Trans Misogyny in the Colonial Archive

Vanier scholar and historian Jamey Jesperson joins us for a lecture on the counter-history of trans sex workers in colonial North America. On March 5th, 4-6 pm EST join us in-person at JHI 100, Jackman Humanities Institute, 170 Saint George Street, or over Zoom for this fascinating discussion.

On the tail of her multiple award-winning 2023 article, “Trans Misogyny in the Colonial Archive,” historian Jamey Jesperson Jamey Jespersonjoins us for a hybrid talk on the counter-history of trans sex workers. From the curious, fourteenth-century trial of London prostitute Eleanor Rykener to the legendary formation of STAR by Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera in 1970s New York, iconic stories of trans women who built lives out of the sexual service economy shape the contours of trans herstory across the ages. Despite common allusion to such sex-working historical figures, the co-constitutive and perhaps fundamental relationship between trans femininity and sex work has yet to be historicized in depth, especially as it is grounded by histories of settlement, empire, and colonial trans misogyny. Zooming in on three trans worlds of the past – colonial Mexico City, fur-trade Oregon Country, and antebellum New York – Jesperson traces a long phenomenological link between trans femininity, sex work, and colonial trans misogyny that unquestionably continues to this day. 

Reserve your in-person or Zoom ticket.