Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes
 
 

Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes [Paperback]

Don Kulick
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
Price: CDN$ 25.73 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.
Only 2 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want it delivered Tuesday, May 29? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout.

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover CDN $64.64  
Paperback CDN $25.73  

Frequently Bought Together

Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes + Fat + Darkness before Daybreak: African Migrants Living on the Margins in Southern Italy Today
Price For All Three: CDN$ 56.35

Show availability and shipping details

Buy the selected items together
  • In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details

  • Fat CDN$ 14.44

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details

  • Darkness before Daybreak: African Migrants Living on the Margins in Southern Italy Today CDN$ 16.18

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details


Product Details


Product Description

From Amazon

It is wonderful and weirdly fitting that one of the jacket blurbs for this work of social anthropology is by sex educator and former porn star Annie Sprinkle. Just as there is nothing dry or remote about Annie Sprinkle's delivery, there is nothing dry or remote about Don Kulick's. In fact, this may be the most readable and engaging study of transgenderism to surface in years. For seven months in 1994, Kulick lived in a household of "travestis"--Brazilian male prostitutes who live as women. He constantly tape-recorded their casual conversations, whether on the street soliciting customers or in their small rooms in the ghettos of Salvador, and has been able to trace the motivations behind their behavior and body modifications with plausibility and compassion. So absorbing are the details of the travestis' lives, as recounted by Kulick, that the reader can easily miss the author's equally acute analysis of their often bizarre transformations and of what travestis, with their exaggerated performance of "femininity," suggest about the construction of gender in Brazil. --Regina Marler

Book Description

In this dramatic and compelling narrative, anthropologist Don Kulick follows the lives of a group of transgendered prostitutes (called travestis in Portuguese) in the Brazilian city Salvador. Travestis are males who, often beginning at ages as young as ten, adopt female names, clothing styles, hairstyles, and linguistic pronouns. More dramatically, they ingest massive doses of female hormones and inject up to twenty liters of industrial silicone into their bodies to create breasts, wide hips, and large thighs and buttocks. Despite such irreversible physiological changes, virtually no travesti identifies herself as a woman. Moreover, travestis regard any male who does so as mentally disturbed.

Kulick analyzes the various ways travestis modify their bodies, explores the motivations that lead them to choose this particular gendered identity, and examines the complex relationships that they maintain with one another, their boyfriends, and their families. Kulick also looks at how travestis earn their living through prostitution and discusses the reasons prostitution, for most travestis, is a positive and affirmative experience.

Arguing that transgenderism never occurs in a "natural" or arbitrary form, Kulick shows how it is created in specific social contexts and assumes specific social forms. Furthermore, Kulick suggests that travestis—far from deviating from normative gendered expectations—may in fact distill and perfect the messages that give meaning to gender throughout Brazilian society and possibly throughout much of Latin America.

Through Kulick's engaging voice and sharp analysis, this elegantly rendered account is not only a landmark study in its discipline but also a fascinating read for anyone interested in sexuality and gender.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
The shortest route to São Francisco Street from the square where the bus lets you off at the end of the line is down a steep, narrow alley through which cars cannot pass because the potholes are too big. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 

 

Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Anthropological Work -- Worth the Read, July 4 2004
By 
B. Adams-Thies "badamsth" (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes (Paperback)
Don Kulick provides an excellent example of anthropologists dealing with the tough issues of gender and sexuality research. He demonstrates how connected anthropologists become to those they study; and further challenges us to consider closeness, concern, and friendship with our informants as methodologies that speak not only to our own humanity as anthropologists but also to the humanity of our communities of study. I have used this book to teach introduction to cultural anthropology course and it is a perfect blend of theory, narrative, and insight which keeps students engaged and asking the difficult questions of conducting cultural anthropological research. I applaud Kulick and thank him immensely for his work! GET A COPY :) !
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


5.0 out of 5 stars probably the only Anthro book to make you laugh..., Jan 13 2000
This review is from: Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes (Paperback)
the disparity between prof. kulick's earnestness towards his subjects and their bleak, frightening world make for great, grand humor, however unintentional. though i have some reservations about kulick's lack of scientific conclusions, i applaud his efforts. i found the descriptions (& gasp, photos!) of the travestis shooting industrial sillicon into their ahem, "pundas" memorable.

throughout the book i kept wondering what did the prostitutes think of Kulick? The author gives a few clues, but jezzus!

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


4.0 out of 5 stars How gender transcends categoric definition!, Nov 16 1999
This review is from: Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes (Paperback)
I had the opportunity to read this manuscript before it was published, while taking a class with Prof. Kulick. My criticisms of it then still stand now...though I have in many ways only deepened my respect for the finer points of this work. I thoroughly applaud the way that Kulick attempts to make clear the way in which the travesti gender identity is a complexity of biological definition, social categorization, and personal identification. Certainly, the way in which Kulick has encouraged his subjects to share their understanding of gender and sexuality SO openly may help all gender theorists and anthropologists better take to task gender issues like these. As criticism, the book simply does not contextualize the travesti experience. Kulick mentions little and/or nothing about the outside understandings of travesti identity...or the ways in which the broader categories of Brazilian sexual identity might encourage the development of a travesti individual. As well, Kulick is almost TOO involved with his sources. I am certainly NOT preaching anthropological objectivity here (an impossible task) but felt that about 60% of the dialogue in the book was about Kulick's personal desire to "share" in the travesti experience and/or to be identified as an "insider," something which we could have figured out from a decisive, close-knit, introspection of the travesti culture.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
 Go to Amazon.com to see all 11 reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars 
 
 
Most recent customer reviews


Only search this product's reviews



Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback


Amazon.ca Privacy Statement Amazon.ca Shipping Information Amazon.ca Returns & Exchanges