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About the Talent of Being Fabulous: The “Transvestite Shows” and the invention of the “professional transvestite”

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the process of construction of the so-called “professional transvestite”. This process is related to the emergence of an increasing interest by a Brazilian and international public for “transvestite shows”, which were famous events from the 1960s to 1980s. The article analyzes the shows International Set and Les Girls, which were pioneers in this genre, and their impact on the life trajectories of a generation of people who now identify themselves as “transvestites”. The data for this article was obtained from documentary and oral sources: print newspapers and magazines; and reports of individuals who lived in this period.

Transvestites; Transvestite Shows; Les Girls; Memory; Glamour

Núcleo de Estudos de Gênero - Pagu Universidade Estadual de Campinas, PAGU Cidade Universitária "Zeferino Vaz", Rua Cora Coralina, 100, 13083-896, Campinas - São Paulo - Brasil, Tel.: (55 19) 3521 7873, (55 19) 3521 1704 - Campinas - SP - Brazil
E-mail: cadpagu@unicamp.br