Localising Globalised Male Femininities: A Queer Muslim Fashion Parade
Sharyn Graham Davies, School of Social Sciences, Auckland University of Technology
This paper critically engages with notions of masculinity and femininity, exploring the complexities within these categories. One area where the dynamics of masculinity and femininity come to the fore is with trans bodies. Drawing on long-term ethnographic field work in Indonesia, the paper looks at how transgender males engage globalised discourses of femininity to create particular localised subject positions. In South Sulawesi, many transgender males make a good living through their work in beauty salons and at weddings. This income provides the resources necessary to participate in a global economy of consumption and body modification. This paper explores the often times playful ways in which femininities are performed and ways in which masculinities are contested. The paper also traces changes in representations of masculinity and femininity in Indonesia over the last few decades, particularly in respect to trans subject positions and the influence of Islam.
