'Yr Beast': Gender Parrhesia and Punk Trans Womanhoods. Issue 1 (March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Szpilka, Jay
• Other Names: Goh Annie guest-editor.; Thompson Marie guest-editor.; Szeman Ioana guest-editor.; Gedalof Irene guest-editor.; Wearing Sadie guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Feminist review. Volume 127:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 119
• Page End: 134
• Publication Date: 2021-03
• Subjects: punk -- queercore -- riot grrrl -- parrhesia -- transgender -- trans women; Feminism -- Periodicals; 305.4205
• DOI: 10.1177/0141778920970191
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0141-7789

Abstract

While the subject of women's activity in historical and contemporary punk scenes has attracted significant attention, the presence of trans women in punk has received comparatively little research, in spite of their increasing visibility and long history in punk. This article examines the conditions for trans women's entrance in punk and the challenges and opportunities that it offers for their self-assertion. By linking Michel Foucault's notion of parrhesia with the way trans women in punk do their gender, an attempt is made at showing how the embodied experience of a trans woman making herself heard from the punk stage can serve as a site of 'gender pluralism'.