosexuality openly, but it’s blatant in their treatment of women. Perhaps the most troubling thing about Merlin It’s that so many people follow it and no one has been shocked. Just like we weren’t shocked when the poster 500 artists of Viñarock only 3 are women. Machismo is present everywhere and without dismantling machismo we cannot dismantle any heteronorm, since they are part of it.
EP.- PERHAPS SERIES ARE MANAGING TO APPROACH THE SENSIBILITIES OF AN INCREASINGLY DEMANDING AUDIENCE. PERHAPS PAY TELEVISION AND ALTERNATIVE MEDIA HAVE CREATED A BROADER SPECTRUM OF LGBT REPRESENTATIONS WITH SERIES SUCH AS TRANSPARENT, BUT ALSO WITH OTHERS SUCH AS ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK OR SENSE8. WHAT ARE THE STORIES AND CHARACTERS THAT MAKE UP THESE NEW REPRESENTATIONS LIKE? HOW HAVE THESE FICTIONS IMPROVED?
PG.- The three series you mention have meant a radical change in the representation of trans in the audiovisual world. So far usually the Trans people appear in series and films to trick men, to be serial killers or to show over and over again that in reality this female exterior they put on is nothing more than a mask that always ends up falling off.
What differentiates Sense8
, Orange
and Transparent
is that real trans people appear on the screen and also on the back. Transparent
It is based on the true story of its creator. Among the actors and actresses there are many who are Trans, the screenwriters team has trans people with trans advisors, there are trans chapter directors, etc. Sense8
is directed by the Wachowski sisters and the trans character (played by a trans actress) goes far beyond being trans, it’s not the only feature. In Orange Sofia’s character was quite a change, even though her story continues to revolve entirely around traffic. It was the discovery of the wonderful Laverne Cox, which actually appears in Doubt
, a new series, playing a character who was not originally intended to be trans.
These characters have managed to break with the archetypes that always fell on trans people. Having trans people permeate all layers of the production has filled her trans characters with nuances, contradictions, reality.
EP.- ON OCCASION YOU HAVE SAID THAT “TRANS IS STILL A VERY VISIBLE FORM OF BODY MODIFICATIONS” NOT AT ALL DIFFERENT FROM WHAT MEN AND WOMEN DO WITH COSMETIC SURGERY, OR ATHLETES WHO TAKE GROWTH HORMONES AND SO MANY OTHER TRANSFORMATIONS TO WHICH PEOPLE UNDERGO TO CHANGE THEIR APPEARANCE. HOW DOES MEDIA DISCOURSE ADDRESS THESE ISSUES REGARDING THE ISSUE OF MEDICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL DEVICES FOR TRANS PEOPLE? ARE THESE CONFLICTS INCLUDED IN THE NARRATIVES?
The way we understand today’s trans processes is an invention of modern medicine and its ability to modify bodies. Modify them completely, because in this new way of understanding trans processes, the concept of ‘Wrong body’ It is central and responds to the gender pressures that absolutely everyone receives, not just trans people. The system tells us that men must be one way and women another. Trans people seeking to confirm these models are more visible because they have a longer journey, but we are all in this fight.
Nowadays, in many cases, when a person passes, they do not do so only to change their gender, but take the opportunity to become a better version of themselves. A very visible example is Caitlyn Jenner, which not only transitioned to woman, but managed her entire body to go through 20 years ago. Another example of this is the “Packs of operations” offered by many surgeons. They do a mastectomy and incidentally we add some pectorals to make it look like you are going to the gym. Or they add liposuction, or good abs. In addition to the disproportionate number of transactions offered for the trans women, in relation to trans men. Because being a man and woman is no longer just that, it is responding to all the pressures that are exerted on the concepts of “man and woman”. Caitlyn Jenner took 20 years off her shoulders. Usually women do it gradually and Jenner did everything in 6 months.
The unconscious collective goal of all this is to, in the long term, go unnoticed and never be recognized as trans, to have the best medical treatments for those who never realize it and to be simply men and women
,
Nothing much. And I ask myself again: what is happening to the people who live on the margins? What about all those people who do not identify as either men or women? Are we blazing a trail or are we limiting bodily possibilities? Why do we continue to feed the wrong body narrative instead of trying to expand the possibilities of Habitable bodies? Why don’t we feed the pride of being trans and having trans bodies so that eventually being recognized as a trans person on the street is a source of pride and not fear?
Pol Galofre
@Polgos
Interview: Ana Cecilia Cervantes