"Except That the Haunted, Hidden Thing Was Me"

Ghostly Matters and Transsexual Haunting

Abstract

This paper examines motifs of ghostliness and haunting in representations of transsexuality,
both in the violent and oppressive representations of transsexuality within a transphobic culture, and in the self-representation and narration of transsexuals themselves. Using scholar
Avery Gordon’s definition of haunting—which characterizes haunting as the “knot” of oppression, self-representation, and knowledge production—this paper argues for the necessity of
recognizing transsexual oppression as a form of cultural haunting.