Reading: Ortner, "Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?"
Kulick, Travesti

1. According to Ortner, what is the cause of women's universal subordination? Do you find her argument convincing? Why or why not?

2. Based on his work among travestis in Brazil, how does Kulick argue that we need to understand sex and gender? What does he mean when he calls travestis constructive essentialists?

3. How do travestis relate to normative gender expectations in Brazil?

4. Kulick writes about travestis' relationships with their boyfriends (i.e. not clients), "They don't get sex from their men -- what they get, instead, is gender" (133). What does he mean?

5. What roles do economics and pleasure play in travesti prostitution?

5. What are the similarities and differences in configurations of sex and gender between the individuals depicted in Travesti and Paris is Burning? What do these suggest about notions of sex and gender?

 

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