Without a Minority/Identity Framework

In: TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, Band 2, Heft 4, S. 595-606

Abstract

Abstract
This article looks at the Sexual Representation Collection (SRC) at the University of Toronto's Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies to demonstrate some of the ways that trans materials can be archived and made accessible without using a trans-centric, queer, LGBT, gay, or gay and lesbian framework. The fact that the collection is part of an undergraduate and graduate research and teaching center positions it to critically engage with elements of trans positivity, trans tokenization, trans marginalization, and outright transphobia or cis-sexism that appear in a varied archival collection. This article looks at both materials in the collection and at its 2014 exhibition Archiving Public Sex, which used SRC materials for public programming. It highlights critical advantages to the SRC's approach to trans materials but also showcases the limits of this approach, particularly with regard to what can be achieved in terms of trans visibility and general awareness.