Author: Lara Ben Zvi<\/p>\n
Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n The goal of this syllabus is to engage with trans sex politics; specifically how the creation and regulation of trans bodies is motivated by normative understandings of what pleasure & sex has to look like. Trans bodily pleasure is currently an ignored battleground, under the effects of what Andrea Long Chu describes in After Trans Studies <\/i>as \u201cthe long-standing intellectual move in which the trans person, just through the act of existing, becomes a kind of living incubator for other people’s <\/i>theories of gender\u201d (110). This position has been a common one since the time of Sandy Stone and Judith Butler. By examining how BDSM presents itself in trans spaces and what that says about the physical forms that desire can take, I hope to ground academic conversations surrounding trans sex work, pleasure and desire back in trans reality, agendas and goals. For trans agency and experience to be foregrounded, academia needs to move away from pathologizing, invisibilizing, and demonizing trans pleasure. My hope is also to highlight how the temporal space that BDSM occupies problematizes the linear narrative of trans lives. The \u201cgradual march toward progress\u201d(104) narrative that Emmett Harsin Drager tells needs to be challenged. BDSM allows for the ability to play in the space and time of gender\u2013so to speak\u2013and brings into question what purpose progress towards an imagined utopia serves for those who have no future (Jobson 62-63). The simple truth is that trans people exist in a physical body and the way that body reacts to stimuli, for better or for worse, affects the way a trans person feels intellectually and emotionally about themselves. Trans reality needs to be taken out of the cerebral, theoretical space academia currently forces it to occupy; trans studies as a whole needs concrete phenomena to ground itself in if it wishes to survive (Billard 3).<\/p>\n Understanding the importance of trans pleasure starts with the history of trans sex work. Narratives surrounding sex work often fall into the trap of \u201cpoverty porn\u201d (Rev and Geist 124), that removes agency from the sex worker by asserting the researcher\u2019s agenda of perceived social improvement and reform onto the scene of sex work. Additionally, articles like The Idea of Sex Work<\/i>, which outline the shift from marginalized to mainstream that sex work has experienced since the 1970s (Walkowitz 81), focus primarily on cisgender straight women. Publications that do explore commonalities between sex workers and gay liberation overlook the figure of the trans sex worker (Rev and Geist 112). The few times that the trans sex worker does make an appearance is as an academic prop without a history of its own. However, trans sex workers are a part of trans history, present, and likely future. To be able to engage with that future, trans studies needs to better understand existing and past trans realities by grounding them in tangible figures, so as to not abstract the trans subject from the history that formed it.<\/p>\n Beyond that, trans bodies and their pleasure occupy an interesting and precarious space in the broader media sphere. As Gayle Rubin outlines in her essay Thinking Sex <\/i>(1984\/1992), sex and how one engages in it is measured on a moral hierarchy. Sexual acts are then positioned in the hierarchy based on their proximity to a moral ideal. Even something like refraining from sex entirely falls below the upper tiers because that ideal isn\u2019t no sex, because then you aren\u2019t procreating. No, that ideal is sex done in a very specific way for a very specific purpose. Non-procreative sex, with bodies that either can\u2019t procreate or have been altered, falls in the lower reaches of degeneracy on this scale.<\/p>\n Additionally, my interest is specifically through a BDSM lens, as it questions whether sex is even necessary for trans pleasure. It further falls outside accepted forms of sexual acts by rejecting that penetrative (penis-in-vagina sex), or any, sex should be a goal. BDSM also complicates and reveals a less talked about aspect of sexual politics and sexual policing: that which Rubin Bauer dubs \u201cthe ideal of harmonic sex\u201d (2014). As they explain it, \u201cThe ideal sexual encounter\/relationship has been increasingly constructed as occurring between egalitarian partners whose intimate bodily interactions are devoid of power dynamics and anything that may be thought of as unpleasant, such as pain, humiliation, shame or discomfort. The ideal of harmonic sex is closely related to the liberal construction of the sexual as private\u201d (2020). This idea also extends to reciprocation within the bedroom, that sexual pleasure should be experienced equally. This view is very exclusionary. It only conforms to a specific type of body (able-bodied, white, and cis) and demonizes any form of pleasure that is incapable of leaving behind sociopolitical factors. It also decries any differences in how sexual gratification is achieved by participants because it views this as unequal exchange: mistaking equity for equality. At its worst, this view paints anything but an identical, pure, sexual experience as unethical; at its best, it requires closing one\u2019s eyes to existing power dynamics and hoping there are no consequences later.<\/p>\n BDSM, with its frank and open negotiation of each person’s individual needs, positionality, and outright spotlighting of power dynamics\u2014often leaning into said power dynamics\u2014directly opposes the ideal of the harmonic sex and takes a harm reduction approach (Canadian Pediatrics Society 1) to trans pleasure. Risk is always inherent when it comes to pleasure, especially so for trans people\u2014 whether through resurfacing trauma, dysphoria, shame, STDs, constraints on what kind of pleasure can be felt where, or even in the acceptance of the play partners people engage with. Rather than trying to ignore these risks altogether or caution trans people against seeking pleasure, BDSM offers a framework for trans people to be informed of what kinds of risks are involved. It gives trans people the trust to know themselves and the agency to make their own decisions on whether these risks are worth the pleasure, or even whether part of the pleasure are the risks themselves.<\/p>\n This self-determination of identity through pleasure is a fascinating ground to explore and the fact that this kind of negotiation and personal understanding is a cornerstone of BDSM culture de-exceptionalizes trans choices of pleasure. Trans people are not special for risk taking or experiencing pleasure in non-normative ways because BDSM at its best is about that for cis and trans bodies alike. This syllabus seeks to use trans narratives, imaginations, and lived experience with BDSM to help students begin discussions surrounding the following questions:<\/p>\n \u25cf \u201cHow does kink\/pain\/BDSM open the floor for trans people to reclaim their bodies if at all?\u201d<\/p>\n \u25cf \u201cWhere is there a place for the trans sex worker, how are they received, and is that a problem?\u201d<\/p>\n \u25cf \u201cWhat are the effects of a reproduction-centric society on trans bodies and their agency?\u201d<\/p>\n Recommended Readings<\/strong><\/p>\n Frawley. \u201cHow the kink community taught me that sex doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d Nothing Radical<\/i>, 12th Nov. 2023, https:\/\/nothingradical.blog\/2023\/11\/12\/how-the-kink-community-taught-me-sex-doesnt-exist\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n Written for the October 2023 Carnival of Aces, this blogpost by Frawley is a personal account of their experience with sex and sexuality and how it has made them re-evaluate their usage of the asexuality label. \u201cI don\u2019t know how to disentangle my sexuality from my transness. I don\u2019t know what \u201csexual attraction\u201d is or if I experience it. And that\u2019s okay, because \u201csex\u201d is an arbitrary distinction anyways. Sex doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d It’s that last point that this blog is most concerned with. Frawley attempts to reconcile societal views of what sex is with their experience of BDSM, sexuality and the incongruence of the two. Furthermore, peppered throughout the blog is the recurring idea that so many of our queer labels are determined by the kind of sex one has. Even gender is tied into sex, your gender often decides the role you are expected to take up in a sexual encounter. While this blogpost is primarily about the author’s relationship with their asexuality post-BDSM, it still brings up interesting points surrounding identity labels; especially how the interconnectedness of labels change their meanings when it comes to sex and pleasure. The elusive definition of what sex is and how it affects identity is an interesting way of thinking of gender construction on a broader scale. For example: how does topping, bottoming, receiving, giving, domming, or subbing change gendered experience and identity? What can the fact that certain positions of power within sexual play produce gender euphoria tell us about broader societal gender construction? What can the breaking of sexual definition mean for gender liberation?<\/p>\n Jellyfishlines. ENTER H-I-M LOVE H-I-M<\/i>. Itch.io, Jan. 29 2025. https:\/\/jellyfishlines.itch.io\/enter-him-love-him<\/a>.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most experimental addition to this syllabus, ENTER H-I-M is a solo TTRPG in which the player uses a series of prompts and their imagination to build a dungeon city inside the body of a massive human being; Traveling from the teeth down to the throat, heart, lungs, and intestines. This TTRPG experience is a creative exercise about the body, what it means to have one and exist within one. It\u2019s largely up to the interpretation of each individual player and while the prompts provide a direction, a lot of the actual meat of the game relies on players infusing personal experience and imaginations into the story. BDSM provides a space for its participants to play with gender and identity in safe and impermanent places. Roleplaying is a large aspect of it\u2014whether that’s the role of dom and sub or teacher, mistress\/master, pet, etc. Gender roles can be adhered to or subverted by its participants during brief stints. To help students experience and play with what it means to have a body and a gender this solo TTRPG can provide a safe and personal space to try out aspects of what BDSM deals with without actually having to engage with any of its more risky and physical demands. As it\u2019s a solo experience students can also decide who (if at all) they involve in this body exploration exercise\u2014this draws on BDSM frameworks of informed consent and can be applied to trans concepts of agency over identity experience. Cis students will be encouraged to perhaps think of their body in trans methodology rooted ways that they have not before.<\/p>\n Rev, Nihils and Geist, Fiona. \u201cStaging the Trans Sex Worker.\u201d Trasngender Studies Quarterly<\/i>, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2017, pp. 112-125, DOI: 10.1215\/23289252-3711577.<\/p>\n is article sets the stage for how street-based trans sex workers are robbed of agency and nuance in their story because they are being used as an example of why social reform on behalf of trans people is necessary. Rev and Geist tackle \u201cthe public spectacle of mourning over slain trans persons [and how it] involves abstracting the victims of violence from the many reasons that they were subjected to violence.\u201d (121). They do this by exposing \u201cthe tendency among researchers, writers, and activists to assume a universal (visible) trans subject\u201d (113), which removes any nuance and ends up with research and papers that do not actually speak about any tangible trans experiences. Trans people and trans sex workers are more than their transness, focus on a singular trans aspect of identity often overlooks various social and structural pressures that exist. This then removes agency from the trans figure but also inhibits exploration of the different forms struggle occurs in. Staging the Trans Sex Worker <\/i>is a great introductory text for those who have never encountered the trans sex worker or who haven\u2019t thought about it further than its polarized representation. It also importantly, is actively trying to convince its reader that \u201can engagement with the material realities of trans sex work is invaluable to trans studies.\u201d (115) which I feel is a necessary beginning to this entire potential unit. Whether students agree or disagree on its importance will hopefully create discussion around the figure of trans people as sexual actors and have readers confront biases around not just sex work but broader social rules about acceptability and the agency of ones body in an extended medical, modification, and aesthetic context.<\/p>\n Sly, Mx. Transland<\/i>. Arsenal Pulp Press, Oct. 17 2023.<\/p>\n Transland is the memoir of a nonbinary person\u2019s changing relationship with BDSM and what it taught them about themselves over the years. There are many excellent pieces of this text that have rewired the very way I think, but its a quote from the first chapter that sets the tone for the rest of this book: \u201cWhile a scene can\u2019t necessarily change a relationship with another person, it can change the relationship you have with yourself.\u201d (23). This book is a beautiful journey of both the highs and lows of BDSM. It starts with the idealistic hope of a trans person entering the scene, stays in the complicated space of every let down, failed encounter, and disappointed sexual experience, but peppered throughout is trans community, care, and ends on the hopeful note that \u201cGod is a trans woman, and God just entered the room.\u201d (144). One of the best teachers in BDSM is experience. In the spirit of that it seems only right to include a whole memoir here in this syllabus. You can\u2019t teach BDSM from an outside perspective, it needs to come from within. As a practice that relies on physicality and relationships it would be remiss to not include literature that has experience with that. If you are to read any text on this syllabus, let it be this one. It\u2019s perhaps the most unabashed and honest depiction of what BDSM can mean for trans potential, both good and bad.<\/p>\n Szpilka, Jay. \u201cBDSM and Trans Literature.\u201d The Routledge Handbook of Trans Literature<\/i>, edited by Douglas A. Vakoch, Sabine Sharp, Routledge, 2024, pp. 165-172, DOI: 10.4324\/9781003365938-17.<\/p>\n The article specifically studies the inconsistency in how trans BDSM literature is written and imagined. In discussion and future imaginings it is constantly attempted to be presented as extraordinary, yet in trans fictional literature it is regularly depicted as a disappointing banality. \u201cWhile kink remains attached to moments of personal incoherence and crisis, it also time and time again appears mired in the banal and in the ordinary.\u201d (166) Following along the path that Angela Chu set out in After Trans Studies<\/i>, Szpilka analyzes trans literature and trans stories\u2019 depictions of BDSM. In this space they find a bitterness and disappointment over the lack of revelation and transcendence of being. By specifically focusing on trans fiction and imaginings they connect trans hopes in BDSM with trans realities concerning BDSM and they find it disillusioning. BDSM in trans literature is an important inclusion here as it provides a contested view of BDSM and trans potential. It adds another perspective of trans and BDSM experience and argues against the singular transformative\/liberative narrative. Placing this text in conversation with the others on this syllabus will hopefully provide a more diverse view of the field and also encourage discourse and discussion.<\/p>\n Zhan, Riley. Productive Paddles and Productive Power: An Exploration of Transgender Individuals’ Negotiation of Identity Through BDSM Practices<\/i>. 2018. Minnesota State University, Mankato, Master\u2019s thesis, pp. 1-5, 15-25, 38-54, https:\/\/cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1807&context=etds<\/a>.<\/p>\n In their thesis, Zahn blends the personal with the academic to explore how BDSM has been a tool for self-reclamation and a site of safe identity negotiation for trans people. The first chapter concisely introduces the intent behind the research (1-5). Chapter two\u2019s BDSM subheading gives necessary background to what exactly BDSM is and addresses some of the many misconceptions readers might have surrounding the topic (15-25). Finally, their analysis of the interviews explores how BDSM allows for not just genderplay and exploration but also reveals locus\u2019 of social & racial inequalities and how BDSM can be used by its practitioners to fight against them (38-54). This thesis goes beyond just sex and broadens the field of what pleasure can mean. In exploring BDSM as a site of pleasure and trans becoming it resists the idea that reproductive sex is the only possible source of pleasure\u2014that pleasure needs to be sexual at all\u2014and also that the goal of pleasure is the same for everyone. It hopefully will lead readers to question social norms surrounding pleasure, how it is produced in the body and what that means for how we create space for trans agency and quality of life.<\/p>\n Works Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n Bauer, Robin. \u201cBDSM Relationships.\u201d Expanding the Rainbow, <\/i>edited by Brandy L. Simula, J.E. Sumerau, and Andrea Miller, Brill, 2020, pp. 135-147, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1163\/9789004414105_011<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n Bauer, Robin. Queer BDSM Intimacies<\/i>. 2014. University of Hamburg, Germany.<\/p>\n Billard, Thomas et al. \u201cWhither Trans Studies? On Fields, Post-Disciplines, and the Need for an Applied Transgender Studies.\u201d Bulletin of Applied Transgender Studies<\/i>, Vol. 1, No. 1-2, pp. 1-18, DOI: 10.57814\/pe84-4348.<\/p>\n Canadian Pediatric Society. \u201cHarm Reduction: An approach to reducing risky health behaviours in adolescents.\u201d CPS, https:\/\/cps.ca\/en\/documents\/position\/harm-reduction-risky-health-behaviours<\/a>.<\/p>\n Chu, Andrea L. Drager, Emmett H. \u201cAfter Trans Studies.\u201d Transgender Studies Quarterly<\/i>, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2019, pp. 103-116.<\/p>\n