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    of 13
    The Transgender Studies Reader 2 Edited by Susan Stryker and Aren Z. Aizura First published 2013 by Routledge 7AV Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Simultaneously published inthe UK by Rouledge ark Square, Mion Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 ARN Routledge is an imprint ofthe Taylor & Francis Group, an infra business (©2013 Taylor & Francis “he right ofthe editors tobe identified ae he euthors ofthe editorial itera and ofthe authors for thet indvial chapters, bas been dssertd in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 Allright reserved, No part ofthis book may be repeated or reprodced ‘or utilzed in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, inluding photocopying and recording, ‘or in any Information storage o retrieval system, without permission in ‘writing from the publishers, Trademark noice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infinge Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data ‘The transgender studies reader 2/ edited by Sasan Stryker and ‘ren . Alzra,~ 1 dition pagescm Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Transgenderism. 2 Transvestism. 3 Transgender people. 4. Transvestites. Sryker, Susan. Aizura, Aren Z. HQ779.7722013 306.76°8-de23, 2013001292 ISBN: 978-0-415-51772-0 (BOK) ISBN: 978-0-415-51773-7 (pbk) “Typeset in Minion by [HWA Test and Data Management, London med and bund in the Unted States Ameri by Edvard Brothers ne (@sFi sees n. Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 1X ITRODUCTION: TRANSGENDER STUDIES 2.0 1 Susan Stryker and Aren Z. Aizura ‘TRANSGENDER PERSPECTIVES IN (AND Ox) RADICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY 13, [NorMatizip TRANSGRESSIONS: LEGITIMIZING THE TRANSSEXUAL BODY AS Propucrwve 15 Dan Irving RevE.une RACIALIZED VIOLENCE, REMAKING WiiITE INNOCENCE: THE POLITICS OF INTERLOCKING OpPRESSIONS IN TRANSGENDER DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 30 Sarah Lamble ARTFUL CONCEALMENT AND STRATEGIC VISIBILITY: TRANSGENDER BODIES AND US. Star SURVEILLANCE AFTER/II 46 ‘Toby Beauchamp ‘TRacin Tiils Bopy: TRANSSEXUALITY, PHARMACEUTICALS, AND CAPITALISM. 56 ‘Michele O'Brien "Trans NecropoLiTics: A TRANSNATIONAL REFLECTION ON ViOLENCE, DEATH AND THE "TRANS OF COLOR AFTERLIFE 66 Riley Snorton and Jin Haritaworn ‘MAKING TRANS-CULTURE(S): TEXTS, PERFORMANCES, ARTIFACTS 77, “Ture Winrre 70 Br, ANonY": VAGINAL Davis's Tennonist DRAG 79) José Esteban Mutioz Feit Marrers 93 Jeanne Vaccaro Gropine Turony: Harric CivEMA AND TRANS-CuRtostrY IN HANS ScHEIRL’s DANDY Dust 101 Bliza Steinbock ‘Te TRANsceNDER LooK 119 im. a3. 4 as. Vv. 16. 1, 18. 19. 22. 23, EMBRACING TRANSITION, OR DANCING IN THE FOLDS OF TM 130 Julian Carter "TRANSSEXING HUMANIMALITY 145 Six AnD Divesrry, Sex VaRsvs Gana, AND Sexe Boiss: EXCERPTS FROM BvoLvriow’s RaiNsow: Divexsirs, GNDaR, AND SEXUALITY IN NATURE AND PEOPLE 147, Joan Roughgarden AWINALTRANS 156 Myra. Hird Aximats Witiiour GENITALS: RACE AND TRANSSUBSTANTIATION 168 Mel ¥. Chen Lessons FRom A STAREISH 178 Bva Hayward IyriupEPENENT ECOLOGICAL TRANSSEX: NOTES ON RE/PRODUCTION, “TRANSGENDER” Fisi, AND THB MANAGEMENT OF POPULATIONS, SPECIES, AND RESOURCES 189 Bailey Kier ‘TRANSPEMINISMS 199 Fens SOLIDARITY AFTER QUEER THEORY: THE CASE Of TRANSGENDER 201 Cressida Heyes IncLustve Papacocy IN THz Woman's Srupigs CLAssooM: THACHING THE KIMBERLY Nixon Case 233, Viviane K, Namaste, written in collaboration with Georgia Sitara ‘Seant Cuastas: Way TH MEDIA DePIcTs THE TRANS REVOLUTION IN LIPSTICK AND Hests 23h Jia Serano ‘Tas Epucation oF Lirris Cis: C1sGENDER AND THtE DISCIPLINE OF OPPOSING Bopuss 234 A. Finn Enke (Ova Boiss Ane Nor OURSELVES: TRANNY GUYS AND THE RACIALIZED CLASS POLITICS OF INCOHERENCE 248 Bobby Jean Noble (Cross TALK: CONTENTION AND COMPLEXITY IN TRANS-D1SCOURSES 259 Bopy Suaus, Boby PRIDE: LESSONS FROM THE DisBitsrY RiGHTS MOVEMENT 261 EliClare ‘Tap Pranwaco-PonocRaPiic REGIME: Sex, GENDER, AND SUBJECTIVITY IN THE AGE OF PUNK Carstanism 266 Beatriz Preciado [Evi Decetvans ax Maxe-BELIEVERS: ON TRANSPHOBIC VIOLENCE AND THE POLITICS OF Tituston 273 24 25. 26. 0. 28, 28. 30, Vi. 2. 33. 34 35. vi 36. ve conrests. vt “Sri ar Tite Back oF THE Bus": Sruvia Revena’s Stavcoie 291 Jessi Gan "TRANSGENDER SUBJECTIVITY AND THE LOGIC OF SEXUAL DIFFERENCE 302 Shanna T: Carlson ‘TieLy MATTERS: TEMPORALITY AND TRANS-HISTORICITY 317 ‘TowAans A TRANSGENDER ARCHAEOLOGY: A QuaER RaMPsGe THROUGH Prenisrony 319 ‘Mary Weismantel [Brrone Te TRimape: MuprgvAL ANATOMIRS OF FeMaLE MASCULINITY AND, Pueasure 335 Karma Lockrie [ExrenaaNarion oF rH Jovas: GENDERCIDE IN SPANISH CALIFORNIA 350 Deborah A, Miranda BEFORE TRANSGENDER: TRANSVESTIA’s SPECTRUM OF GENDER VARIANCE, 1960-1980 364 Robert Hill READING TRANSSEXUALITY IN “GaY" TEHRAN (AROUND 1979) 380 Afsaieh Najmabadi Beni THERE: THE (IM)MATERIAL LOCATIONS OF TRANS-PHENOMENA 401 [BerwBen SURVEILLANCE AND LiBERATION: Tite Lives oF Cxoss-Daissep MALE Sex ‘Wonks IN EARLY POSTWAR JAPAN 403 Todd A. Henry [AN Ernics oF TRANSSEXUAL DIFFERENCE: LUCE IRIGARAY AND THE PLACE OF SEXUAL UNDECIDABILITY 418 Gayle Salamon ‘TouciiinG GENDER: ABJECTION AND THE HYGIENE IMAGINATION 426 Sheila Cavanagh Pervense Crrizensi: DIVA, MARGINALITY, AND PARTICIPATION 18 “Loca-tizarion” 443 Marcia Ochoa ‘Tunwxine Ficuarions Orienwist: ReFRAMING DOMINANT KNOWLEDGES OP SEX AND GENDER VARIANCE IN LATIN AMERICA. 457 Vek Lewis GOING SOMEWHERE: TRANSGENDER Movenent(s) 471 "TRANSGENDER WITHOUT ORGANS: MOBILIZING A Gzo- AFFECTIVE THEORY OF GENDER Movieication 473 Lucas Cassidy Crawford LonGEVITY AND Limrrs 1% RAB BOURBON’S LiFB iN MOTION 483, 38 ‘Ths RomANce oF THE AMAZING SCALPEL: “RACE,” Laon, AND AFFECT 1N THAI GENDER REASSIGNMENT CLINICS 496 ‘Aren Z. Aizura 39. TRANS/ScRIPTIONS: HomING Desines, (TRANSSEXUAL CITIZENSHIP AND RACIALIZED Bonus 512 ‘Nael Bhanji 40," TRANSPORTATION: TRANSLATING FILIPINO AND FILIPINO AntERICAN ToMBOv ‘Mascuniiriis THRouGH GLOBAL MIGRATION AND SEAFARING 527 Kale Bantigue Fajardo IX. BIOPOLITICS AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF TRANS-EMBODIMENT(S) 541 41. Kaine Mea Tatyana (We Wo Ans Sexy): Ta TRANSSEXUAL WHITENESS OF CHRISTINE JORGENSEN IN THE (POST)COLONIAL PHILIPPINES 543 Susan Stryker 42, ELEcTaic BRILLIANCY: Cnoss-DRESSING LAW AND FREAK Sifow DisPLAvs iN NINETEENTH- CENTURY SAN FRANCISCO 554 (Glare Sears 43. SHUTTLING Berween Bootes aD BORDERS: IRANTAN TRANSSEXUAL REFUGEES AND THE Pourrics oF RIGHTFUL KILLING 565 ‘Sima Shakhsari 44. SILMOUETTES oF DasLANCE: MEMORIALIZING HISTORICAL SITES OF QUEER AND "TRANSGENDER RESISTANCE IN AN AGE OF NEOLIRERAL INCLUSIVITY 580 Che Gossett 45. NHUTERING THE TRANSGENDERED: HUMAN RIGHTS AND JAPAN'S Law No.111 592 Laura H. Norton X._TRANS-ORIENTED PRACTICES, POLICIES, AND SOCIAL CHANGE 605 46. ‘Ws Won'r Kow Wi You Ane”: ConrEstiN Sex DisiGNartons 1n New York Cir Birr Creriricares 607 Paisley Currah and Lisa Jean Moore 47. REINSCRIBING NORMALITY: THE LAW AND POLITICS OF TRANSGENDER MAKKIAGH 623, Ruthannt Robson 48. PERFORMANCE AS INTRAVENTION: BALLROOM CULTURE AND THE POLITICS OF HIV/AIDS 1x Deraorr 630 ‘Marlon M. Bailey 49. TRANSGENDER AS MENTAL ILLNESS: NosoLoGy, SOCIAL JUSTICE, AND THE TARNISHED GOLDEN MEAN 644 R. Nick Gorton 50. BUILDING AN AnOLITIONIST TRANS AND QuEER MOVEMENT wit Eviarrin We've, Gor 653 ‘Morgan Basschis, Alexander Lee, and Dean Spade PERMISSIONS 668 Acknowledgments ‘At Routledge, Kimberly Guinta was an enthusiastic champion of this volume and of the importance of transgender studies as aut emerging discipline. Wee also grateful to Rebecca Novack, our editorial assistant at Routledge. Zuryanneite Reyes Borrero, Antonia Leotsakos, Lisa Logan, and ‘Abe Weil provided research and editorial assistance. Sophia Slarmack helped with proofreading and ‘manuscript assembly. Ben Singer developed this volume’ online website for additional resources. Finally, we thank tke authors featured in this volume, particulary those who contributed original ‘work; We regret any uncorrected errors that have been introduced to your texts during the production of the Reader. 26 Towards a Transgender Archaeology A Queer Rampage Through Prehistory Mary WEISMANTEL Avrunorotocist Mant WEISMANTEL, AN EXPERT ON CERAMICS from the pre-Columbian Moche culture of Peru, has wraten widely on isues of sexuality ace and gende in prehistory, and of the interpretative chllenges of recovering social information fom noaliterary material artifacts. In this trticle, she provides an overview of several tantalizing archeological finds in the past few decadesthat ‘may offer evidence for questions raised within tansgender studies, In discussing cultural patterns fom long ago, Weismaatel makes an argument similar to those of transgender studies scholars who cxamine the biological diversity of sex diference: that i, she highlights the wide range of variation observable in the material world with regard to what we now call sexuality and gender, and she points as well tothe historically contingent and limited nature of modern thinking about sich things ‘Weismantel writes not enly about what archeology can ofer transgender studies, but what transgender studies can offer archaelogy Taking as her point of departure the figure ofthe “monster” which has boen futflly elaborated within tans studies aswell sin studies of premodern history, Weismantel, tums critical "tansgender rage” egunst the heteronormatvizing assumptions ofthe contemporary archeological profession that fal to recognize the material trace of styles of embodiment, desire,and Socal gender in past human cultutes that do not comply with the modernist ontology ‘The Vix burial has attracted considerable attention because ofthe much- debated sex assessment of| ‘the principal burial. ince its excavation in the 1950s, this individual has been described variously 64... “nomad princes”. & “lady”. "man who did not mind wearing women’s dothing” “tcanivestt priest”. arch woman and possibly a clef o riba ruler"... or] an "honorary male (niidson 2002:278) ‘The “Princess of Vix” an Iron Age tomb in France containing an apparently female skeleton surrounded by gold and bronze artifacts usually associated with males, is only one of many archaeological discoveries that hint at a diversity of sexual histories hidden inthe ancient pas! Very {few people outside of professional archaeology know about this intriguing find, and iis nteasy for znon-specialsts to get accurate information about it. The Wikipedia entry about “the Vix graves" for example, describes the fabulous objects found in the tomb, but does not mention the maelitrom of, ‘controversy that has raged over the small body buried with so much pomp and circumstance.? ‘The silence that surrounds this grave suggests that archaeology needs to be brought under transgender studies’ broad interdisciplinary umbrella. The time is right: profesional archaeology is finally starting to shake off its long history of “sex negativity” and self-censorship (Voss 2008; 318), and, a it does so, a profusion of incredibly rich evidence of diverse forms of gender identity and gender expression is spilling out from ancient sites around the globe. This newly available data raises provocative questions. Was the body buried at Vix, for example, a woman who attained a lordly political status usually reserved for men? Or an intersex individual who attained the status of| 4 religious leader or shaman, partly because of her unusual body,’ which was small, asymmetrical, and mostly but not entirely fernale?* Iftransgender scholars ignore these archaeological puzzles, we risk impoverishing our sense ofthe past, and our understanding of who we are and where we came from—not to mention missing out on ‘whole lot of (somewhat wonkish) fun. It fascinating to read about the bronze-studded chariot that rolled the bier into the grave at Vix, and the accompanying krater (a bronze vessel imported from Greece), the largest and fancies ever found in the Celtic world four feet in diameter and five feet tall, and entirely filled with mead (an alcoholic drink made of honey), Or o pore over photographs of the Princess’ jewelry, lavish adornments ofa kind worn by both men and women, such as the enormous gold torc (a large flat necklace or breastplate) adorned with winged horses, lion’s paws, and poppies (Knisdson 2002). However, in inviting you to enjoy these things, I am also inviting you to share my rage. Why Js it thatthe burial at Vix was originally discovered in 1952, but information about the corpses anomalous sex was not made public until feminist archaeologist Bettina Arnold published a re-study in 19917 Why do so many twenty-first century archaeologists continue to suppress information about discoveries like these? To enter the archaeological record from a transgender perspective is not just 2 romp through a queer fairyland. In fact, it can turn into a queer rampage driven by an angry determination to overturn this systematic repression of knowledge, which constitutes a form of structural violence perpetrated against people, past and present, who do not conform to contemporary norms of gendet. Rage can be a defining aspect of transgender identity, as Susan Stryker reminds usin her powerful essay “My Words to Victor Frankenstein above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage” (1994). That rage has its origins in the many forms of violence—physical and psychological, ‘material and symbolic—inficted on transgender bodies. Transgender scholars transform that rage {nto mandate: to write the history of violence soas to bring itback into public memory—and, when ‘weccan, to undo it. Some violence is ancient. For instance, although we remember Classical Greece asa place where sculptors carved sensuous images of the god Hermaphrodite, whose body is both female and ‘male, documents from the period tell a more complicated story. The same society that produced those statues also put women to death by public drowning or burning alive if their bodies were determined by the authorities tobe partly male (Ajootian 1995: 102-103), But my focus here is on a modern form of violence: the systematic erasure of lives and histories tat ae inconveniently queer. ‘Viewed through transgender eyes, the modern history of archaeology looks a litle like the history of medicine: where the body of evidence does not fll neatly into a gender binary, the academic doctors just lopped off what doesn it ‘The first step in creating a transgender archaeology; then, isa destructive one: tearing off the layers of unsupported assumptions about sex and gender that encrust the archaeological record, and freeing the queerly formed bodies trapped underneath. The first section of this article, “Towards @ ‘Transgender Archaeology,” summarizes the challenges currently facing archaeologists who study sex and gender. The second part surveys some ofthe work of archaeologists who have moved beyond the ‘gender binary, and shows what an “ungenderine” of the archaeological record can do. Uneenderine TOWARDS A TRANSGENDER ARCHAEOLOGY the past has the potential to release us from even the most harmful beliefs about what it means to be Jhuman, such as those that denigrate the bodies of transgender persons as “monstrous” “unnatural” or “abnormal” In studying precapitalist, non-Western societies, archacologists and art historians encounter ontologies ofthe body in which the damaging modernist fiction ofthe “natural” with its abhorrence of bodies assembled rather than birthed, never existed. The third and final section of, this essay, “Here Be Monsters? enters the arena of the monstrous body. This is the dificult terrain fon which Susan Stryker compared her own body to that of Frankenstein, and on which Gloria “Anzalaia called herself "Coatlicue” after the terrifying Aztec goddess (1987). It is here, where the deepest trauma lie, that transgender studies stakes out its most profound battles; and its here that archaeology offers its most radical promise TOWARDS A TRANS ARCHAEOLOGY ‘The “Princess? who died some time around 450 nc, isa litle too old to be called “transgender"—a newly minted tetm that came into its own in the 1990s.” Nevertheless, this find, and others around the globe, demonstrate that many ofthe behaviors associated with transgender today—"occasional lor more frequent cross-dressing, permanent cross-dressing and cross-gender living” (Whittle 2006: xi); “transsexuality .. some aspects of intersexuality and homosexuality, ...fand] myriad specific subcultural expressions of ‘gender atypicality™ (Stryker 2006)—were also part of ancient fe Vit is far from an isolated case. The evidence defying binary models of gender and sex is truly lobal, and stretches across the entirety of human history. Leté start with rock art, that earliest and ‘most ubiquitous form of human self-expression. Carved and painted images on caves and clifs from Australia to Colorado, some of them tens of thousands of years old, provide a rare glimpse of, how early humans (and more recent foraging societies) perceived the human body. Surveying these images, Kelley Hays-Gilpin finds litle evidence of two sexes. Instead, “With surprising frequency, ‘one encounters figures with something fancy between the legs that cant readily be assigned to one of two categories, nether penis nor vagina” (2004: 15-16). Interpreting evidence like this from a transgender perspective doesst mean artificially forcing ancient phenomena into a new and ill-fitting category. I anything, the opposite seems true. Itis as if the premodern past had to wait for transgender scholarship to arrive, and with it, an understanding that “gender. is more complex and varied than can be accounted for by the currently dominant binary sex/gender ideology of Eurocentric modernity” (Stryker 2006: 3). ‘The gender diversity of the past matters for transgender activism. The dominant vision of human history is an oppressive one: an unbroken legacy of manly men and womanly women compelled by biology to create nuclear families devoted to reproduction. Transgender people need to know that the accumulated weight of archaeological data does not support ths vision of human history (Joyce 2008), The study of history and prehistory is an inherently political activity, because it reveals this rnormativizing narrative as the distorting, selective, constructed artifice that itis. ‘The goal ofa transgender archaeology is not to re-populate the ancient past with modern trans ‘men and trans women—that would be a blatant distortion of the archaeological record and of the goals of transgender studies What we can dois to replace the narrow, reductive gaze of previous researchers with a more supple, subtler appreciation of cultural variation. According to what feminist philosophers of science call “standpoint theory” (Wylie 2003), this i simply good science: turning to the perspective of people from outside the mainstream in order to arrive at hypotheses that a normative person might never generate. Modern researchers’ vision of human possibilty is inevitably limited by their own cultural biases and personal experience; incorporating a plurality of ineranectives i¢ one wav to circumvent this limitation. However, introducing a transgender eye among the archaeol vil be archaeology guys will be no easy task. The dominant archaeological model still assumes that every human group, always and everywhere, has ‘been composed of two distinct sexes, male and female: the way gender is experienced today is homogenized, made to seem «natural given, and projected back into a timeless past of men and women living lif as demanded by genetic capacities and reproductive imperatives deemed tobe universal (Joyce 200818; see also Voss 2008: 318) history—one that doesnot assume a two-sex model the unites ofthe nuclear falyor the ragged, and conflictual process that i far from complet. v Ss east mmr meee gear ee UNGENDERED Jn Ancient Bodies, Ancient Lives: Sex, Gender and Archaeology, Rosemary Joyce advocates an archaology fe fom “the normative two-sex/two-gender moda!” (2008: 18). A the moment, though, that binary sex/gender model remains so thoroughly integrated into most archaeological scscarh aad tttsivsble eve othe lnvegatorthemches. Gender binaries appear ‘originate in the data, notin our heads. Occasionally, though, we can glimpse the gap between the scl evens, which erly incncsve conocer snd open tape eran and the rigid gender straightjacket imposed by the researchers, who may not even be aware that they ve forced on tps of sing gender varaton in the data In the summer of 201, for example I saw a colleague make a presentation, which he intended tlustrate some new insights in social strctre and ste planning aan ancient Middle Eastern city. Inadvertently, however, he showed us something ele instead: an unustally graphic illustration, ‘ofthe way restrictive assumptions about gender get superimposed on the open-ended ambiguities of the past. The ancient city in question is a famous one: Catalhdyik, a Neolithic site in the Anatolian region of Turkey that was occupied between 7500 and 5700 B.C; ths colleague and were both part ofa small international group of researchers who had gathered fr a small conference atthe site ‘The last slide in my colleague’ presentation showed an artist’ re-creation of the ancient city. I liked the drawing, which showed a multi-storied comnonnd of name. raftone and activity arese with afew people and dogs fr scale. What Idi ike was wat the speaker had done to it. In thick ‘ed lines, he had superimposed a circle over part of one building, to indicat that twas an individual Dousehold, and annotated the circle with the words “FAMILY =M + F + others” In assigning these gender markers, and tucking them into a nuclear family, he hed recreated a modern oniddlle-lass ideal that was not very common in ancient agricultural societies. Tn a way, we should be grateful for egregious examples like this, because they make it easy to peel off the offending words and take a look at what lies underneath. At CatalhOyik, what shows up once we strip away our modern assumptions is fascinating and unexpected. Years of intensive excavation and analysis have resulted in a wealth of information about life in an urban settlement nine thousand years ago, when most human beings stil ived in nomadic bands. The gender picture that is emerging at this early city bears litle resemblance to the simplistic model suggested by the words °M + F” "There are two reasons that a diffrent kind of picture is developing at Catalhéylk. The most important source isthe date itself but we would not necessarily knov about that data were it not for another important factor, hich is that some ofthe archaeologists working at the site share Joyce’ innovative perspective. After the talk one of those archaeologists came up to thank me for objecting tothe lide: Lynn Meskell a researcher known for her boldly original work on gender and sexuality. Meskell had particularly good reason to be iritated by the red scravil projected on the screen, and must have wondered whether the speaker had been listening earlier, when she had presented her research, or whether he had read any of her publications about the sit, He seemed oddly unaware that her conclusions difer quite radically from his own. According to Meskell,“[W]hat seems to have been mos salient at Cstalhiyik was.. nt a specifically gendered person with discrete sexual ‘markers, ut an [unsexed].. human form” ‘When asked, the speaker freely admitted that the idea that CatalhOyak was inhabited by “M+ P's rather than by individuals who may not have been “specifically gendered” was based purely on assumption, unsupported by any data. Meskells conclusions, in contrast, are the result ofa long and intensive investigation based on a carefully constructed research paradigm. That work has focused ‘on the hundreds of small clay and stone figurines that litter the sit: archaeologists interested in tender often study anthropomorphic figures as evidence of how people in the past conceptualized theie own bodies, or the human body in general, ‘What sets Mesells work apart from most figurine studies, including earlier work on figurines at CCatalhoyileis that she di not begin with a binary model, which essumes that all homans are ether males or females, and separate the artifacts accordingly into two piles. According to archaeologist Naomi Hamilton, most “interpretaion(s} of prehistoric anthropomorphic figurines from eastera Europe and the Near East” rely upon “a methodology which classifies figures primarily by sex and then translates sex int stereotyped Western gender roles which may have no relevance to prehistory” (2000: 17 “Meskells project isa welcome exception to this gloomy assessment ofthe status quo. Inher research design, the categories used to analyze the figures are developed from differences observed within the ‘corpus of figurines itself, not based o how people are categorized today. AS a resul, she and her team were able to see one ofthe hardest things of all for us to perceive: the absence ofthe gender binary that so deeply inscribed in modern life. In her re-stuy of the Catalhdyak figurines, Meskell provided a postive identification for « number of figurines that previous investigators, looking for Wwnole bodies of women and men, had labeled “indeterminate” (Nakamura and Meskell 2009). For Meskell, indeterminacy isnot ilegibility. Where others speculated that clumsy workmanship hed prevented the artist from creating a recognizably sexed body, she sees a deliberate effort to create mm Of cours, figurines are only images, and itis dificult to know how representations relate to lived realty But another set of researchers at Catahytik—the bioarchacologists, who study skeletal remains—found a similarly ungendered pattern in the actual bodies of the people why live there. [At many other archaeological ses around the world, bioarchacologists find gender inscribed onto the bones of the dead. This isa dramatic instantiation of the effects of gender physical evidence that the patterns of health if, work, and diet imposed on biological males and females daring their lives were so dtferent from one another that they resulted in two different sets ‘of permanent physical alterations In many pars of ancient North America, fer example, womers skeletons show the effects of long hours spent grinding corn on a metate(wotk that might also have changed the skeletons of biological males who adopted a feminine or two-sirt role during Iie). in Central Asia, archaeologists were surprised when they looked a the skeletons ofthe frst ‘humans to ride horses, and discovered that these riders were all female,”” At Catalhdyiik, however, the meticulously analyzed biological data does not reveal this kindof binary pattern, Regardless of their apparent genital or skeletal sex, evry individual hd similar (relatively healthy) patterns of morbidity and mortality, performed equally demanding physical work, and at the same abundant and varied diet” In addition to this biomorphological data and Mesklls analysis of the figurines, there is a third strand of evidence about gender at Catalhyiik: the treatment of corpses at burial shows very litle evidence of socially asigned gender (Nakamura and Meskell 2009: 208). Many societies diferentate bbetween social males and females at death—for example, by burying a woman inher bridal gown anda man ina suitor (as in the ancient Americas) by placing weaving tools in « womasis grave and ‘weapons or agricultural tools ina man’, Notso at Catahyik. Burials are sil: every adult of any sex was placed ina shallow grave with, at most, one of two grave goods such asa necklace ora clay pot. Not only were men and women buried in similar ways; their bodies were often placed in the same tomb, and overtime, the bones were mixed together haphazardly or deliberately r-combined, without regard to gender—a point return to below. Finally, one very recent stud looks at yet enother line of evidence, and cass «new kind of doubt on the implications built into the phrase “FAMILY=M + E+ others! The custom at Catalhdyk was to bury the dead under the floors oftheir houses; it seems logical to assume tat the people buried together within one building had live there together, ike families do. But when researchers analyzed the genetic make-up of people from the same grave, the results were a shock least, to those who assume that households ae “naturally” constituted through heterosexual reproduction, Instead of ‘one biological male, one biological female, and their biological offspring, the pecple buried together at Catathoyk are genetically unrelated individuals of various ages and sexes, grouped together in numbers ranging from one to several dozen (Piloud and Larsen 2010). If these clstrs of people represent families thei families were big, variable, and chosen: not small, eteronormatve, and biological Overall, then, the available data supports a simple hypothesis: the absence of gender was a structural feature of CatalhOyOk society. Later societies of the Middle East would enlarge and claborate the difference between male and female into a major feature of every aspect of social and tual life—a process that may already have begun at other communities in the region while Catalhyiik was flourishing. But in this particular place, over a period of more than a thousand years, itseems that gender difference was typically, and deliberately lft unmarked. “Ungendering” our interpretations doesnt mean claiming that gender diditexist in the ancient past Ungendering means conceptual uncoupling: pulling apart biology and culture, and de linking aspects of gender and society that seem inseparable today. One of the mos striking things about Catalhoyiik, for example, is that gender is not linked to ineouality. The strikine lack af emnhacic om gender differentiation and male dominance) i part ofa general patter atthe site, where there seem. to have been no forms of structural inequality at all For most of human history, people lived in small egalitarian groups, where gender may well have been as insigniicantas it apparently was at Catalhyik. But as societies became larger, they became ‘more unequal—and gender mattered more. Large, unequal societies typically denigrate women and punish gender deviance. And once gender inequality has been established as fundamental and “natural” it provides a bass for other structures of inequality, suchas ace and cas, “The egalitarian world of Catalhiyik is more alien to us than the complex and oppressive systems that followed: but even when they are unequal and rule-bound, non-Western and precapitalist societies are not gendered like ws. In studying them, we need to be more careful than ever to ungender ‘our preconceptions. For example, in many ancient societies, ritualized cross-dressing was mandated {for political and religious leaders. Cross-dressng is an important form of transgender performance ‘today, but to understand tin past societies, we have tobe careful to make no assumptions; otherwise, ‘we can only see what we expect to see and learn what we already know, missing the more complicated and intresting stories thatthe past might beable to teach us instead. For example, a recent archaeological find in South America, the “Lady of Cao” is fun to read ‘bout bu treacherous to interpret. This individual lived and died far more recently than the people of Catalhiyik the tomb dates tothe frst millennium A.D., and was found on the North Coast of Peru ‘Whoever this individual was s/he was fierce. The “Lady” died young-—in his/her early twenties—and ‘was buried in an elaborate tomb in a temple overlooking the sea. Like other “royal” burials ofthe Moche period, the corpse was laid to rest surrounded by finery: adornments of copper, silver and gold; shimmering cloaks and banners made of feathers and metal bangles; and even the sacrificed bodies of male and female retainers. The dry North Coast winds have preserved the body perfectly. ‘Wecan still see the long hair, braided into dozens of tiny braids, and the arms the skin richly tattooed with spiders, serpents, and seahorses. “The person in the tomb surprised the archaeologists who excavated it, More than a dozen equally fabulous Moche tombs have been discovered over the last few decades, each of them quite different from the others.* But what the researchers did not expect to find was @ morphologically female corpse—that was buried grasping two enormous gold-headed war clubs, one in each hand.” In their publications about previously discovered tombs, Moche experts had described a pattern of strict segregation by gender. On the one hand, there were the men, like the famous “Lords of Sipén": male corpses surrounded by tremendous wealth, and by the bodies of lesser individuals, possibly including wives." Archaeologists called these masculine individuals “Lords” because they were buried with weapons of war and insignia of power. ‘And then (according to the Moche experts) there were the “Prestesses": women who were also buried with great pomp and circumstance, but without weapons. Instead, the clothing and accessories that accompanied these bodies, including a special goblet, were said to have purely ritual and religious significance. Instead of rulers and warriors, these were sai to be priestesses and healers— and perhaps the cup-bearers who accompanied male priests in bloody rites of human sacrifice. ‘The weapon-bearing “Lady of Cao” is clesrly an anomaly within this gendered system—and so, too; is another recent discovery. According to unpublished reports, one ofthe “Priestesses” is actually biological mal; could this be man who lived and dressed asa woman, or perhaps a cross-dressing priest? “These fascinating finds upend existing pictures of Moche society. But before we assume that these are non-normative individuals who violated gender expectations, we have to ask where those gender norms actually originate. Can we see them inthe archaeological record, or are they modern, imposition that would not be recognized by the ancient Moche? (We might note Hamilton’ (2000) comment that archaeoloeists are too auick to label males as “warriors” and women as “healers") Rather than rushing to anoint the warlike Lady of Cao and the mal Priestess as our gender bending ancestors, we would do better to look again at al of the Moche burial data. If we did as Mesell did withthe Catalhoyik figurines, and began without assuming that “M" and “F” are inevitably ‘meaningful categories, what might we see? Ifthe mos significant difference between the body buried at Cao andthe one at Sipin is not that cone is morphologically female and the other is morphologically male, other possiblities suddenly bbecome apparent, Fr the elites who ruled these valleys, maybe it wast especially transgressive fora biological female to carry weapons, ora male to take the “eminine” rol ina ritual—as long as they respected other traditions that marked their membership ina particular lineage. We might be too focused onthe apparent mismatch between the woman and he large, phallic looking maces, and the ‘man with the feminine outit and the delicate cup Their own people the ones who carefully placed their dead daughter or brother in the tomb with these particular artifacts—may have eared more about a diferent kind of symbolism. The really meaningful thing, for example, might have been those sea horses tattooed on the body at Cao, or the astounding necklace of gold and silver beads hhammered into the shape of peanuts, that had been placed around the neck of the body at Sipén ‘These may have marked forms of identity that, for the Moche elites, trumped sex. XE matters that these were elites: in complex, strailied societies, the rules of gender vary by social clas. Gender variance without fear of stigma or punishment can be afredom allotted 0 the privileged few, wo are free to indulge in sexual nd gender experimentation forbidden to others, But ‘not necessarily in other societies, the public lives of elites—especilly elite women—were even more constrained than those of ordinary people. In stil ther cases, as forthe kings of the ancient Maye, crossdressing was an important component of royal performance. At this point, we doit know how to rea the fierce performance of the “Lady of Cao” with "her" gold-headed maces, braided hair and sea horse tattoos; a carefslly ungendered re-analysis of all the “Lords? “Ladies” and “Priestesss” of Moche would be one step towards finding ot Some ofthe mos sophisticated archaeological esearch on gender to datecomes rom Mesoamerica (@ region that comprises Mexico and parts of Central America). While standard textbooks about, ‘Mesoamerican archaeology still describe an unbroken tradition of "men and women engaged in familiarly gendered tasks” several decades of intensive research have overturned that conventional picture. New data has peopled the Aztc cities and Mayan temples with ‘men wearing womens clothing... gods with male and female aspects.. androgynous figures. [and] women rulers.” (Stockett 2005: 568) “hiss not an ungendered word: instead, itis multiply gendered—and elaborately hiratchized. Inthe delicate, aristocratic art produced for royalty, cross-dressing kings and gender-morphing gods abound, Androgyny'salsoa theme that runs throughout Mesoamerican art, much tothe confusion of modern viewers. Even experts have been slow to abandon the binary altogether and o recognize that, sometimes, a ferocious argument about whether a figure i male or female should be answered with a simple “yes” Consider. for example, the history of the Las Limas statue, a beautiful stone figure found in a cornfield by two Mexican children in 1965. This enigmatic seated figure with a flat chest and a rounded, feminine face holds an inert smaller figure lying in the larger figure’ lap. The children and their parents initially worshipped tis image as the miraculous “Viegin of Las Limas": a Mother holding her Child. But archacologists quickly recognized the sculpture as pre-Christian. To an informed eye, the graceful, intricate tattoos incised on the larger figure, and the “were-jaguar” facial features ofthe smaller figure, immediately identify it as mec. ‘The experts re-named the statue the “Lord” of Las Limas: a young man holding a sacrificial victim (or possibly an ancestor. Efforts to affx stable gender identities to this Olmec igure seems somewhat misguided, given that ‘a few centuries later, during the Classic Maya period and after. Mesoamerican deities appeared in both male and female manifestations—and sometimes as both/nither. At the Maya site of Palenque (ajeel-lke complex of palaces, temples, and plazas in southern Mexico famed fort exquisite bas- rele depictions of rulers and dete), walls and doorways were adorned withthe lovely face of the ‘Young Maize God, usually described by modern viewers a avery feminine young man." The god vas the epitome of perfect eauty—and a perfect androgyne. “This androgynous god es us question one ofthe most unquestioned and most damaging assertions of modern genderfsex ideology, namely thatthe idea of two sexes originates in nature itself, and expresses the wil of God, Anclent Mesoamerican earned a quit diferent lesson from the natural and supernatural worlds, The Maize God isthe human incarnation ofthe young maize or con plant—a plant notorious forts sexual ambiguities. Corn and squash, the staples of Native American societies in Mexico and inthe US. Southwest, reproduce sexually, producing visibly “male” and female” parts— cach with shapes that unmistakably resemble human genitalia. Glyphic depictions of the Maize God as 2 young lord often feature the glosypollen-laden strands of sk that erupt from the plants male sex organs (Taube 1985; 173). But ike human parents, com and squash plans donot alvays produce flly “mal” or ally “female” blooms ambiguous organs wit characteristics ofboth are extremely common, snd healthy plants may produce an exuberance of sexual variations ona single stalk ‘The domestication of corn was a great achievement—and one that made generations of Native peoples intimately fiir with the natural phenomenon of intersex individual. The gently smiling, enigmatic fae ofthe Young Maize God, which hovers so delicately between masculinity ane femininity, Incarnate the changeable sexuality of this fe-giving plant. For the corn farmers who created the great civilizations and religions of Mexic, nature islf offered proof that male and female are mutable Categories, Olmec and Maya artis made this connection implicit when they depicted human bodies sears of corn (Taube 1985, 1996). For ancient Mesoamerican, this—not the inevitability of a fixed biological “natures che message thatthe biological world offers othe cultural one (itis worth noting, though, that this liberating message did nt necessarily translate into gender freedom for everyone. Great lords and powerful press arrayed themselves in elaborate costumes that incorporated aspects of male and female clothing, as well as maize, lower the plumage fbirds, and the skins f jaguars. For ordinary people, however, opportunites for mobility and flexibility may hhave been tightly constrained.) ‘Ungendering our analyses, then, does not produce only one way of seeing ancient societies. Looking at Catahyik, we are struck by how insistently its egalitarian residents refused to diferentiate by gender, in life or in death, In contrast, the rulers and gods of the Maya world appropriated every form of gendering masculine, feminine, androgynous, even vegetative signs of their own ‘multplictous power. These glimpses ofthe past aflct our vision ofthe presen: archaeology does its best ungendering when it undermines the claim that modera gender/sex systems are both universal and natural. HERE BE MONSTERS” “Archaeology can certainly contribute to transgender studies’ mission of “cross-cultural and historical investigations of human gender diversity” (Stryker 2006: 3). At ist glance, though, it seems limited in the insights it might provide into contemporary transgender experience. The ritual cross-dressing, ‘of ancient kings is an interesting historical footnote, but modern medical practices like hormone replacement and gender reassignment surgery are phenomena of an entirely different order, about ‘which the ancient past presumably has lite to say ‘Wrong, A deeper look-not at practices but at ontologies—shows that itis precisely here, in thinking about the twenty-first century transsexual body, that a transgender archaeology may have the most profound contribution to make. By juxtaposing premodern, modernist, and posthuman ndestandngs ofthe boy, archaclgy can perform transgender sui mst ect to"dop,denaturnesrarclate and make sete norma ages we gene tev o eit betwee grder and thbllogial peti of the eral frente ama, Body (Sire 20063) Asi tums ot, the eof onsrcting onc od trough appropriating and wring together uprated pars fom everson snot modern a aly an ancet sets would fe Ot ayo king abou enesel compety anlar is. peclaty mad ate oan Ive become so entanged fom te et of Ue body asa hybrid crenton, seed ser ich tnd mull ine Wentties and oii oder fny have produced Ie mei scm th inetd techies me we odayin tasting bu tao ave reto anrtloy asthe ceed ha sting sheeted ie 199) The modern conception othe teed body clans to be based nimble, natural truth, One bent a croncaral nd tna perspective ht thle us se the hs alr Sotnatr ata ie crfly constraint ste the pod ef contingent ir [Skthe androynon ave Coa tee sermel ests upon angi sete eget wk Patron tors a uch logy ai ngs nd that en eveope tet ele Scr and eso nets Inthe canon modernist novel Fei, he unkapy being who inhabits a saga creed bodys a monster Thistle taken upby Suan Syke who cme—and lent tmononty for er own nse dy, to apr and sewn pte agin in a shpe ahr than tht in which twa bor? (199), My Sle, Foner stor portayed the unnatural crete arenes abn with fete anno past ye sr hs mesg and then ke the monterin tenes pin geo tien clair fer ne “hetransgender body she supers migtot beng othe moder preset or the ned past tall might instead be part fur only nw cong ito being in which te contre body is ot teeing aha, but “exlartogly posthumat—perkape one of Haraway ferns Cyborgs (93) or Rox Dads "pberbdes CD) Styer clams her ugly eld body ae something pve and new; we might lo cali power an old. Throughout andent top, te ubgutou gine tat schuclogiss worked uo hard divide lao woe le, male and female: hve constanly confounded chem wei anomalles«worancea, man seed on birthing stool bods wih apni and bret {amit 200) inthe ance’ Ameria a asc rns of Pre-Columbian aisha! ving bens pain power and bent through apropating ie body parte fhe tte get Perven ole af Chav finance stone cigs ep pins resin ithe tpl scoped by jogars nd ‘tpernatraibengs Hannan superman tae compote man nes metal eases tht ae ral choped ea pao eae “angel on oso ap has he mings of the fe of jg ands hun and tat gasp baton, Two tery fale compot beings who stand guard atte entrance of the temple aay bea malead ful palr_ut he eso toth line geocoding found on stl odes ofan sex ure 192) inthe Wester tradon, fais oe the contrast between women and men, humans and ania portay pone nee contaminating the ale ody wa thet fe eae Instead taleura(conquctshothenascinemandominlnglee begs nhe Pre Cauriban tadton. humane demonstrate spenoiy quite dirty yng oe the ation of he Bice body tog ncrpratng th bay pects ofa To show finns content sake man more over, ot nding hs yd imagery ras theory ofthe body operate uel freean pote these ete etd ected eee with others, Because Westerners fea losing control over the boundaries of the body and the self, the art produced in the ancient Americas sometimes creates discomfort and dislike, But for those who do not occupy a privileged body that is masculine and white—or atleast respectably feminine and willing to submit—the great corpus of Pre-Columbian art stands as a repository of revolutionary ideas. Tin claiming the territory of the monstrous, Stryker walks in the footsteps of Chicana lesbian writer Gloria Anzaldia, who revolutionized Latino Studies when she embraced the monstrous image of an [Aztec goddess, the fearsome Coallicue, as her own (1987). It was here, in the at of ancient Latin, ‘America, that this rebellious writer found a context within which to understand her own nature, ‘which she experienced as both masculine and feminine—and a place where she could embrace her own uncontrollable rage. Coatlicue and her fellow goddesses, Coyalxauqui and Tlaltecubti, are ferocious amalgems of human and non-human, masculine and feminine, mother and killer. ‘Standing, like Anzalda, in their protective shadows, it becomes easier to fllow Styker in claiming. “monstrosity” asa state of redemptive power for gender non-normative people—and for all of us ‘who are stigmatized as deviant in modern Western thought. "The image that Anzaldia chose is one of the most unforgettable in Pre-Columbian art. At the heart of the Aztec empire, in the center of one ofthe largest cities in the world, Tenochtitlan (today Mexico City), three enormous female statues were placed in the precincts ofthe great central temple (Carrasco etal. 1988). For modern Latin Americans, Coyalxaugui isthe easiest to understand, and she isthe most beloved of Mexicans today. She isa beautiful young woman dressed as a warrlor— and killed in combat by her own brother. In the carving, her graceful limbs have been severed from, her naked torso, and her eyes are closed in death on her decapitated head. In keeping with modern sensibilities, she i the tragic feminine heroine, young, lovely, and safely dea. Anzaldia chose a more difficult figure: not the dead sister, but the vengeful mother. This is CCoatlicue, an enormous and terrifying body, human in form but incorporating a fearsome array of, ‘non-human creatures, Her head is formed of intertwined serpents; her feet are the curved talons of birds of prey; and, most terrifying of all, her hands are live obsidian blades. The blades are sacrificial knives, and she wears a gruesome necklace of the hearts and hands of her victims. But she herself seems to have been decapitated: the snakes pouring out from her neck and forming her face can also be tead as streams of life blood pumping out from a headless corpse. This isno passive victim: erect and powerful, the goddess rises from the dead, her blood forming new and more fearsome dual snakeheads to replace the human head that was taken from her. Since Anzaldiia wrote her pacan to Coatlicue, archaeologists have discovered a third figure, as large and elaborate asthe others. This ten-ton stone carving portrays Tlaltecuhtl, a god often portrayed in masculine form, but here a goddess who squats inthe birth position, even as sacrificial blood pours from her mouth like tongues.” This iconography makes explicit the symbolism of birth and death implicit in the other two; unlike them, she was created as the cover for a coffin, which held the body of a male emperor, Ahuitzot “These three goddesses are huge and deadly, and their bodies incorporate more than just elements of ‘masculinity. They are both alive and dead, life-giving and life taking, and their bodies are composed ‘ofbone, blood, flesh, and stone; bird, snake, and woman. They are powerful images, but afterall, they are just that: representations of bodies, not real ones. ‘There is ample evidence, however, that ancient people also saw their actual bodies as things that ‘were assembled over life rather than given at bith—and that this process of accumulating bits and. pieces of others was a beneficial process, even though it necessarily involves giving away parts of “oneself too. We see this perhaps most strikingly in burial practices: whereas archaeologists originally assumed that the bodies in tombs were intact individuals, new evidence from around the globe ‘shows that premodern peoole preferred to mix it up. In addition to mass graves, even graves that apparently contain only one person often turn out to contain one whole skeleton—composed of body parts from multiple individuals. In Mexico, Peru, and Turkey, there is evidence that graves, ‘were repeatedly re-entered, so that the living could interact with their dead in commemorative rites, (Gee for example Millaire 2004). In the proces, they often exchanged, added, or subtracted bones x for example inthe grave ofa woman at Catalhoyik who cradles a manis head in her lap, or another ‘young female whose own head has been replaced with that of man who died lug after her. ‘Theoretically inclined archaeologists are starting to absorb the implications of this data I suggests ‘that ancient people did not think f themselves and their own bodies inthe modern Western sense, 4 individual bodies with individual identtes—a belief that makes interfering with the bodily Integrity of corpse reprehensible. Instead, they conceived of life es a proces of constant exchange between bodies, and wished only that such exchange might continue aftr life. Feminist theorist, Marilyn Strathern says that in non-Western societies such as tribal Papua New Guinea, people are not “individuals” but “dividuals? whose bodies and selves—including their gendered sense of themselves as female and male—are multiple and composite in their very essence (1988). In addition tothe bones, there is another body part that provides evidence ofthis ontology: the detachable penis. A few years ago, I gave a lecture at a Peruvian university on my research into the “Moche sex pots"—sexually explicit works of ar found in ancient tombs lke the one that held the “Lady of Cao” (Weismantl 2004, 2011). The prominent archaeologist who had invited me expressed skepticism about the validity of studying sex during my talk but afterwards, as we toured hs labs, he confided that he had himself found some artifacts that he was at a loss to interpret. One ofthese was, a cay penis discovered in a womans tomb. He became extremely uncomfortable when I asked im where, exactly, it was found. “It was. sot of by her waist he replied, and then said fiercely, “but it asi. nside he or anything” The only relationship between a penis anda biological female that he ould imagine was penetration: the possibility of a woman claiming the penis as her own possession, tobe attached to her own body, apparently never even crossed his mind. Like many archaeologists, this intelligent, highly educated man was il-prepared to think through this particular find: there was litle in his on life experience or his many years of trining that he could bring to the task. Inthe end the confusing actifact remained ina laboratory drawer, while he and his team returned tothe more familiar task of publishing evidence they found less threstening, such as gruesome scenes of men inflicting torture on war captives. However, there are other archaeologists working elsesehere inthe world, and some of them have no fear ofa detachable penis or two. One of them is Meskel, who identified a number ofthe ceramic and stone figurines at Catalhdyik as “phallic” However, these small penises were, ike everything ese atthe site, surprisingly ambiguous. Some could be read as either a torso or genital, while others were just amorphous. The most interesting were simultaneously male and female: a penis and testicles ‘when looked at from one angle, they became breasts or buttocks when rotated (Nakamura and ‘Mestell 2009). Tis visual punning suggests a fundamentally diferent atitude towards gender, one that emphasizes the mutability, not the fixity, of bodily sex. Recent work on figurines elsewhere in Europe has noticed similar eflects: some of the female bodies canbe turned upside down to Become lie-sized—if somewhat abstract—sets of mae genitalia (Joyce 2008). For our purposes, the mast important thing about these ancient penises is that they were usually Pierced for wearing, probably hung from a cord around the neck. As Meskell points ost, these ‘detachable body parts could be attached to any kind of body, including that ofa child. (Similarly, in ‘my ovin research on Moche, I found that ceramic efigies of male genitals appeared in all kinds of tombs, not just those of men.) This detachabilty indicates @ body that is partble rather than unitary, It warns against the assumption thatistoo often made, thata penis isnevitablya metonynn forawhole gendered person, for ‘masculinity as an abstraction, or for “phallic” power. Instead, as Strathern found in her ethnographic research in twentieth century New Guinea, elements of maleness and femaleness may be partible cements that ihre in the product of mens and women's labor, a well as within theirbodies, and socan be exchanged, divide, ingested or temporarily held within individual persons (1890) Within this ontology, bodies and persons are not conceptualized as discrete bounded individual, but as constellations of qualities and potencies that come alive through constant interaction wth others. Gender, ike sexuality, becomes a mater of object choice and the play of ference, rather than the search for an elusive unitary identity that torments the modern imagination, ‘To ungenderCatalhoyk, then, oF any society, snot to imagine (or reae) ablanly uniform socal landscape without appetites or organs. It sto conceptualize bodies and persons as vital assemblages Interacting in a feld of dynamic material entanglements, where the physical properties of the flesh are not inescapable markers of absolute dlference and limitation, but desirable and detachable gifts that can be exchanged in ral and imagined interactions between mutable socal agents. ‘TO CONCLUDE: AN INVITATION have taken you, my readers, on a romp and a rampage through the archaeological record, sharing ‘my pleasures and my sages in a rather wanton fashion. I would lke to express my gratitude for the opportunity to do so; the invitation to write this essay let me reinvent my own thinking about the archaeological study of the ancient past by looking at it through a transgender lens. I want to zespond with an invitation in return: it is my hope that this article might inspire some smart, angry transgender intellectuals to invade archaeology—and transform it forever. T have told stories about the transphobic and heteronormatve altitudes of some practicing archaeologists; my purpose in doing so was not just to vent (although that felt good, too). These are tales of double impoverishment: archaeologists like the man who hid the penis in the drawer hhave been impoverished by the limited education about gender and sexuality that most students receive. In return, he can only offer the impoverished and distorted record of gender diversity in the ancient past—the only account typically made available to the public. This cycle is endlessly self perpetuating —unless and until activist scholars insist on changing the political and intellectual landscape, That kind of transformation is what transgender studies i all about NOTES 1 Tamer glo San Sy fr te tito con nr the ed aged Seeder Snyper Sinn Antbird eg deemed ato sch ‘SEE mcs rer nang Boge 2 Tevet verti wn of eure prix ae in ashi On hc ade ‘Tanph fr uedopat tins Arb atthe on ced athe enya ele th gh han tg (Caleacheopstte copie tt notl esoteric Hower Set ete or ar co ne oe cin ig ner cya nr ns ewes esd ei ‘hn! Scythe oe pe an sna seg ey ran ese {cso sn ih eters st ee pt Sat cs ft pt, ‘She rect docs ne nee ess st 01 meng tbe Ssy or esa Arc, “Sworn ete sex Conn Buc coe he poe tes Tort Linde nce tein lal xsl ambos ane) +R nt oe een acca ees ‘Pec at needy acacelpt am eet exegetical trap ‘Teton tn pen iil td Weer tgs or ome say ae acharag a ‘Stand os S00 an Cela sod Vs 00 4. Tew ham te nay mewn th ppl an cal wight so be wth a eae 20 5: osteo om acon hohe ts AR ns pth ster inc ‘pals ea Snot conve tins lh pune ha acd bin hee sey le 332 MARY WHSMANTEL, TOWARDS A TRANSGENDER ARCHAPOLOGY 1. Seyker (2006) and White (200 describe the “eager phenomeor” a deropment of he 1950 the Cosl-Buters, Las aime (2005). "Las Seoras de San José de Moro Rituals funearos de mujeres de teen ryan of clr eles as difese thereof the ret. the sala of dial tecnologles, ad the Incosta norte de Pera In Divina y humana la mujer no antguos Peruy Mexico, 18-29, Lima Ministerio ‘tran of he eis and LGBT movement | iebdecte, em lange ately imapoe hat ther pei hire can be etd a or of gh Sep wes Casillo-Buters, Luis Jaime (2006). "Five Sacted Priestess from San José de Moro: lite Women Fanerary fre to rummage around among csarded and tmoded identi, picking apd choosing what lass ws witht Prom cine reep hapeeengor open peep ea eter Aen | Rituals on Per’ Northern Coast” Revista Electronica de Argueologia PUCP 1(3) 1-10. ‘Coney Margaret and Janet. Spectr (1984). “Archacology andthe Study of Gender" Advances in Archavological ‘Method and Theory7: 1-38. ‘Donan, Christopher Band Las Juime Castillo-Buttrs (1994), “Fxesvaciones de Tumas de Sacerdotisas Moche en San ose de Moro, Jequetepeque”In Santiago Uveda and Flas Mujca eds. Moche: Propuestas y Perspectvas, 415-24, Travaux de insitatFrangois dtudes Andines 79, Lima: institut Frangois d tudes Andines ‘Feinberg, Leslie (1996) Transgender Warriors Making History rom Joa of Arco Dennis Rodan. Boston, MA: ‘snowing thecal portance of books lie ese Felberps rage Waris foe ans people today, ‘Wake Willa The Spt andthe Flesh fr gy mena generation aga, we have cen the uy rail pits tha an ‘ensue. A potable exampe the Natve Ameren wo spt adion a complex nd constantly evbing cultural and ‘elipoas phenomenon tht wae reduced by enthuse gay otsidrs othe sips notion ofthe Brace (en ‘hat wa lies homophobic nal mposed by French colonial ona cla plenomenan they neler wndestaed or respected), Fer ndcimens of the cultural whiteness of LGBTQ culture and coer sae se for example Seth 197; Hares 196; ergo 208 jason 2005 MeBrde 2005; Malan 203 9. Fein achloy os asa slary hoy today, beginning th the emia aie by Conky a Beacon Pres. Spe 34) A fry per aun an ei led efor tape Ca od Can Rr ego, Roderick A. 208). Twad « Quer of Clr Citi: Aberaton i Blak Money MN {Bou jah eh 9 Natoma ones pon 0) ‘Universi of Minuet Poon 20, Sefor emp oer nb, Bsc 208 at 198. Gero, joan M. and Margaret W. Conkey, es (1981). Engendering Archaolegy: Women and Preistry 11 Sex forcaple edrann Enger 26, Chichester: Wiley 12 Kanne pes fmm, eto eG eo tnd and Robison 2008 {Raha and Psa 20 din Niky nd Mel 00308 1 Moshe sac wary st we he eit wee sed wi ples fo be na and recs materia, trina and amen nee ped nslow pes wh etn nebo rae cr ot. Palgrave Macmillan . 1, iter 16s hp vena covets hm sce ary 2.2012 aca, Donna (993. "A Manifest for Cyborgs: Scene, eclogy, and Soci enim the 1980 | sat om Gln, “Coney ef Seta Gnt a gine Sein Pris” Mota Dol 416. Alva and Donnan 1993, | In Steven Seidman (ed ) The Postmodern Turn: New Perspectives on Social Theory, 82-118. Cambridge ‘and Linda Hurcombe, eds. Representations of Gender From Prehistory tothe Present, 17-30. Basingstoke: if ee ee Flr ee ee eta 7 ad pettus te dance aH yong Mane Sckce, Techoogy and Scien ate ate so epee hc amas tye etl echt Centre Sse Ser and Sepben Whee) he Tne Ses Rend, 103-18 ee Now outed an. Hand conteghomentn-ad-nheo sme ary. var ars Asan (196) “Quer ck Fein: The Pere Pit” Feminist Rove 538 | Hays-Gilpin, Kelly A. (2004). Images: Gender and Rock Art. New York: Rowman Altamira. jabs een Woke Ma od Suman Lange (O37) Tow Spt Pople Nate Amr Gender BIBLIOGRAPHY | enti, Seat, and Spray. Urban, I: Univers ofIinos Pres. ‘Nootian, Allen (1995). “Monstrum or Daimon: Hermaphrodites in Ancest Art end culture” Greece and Johnson, E: Patrick 200). "introduction: Quce Black Stadia Quaring’ Quer Studies” InE. Patrick Johnson ‘Gender 93-108, Papers ofthe Norwepianfstiuteat Athens tp/digita-sbaib nol 19562/294,acesed and Mae G. Henderson (es), Black Quer Studies, 1-20. Chapel Hill, NC: Duke Unversity Pres, May 21,2012. | Joyce. Rosemary A. (200)."APrecolumbian Gaze: Male Sexuality among the Ancient Maya In Robert Schmit ‘Alva, Walter and Christopher Donnan (1993) Royal To ofSipén. 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The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity x American Indian Culte. Boston, MA: Beacon Pree. Wile, Alison (2003). "Why Standpoint Matters” In Robert Figueroa and Sandra Harding (eds), Slence and Other Cultura: Iesue in Philosophie of Sconce and Technolgy, 26-48. New Yorks Rostledge. ‘Yates, T. (1993). "Frameworks for an Archaeology of the Body” In Christopher Tiley (ed), Interpretive ‘Archaology, 31-72, Oxford: Berg 27 Before the Tribade Medieval Anatomies of Female Masculinity and Pleasure Karma Locurig [ExrLicirty o& mMeLiciTLs, MUCH OF CONTEMPORARY TRANSGENDER SCHOLARSHIP addresses the ‘question of whatit means olive in modern capitalist society that organizes itself according o norms ‘of embodied subjectivity. Diferences from norms become the targets of regulatory and disciplinary over, sites of struggle fr control, and opportunities for excess or noncompliance to function as vectors of subversion, liberation, creativity, political mobilization, and futurit. But what if society ‘were not organized inthis manner? What if power operated in some other fashion than through the promulgation of norms by scent and social-sclentfc means? This isa question that motivates the research of medivalst Karma Lochri, who secks to understand “female sexuality when normal ‘wasrit” The turn Lochre takes sa significant one for transgender staies, ifthe fed isto continue

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