Indonesian intersections of bisexuality and transgender

Abstract

This article analyses the intersections of bisexuality and transgender in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. While there are no equivalent indigenous terms, there are cognate identities and experiences that make such an examination valid and fruitful. The article is divided into three main sections. After a brief introduction, I introduce two gendered identities which fall outside normative models: calabai’ (transgendered males) and calalai’ (transgendered females). In the second section I recount specific examples of bisexuality and transgender intersection. A critical analysis of these intersections reveals much about representations and understandings of desire, sexuality, and gender. The theoretical contributions which arise from this analysis are proposed in the third section where I argue that the conceptual categories imposed by rigid Western terminology are rendered problematic when considering the intersection between bisexuality and transgender in South Sulawesi. As such, in South Sulawesi experiences of bisexuality and transgender must be explored from a perspective which allows appreciation of their coalescence.