Trans- Bodies in/of War(s): Cisprivilege and Contemporary Security Strategy
Abstract
This article explores a gendered dimension of war and conflict analysis that has up until now received little attention at the intersection of gender studies and studies of global politics: queer bodies in, and genderqueer significations of, war and conflict. In doing so, the article introduces the concept of cisprivilege to International Relations as a discipline and security studies as a core sub-field. Cisprivilege is an important, but under-explored, element of the constitution of gender and conflict. Whether it be in controversial reactions to the suggestion of United Nations Special Rapporteur Martin Scheinin that airport screenings for terrorists not discriminate against transgendered people, or in structural violence that is ever-present in the daily lives of many individuals seeking to navigate the heterosexist and cissexist power structures of social and political life, war and conflict is embodied and reifies cissexism. This article makes two inter-related arguments: first, that both the invisibility of genderqueer bodies in historical accounts of warfare and the visibility of genderqueer bodies in contemporary security strategy are forms of discursive violence; and second, that these violences have specific performative functions that can and should be interrogated. After constructing these core arguments, the article explores some of the potential benefits of an interdisciplinary research agenda that moves towards the theorisation of cisprivilege in security theory and practice.
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Biographies
Laura J. Shepherd is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of New South Wales, Australia and currently researches and teaches in the broad areas of gendered global politics, the politics of representation and post-conflict reconstruction. Dr Shepherd is the convenor of the British International Studies Association Working Group on Gender and International Relations. She is also author and editor of several books and articles, including, most recently, Gender Matters in Global Politics.
Laura Sjoberg is Assistant Professor of Political Science (with a courtesy affiliation in Women's Studies) at the University of Florida. She holds a PhD in International Relations and Gender Studies from the University of Southern California; a JD from Boston College; and a BA in Political Science and History from the University of Chicago. Dr Sjoberg is the author or editor of several books and more than a dozen journal articles in the area of gender and international security, including most recently (with J. Ann Tickner), Feminism and International Relations: Conversations about the Past, Present, and Future.
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Article first published online: July 1, 2012
Issue published: July 2012
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