Cassandra Rios: Crossings between Categories of Gender and Sexuality

Abstract

Cassandra Rios was considered the “most banned writer in Brazil” between the 1950s and 1980s, largely because of her vast production on lesbianities.The present work, wich is the result of the development of a doctoral thesis, aims to analyze how categories such as lesbianity, transgenderism, femininity and masculinity appear in the novels “Eu sou uma lésbica (2006)” “As traças (2005)” and “Uma Mulher diferente(1969)”. The article is divided into three sections: a brief explanation about the author and the chosen works followed by a discussion about the functioning of gender categories in the works and the complex places attributed to what is understood by femininity and masculinity in the context of novels. As partial results, it is concluded that the highlighted novels produce and articulate configurations of bodies and desires that both transgress and are supported by social norms. In this movement, they create fissures and other fields of possibilities of existence.