Kickstarting trans*: The crowdfunding of gender/sexual reassignment surgeries. (February 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Farnel, Megan
• Other Names: Bennett Lucy guest-editor.; Chin Bertha guest-editor.; Jones Bethan guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: New media & society. Volume 17:Number 2(2015:Mar.)
• Page Start: 215
• Page End: 230
• Publication Date: 2015-02
• Subjects: Aesthetics -- affect -- Ashley Altadonna -- crowdfunding -- crowds -- Donnie Collins -- embodiment -- gender reassignment -- Indiegogo -- Kickstarter -- publics -- Shakina Nayfack -- transgender -- YouCaring; Mass media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Mass media and culture -- Periodicals; Information technology -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Internet -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302.2305
• DOI: 10.1177/1461444814558911
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-4448

Abstract

The crowdfunding of gender/sexual reassignment (G/SRS) surgeries is a recent and controversial phenomenon on which there currently exists no academic commentary. This article considers three particular G/SRS crowdfunding campaigns with a focus on two primary elements: the aesthetic and commodified positions of trans* bodies, and the role of the potential backers, the crowds of crowdfunding. Both, I argue, are shaped by specific platform regulations as well as by broader social and political norms specific to and beyond trans* bodies. At stake in these distinctions are the extent to which trans* bodies are permitted to be defined as art and/or commodities, as well as the conditions under which backers are compelled (or not) to provide emotional, financial and political support for trans*-positive causes. Digital media, I conclude, is increasingly playing a role in defining, producing and challenging the modes of normativity that determine the livability of life for precarious subjects.