Identity as a ‘patchwork’: aspects of identity among low-income Brazilian travestis

Abstract

This paper is based on findings from a qualitative study that took place within the context of a four-year healthcare programme directed towards low-income travestis in the central area of São Paulo, Brazil. Throughout the study the formation of social identity among travestis was investigated through a focus on four axes: gender, body, work and violence. This paper subjects the identity of the travestis to a critical analysis and proposes a view of their sense of self as a ‘patchwork’ assembled through the assimilation of various fragments of identity common in Brazilian society. The primary identities assimilated by the travestis under study were, in the area of femininity, the submissive woman, the puta [‘whore’] and the super-seductive woman and, in the area of masculinity, the viado [‘queer’], the malandro [‘rascal’] and the bandido [‘bandit’]. The resulting travesti identity exhibited not only gender ambiguity, but also contradictions among the feminine identities described, as well as among the masculine ones.