Majesty in the city: experiences of an Aboriginal transgender sex worker in Sydney, Australia

Abstract

This paper explores the lived experiences of Majesty. She is transgender, a former sex worker, and identifies as an Aboriginal Australian. Her status as a sex worker is embodied in both her previously held male identity and her transgender identity, however it is her transgender identity which challenges Majesty’s own notions and ideas about sex and sex work. The lines between intimacy, sex, and sex work are connected to Majesty’s identities in ways that are both fluid and complex. Drawing on Indigenous Standpoint Theory and trans geographies, this paper explores the tensions and possibilities of including Indigenous trans voices to unsettle the white and heteronormative thinking of sexually based services. In doing so, it complicates concepts of race, gender and sexuality, contributing a narrative from Indigenous Standpoints that enrich the trans geography literature.