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Retrotranslations of Post-Transsexuality, Notions of Regret

Department of English, Moreland Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA,jillian.stjacques{at}oregonstate.edu

From the time Harry Benjamin's Transsexual Phenomenon appeared in 1966, psychiatrists and legislators have used clinical studies of the recipients of Sexual Reassignment Surgery to strengthen their franchise on the legitimate translation of sex. Within these translations, the speaking positions of post-transsexuals — those who no longer identify as transsexual, but who resist a return to an a priori sexual designation — have become shrouded in notions of regret. Drawing on the work of Judith Butler, Homi K. Bhabha and Michel Foucault, this article analyzes several legal, clinical and theoretical mistranslations of the post-transsexual enterprise, and the notion that post-transsexuals can only translate forward by going back.

Key Words: gender theory • post-transsexual • regret • resistance • translation

Journal of Visual Culture, Vol. 6, No. 1, 77-90 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1470412907075070


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