The politics of trans have been richly researched, but how might we navigate the terrain of trans desire(s), expanding from the desire of to the desire for trans? One of the most undertheorized dimensions of trans life remains the field of desire of those who are sexually attracted to trans subjects – or bodies – and how trans subjects position themselves in this field of desire. This symposium thus aims to put the desire for trans at the center of the debate, focusing on how trans people are desired, by whom, and why there is so little written about it yet so much of it going on. A starting point for such theorization may be to distinguish the desire “to be” trans from the desire “to have” trans – although, often, it seems as though these forms of desire quickly slide across and into each other.

Speakers:

Eva Hayward (Utrecht University)
“Phobia into Fetish: Transmutations” 

Adnan Hossain (Utrecht University)
“The eternal pining for an elusive lover:  Ambivalence, contradiction and men who desire hijras”

Marija Cetinic (University of Amsterdam)
"There is no Object worse than a Woman"

Eliza Steinbock (University of Maastricht)
"T4T: Historically Speaking"