Fantasies of Being Passed from Hand to Hand. Transfeminine fantasies of objectification as a means for the production of gender

Abstract

This article is an attempt at the analysis of the relationship between trans feminine fantasies of extreme, sadomasochistic objectification in sexual relations, and social means of the production of gender. Using mixed methods (literary analysis, autotheory, and feminist critique) it situates the problem of sadomasochism and trans femininity within the context of patriarchal gender norms, but also within the context of the desire to embody these norms as a form of a gender affirmation. Rejecting trans-exclusionary proposals, it suggests the possibility to understand the trans feminine romance with objectification as an intentional strategy for seizing the means of the production of gender. However, to understand those strategies, one must look beyond frameworks which portray agency as being founded on a complete exclusion of submissiveness.