Naty Menstrual’s Transvestic Narrative

Abstract

This work offers a journey through the singular narrative universe of Naty Menstrual, the first self-defined transvestite writer published in Argentina. In her first book of short stories, Continuadísimo (2008), the author presents a world that changes traditional —social, cultural, and sexual— rules and values. In consequence, this article will reflect on the inversions that are manifested in the stories —inversions of the concept of family, of roles and sexual practices, of the attitude toward AIDS— and in her own construction as a linguistic object in the light of queer theories and trans studies. The language employed —crude and violent— and the images portrayed —which are linked to abjection and repugnance— will be analyzed to show the particular way in which Menstrual constructs the margin that positions her writing and gives shape to her stories.