Sweet Transvestite, Silent Lamb: How Presentations of the Transgender Body in 20th Century Horror Impact Representation Today

For your viewing pleasure, a 40-page Masters thesis on the representation of transgender people in the horror genre, and how this impacts the way trans and gnc individuals are still viewed in society. Written by a queer, trans, disabled person of colour. Contains some hot takes about Buffalo Bill and Rocky Horror that you may disagree with, but I still stand by.

Admittedly, perhaps not my strongest work, but I believe there's value in it existing in the world nonetheless; we can't grow and develop our opinions and writing style, if we deny pieces we aren't 100% happy with in hindsight, ever existed.

CW: Mentions of transmisogyny, offensive tropes, transphobia and historical hatecrime.

Transphobia has existed as long as transgender people themselves, but since the late 20th century, society’s transphobic sentiment has become far more conspicuous in mainstream media.

The steadily increasing activity of anti-transgender movements has bolstered anti-trans sentiment, making the community a target for unwarranted vitriol and violence; in the face of such exclusionism, the plea for positive transgender representation in mainstream media has only grown more desperate.

Hollywood has often been criticised for upholding transphobia in its presentations of the community onscreen, mishandling the nuances of trans-centric stories. Transgender misrepresentation has occurred across many forms of cinema, but the one that exemplifies this the most is the Horror genre (and its various subgenres such as Slasher or Thriller), in which the trope of the ‘cross-dressing killer’ and insidious, antagonistic portrayals of trans women/transgender-coded characters have frequently appeared.

Due to the already controversial nature of Horror, these offensive portrayals within the genre encourage the fear of non-conformity, and reinforce the beliefs of anti-trans ideologies like radical feminism; this paper hopes to examine the ways portrayals of transgender and gender non-conforming people in Hollywood Horror films of the 20th century impact representation today, and how these portrayals are consequential to the way real transgender and gender non-conforming people are viewed in society.