Summary

The long 20th century can be divided into five thematic and roughly chronological periods distinguished by new gender terminology, corporal technologies, and political strategies in the context of South American political, intellectual, and economic developments: the development of South American sexology to the mid-20th century; the first “sex change” surgeries, 1950s–1970s; violence and repression under dictatorships and democracies, 1970s–1990s; the emergence of travesti identity, 1970s–1980s; and activist movement coalitions and strategies, 1990s–2000s. Modern gender and sexual categories began to be consolidated by “experts” in new medical and social scientific fields in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whose case studies in burgeoning urban areas conflated gender transgression and sexual orientation; some figures previously situated in gay and lesbian history can thus be reclaimed as part of a trans genealogy. The first “sex change” surgeries in Europe and the Americas in the 1950s not only opened new embodiment possibilities but also inspired new forms of legal and medical restriction. As nations returned to democracy from the region’s repressive military dictatorships of the 1970s–1980s, violence against trans and travesti communities continued, with new forms of policing and increasingly organized political resistance. The consolidation of the travesti identity was decisively influenced by the transnational circulation of hormone and silicone technologies from Brazil to other South American countries, as well as prosthetics and the common experience of sex work. From the 1990s, trans and travesti political organizing developed in conjunction with broader movements for LGBT and human rights as well as HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns. Although historical sources and scholarship are unevenly available, the rich and varied regions of South America provide a range of examples and exciting opportunities for future research, including through community-generated archival projects.