“It’s Hard Out Here for a Unicorn”: Transmasculine and Nonbinary Escorts, Embodiment, and Inequalities in Cisgendered Workplaces

Abstract

In this article, I draw from in-depth interviews with 34 transmasculine and nonbinary escorts who were assigned female at birth (AFAB) to explore the complicated relationship between gender, race, sexuality, embodiment, and workplace inequalities in what I have called cisgendered workplaces. Cissexism, transmisogyny, and racism are embedded in workspaces, brothels, agencies, and the websites escorts use for advertising, and clients operate based on cisgender principles. These analyses demonstrate how cisgender privilege operates in and buttresses cisgendered workplaces, in ways that disadvantage trans and nonbinary people. I show how shifting trans embodiments and spaces of transition in workplaces adversely affect transmasculine and nonbinary escorts’ wages and workplace experiences, but also disrupt cisgendered workplaces and challenge cisgender hegemony. Adopting the analytical frame of spaces of transition reveals critical insights into the role that embodiment (not just identity) plays in workplace inequalities.