Beyond Leisure Studies: A Labour History of Male to Female Transsexual and Transvestite Artists in Montréal, 1955-1985

Authors

  • Viviane Namaste Concordia University

Keywords:

Transsexuals, Artists-CAnada, Sex roles, Work environment,

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an oral history project on transsexual and transvestite artists in the Canadian city of Montréal, 1955-1985. Through interviews and archival research, I examine the working conditions of these artists in the city's post-war cabarets and nightlife. Theoretically and methodologically, this research parts ways with current studies of transsexuality, as well as lesbian/gay oral history projects. My research illustrates the centrality of work to an adequate historical understanding of the emergence of transsexuality in Québec. As such, I argue for the integration of a labour analysis in both historical and contemporary considerations of transsexual lives.

Author Biography

  • Viviane Namaste, Concordia University
    Viviane Namaste is an assistant professor of Women's Studies at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Concordia University, Montréal, Québec. She is the author of Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People (Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 2000). This article has been adapted from a book to appear under the title, «C'était duspectacle! » L’histoire des artistes travestis et transsexuelles à Montréal, 1955-1985 by McGill-Queen's University Pressin 2005.

Downloads

Published

2004-10-01

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 1 (2004): Transphobia and Transactivism

Section

Original Research

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

2. Authors are aware that articles published in Atlantis are indexed and made available through various scholarly and professional search tools, including but not limited to Erudit.

3. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

4. Authors are permitted and encouraged to preprint their work, that is, post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process. This can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Read more on preprints here.