Bandstand Dedicated to the Transsexual Sonia, an ethical dilemma, and more interviews

Please note that the English version of the site is translated using artificial intelligence software (https://www.deepl.com/) from Spanish to English. Therefore, there may be grammatical errors present.

Happy Monday!

I am writing to you for the last time from Sitges. Of course I will write much more about my experience in this beautiful town, but I will do it from somewhere else, because I will be leaving for Malaga (my second research site!) this Friday.

This week, I summarize for you a day trip to Barcelona to see La glorieta de la transsexual Sonia, about which I commented in last week's post, an ethical dilemma I am dealing with and summaries of some interviews I have conducted during the past week.

Bandstand Dedicated to the Transsexual Sonia

Since last week when I was writing an analysis of the Pink Triangle of Sitges and I discovered the monumental Bandstand Dedicated to the Transsexual Sonia, I have wanted to visit it. This weekend I made my wish come true... I went to see it in person at the Parque de la Ciutadella. This park is filled much natural beauty and life.

At the top of this post, you will find a photo that I took of the bandstand. In the photo, you can see children playing soccer in the bandstand and also people sitting on the benches on the sides. On the other side, there is a sign that summarizes the significance of this bandstand:

Next to the bandstand, there were families, couples and people alone absorbing the beauty of the park. Before visiting in person, I didn't know what to expect... When I arrived, I saw that the bandstand is still a functional part of the park that people use just like the other parts of the park. I can't say for sure, but it seemed like most of the people next to the bandstand didn't know the significance of this site. To be at the place where a person was brutally murdered because of their gender identity brought up a lot of emotions for me. It was an interesting feeling to see most of the other people having a good time next to this site. On the one hand, to spend time at this site without critically examining the meaning of the site could be considered disrespectful. On the other hand, it is transcendental to have people having fun and enjoying the beauty of the park at this place where a person lost his life due to the hatred in other people's hearts. With this, other questions arise: What is the meaning of space? Is it more important to set aside specific spaces to commemorate and celebrate the lives of marginalized people or should we focus on creating concrete changes by passing laws dedicated to protecting these people? Is it possible to do both?

My ethical dilemma

This week I have been dealing with an ethical dilemma. Two of the people I interviewed over the past week want me to publish their personal data on this site to give them publicity.

What I tell each person I work with is that they have the autonomy to guide me in how they want me to interact with them. This includes what I do with the data this person gives me. At the same time, one of my supervisory bodies, the internal human subjects review board at my university, has approved specific practices for me to follow during my research. A key part the approval that I was granted to conduct this research is that I maintain the confidentiality of all of the research subjects I work with. The reason for this is to protect the study participants from unwanted attention and danger/persecution.

The dilemma has arisen because two of the people I interviewed are public figures. At this time, I cannot reveal their personal identities because I have not had enough time to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of revealing these folks’ personal information. Obviously, I want to do what my participants have asked me to do, but there are steps that need to be taken before doing this. I plan to talk to my supervising entities for advice on this. I will keep you posted on this dilemma as the study continues.

Interviews

Due to the situation I summarized above, I will only give a brief summary of the interviews I have conducted during the past week. If I decide and gain permission to reveal the identities of the study subjects, I will share more details about the interviews. If not, I will share more information in my final synthesis about my time in Sitges, and as a part of my final research presentation.

One of the interviews was with a leader of an organization fighting for the freedom of trans/ queer people in the Sitges/ Barcelona area. In this interview, we talked a lot about the gender dynamics on the board of the organization. ~30% of the people on the board are women while the rest are men. I don't know the numbers exactly, but I know there is at least one trans person on the board. In addition to the board being dominated by cis/gay men, the organization is generally dominated by men with these identities. This board member told me that ~80% of the people who are officially members with the organization are registered as cis men. Of all the LGTBI discos in Sitges, (~20) there is only 1 that is known as a space for LGTBIQ+ women. There is no space dedicated to trans / non-binary people. This participant also talked about the difference between people who say they are feminists / transfeminists. They acknowledge the difference between these terms and explain that transfeminism is more inclusive of people with gender-diverse identities among many other aspects.

Another person I interviewed works as a drag queen in Sitges, Barcelona, Vilanova i la Geltrú and other towns in Catalonia. In this interview we talked a lot about the identity aspects connected to his work as a drag queen. While this person identifies as a cisgender man in his daily life, he also identifies as ‘travesti.’ According to this participant, to be ’travesti’ is very different from being ‘transexual’ (which would roughly translate to ‘transgender’ in English.) Transgender people / ‘transexuals’ very often want to take steps that change their body anatomy while ‘travestis’ (sometimes referred to as cross-dressers) do not. This distinction is very clear to people who are aware of gender identity, but to most people this distinction is not very clear. The interviewee says that he has a gender expression that is not normative. That is, he breaks gender norms with the clothes he wears and his mannerisms are not in alignment with the ‘typical’ mannerisms of a man. In Sitges, there is a very clear normality of gay men and it is not so common to see people who break this norm in the streets. This participant says that in his daily life, when he is out in the street without drag, he is the recipient of confused looks from other people but when he is in drag the public feels very comfortable with his presence and there are almost never looks of confusion until he is in drag. It's not to say that people don't have confusion about the identity aspects of queer people... the participant says that many people have think he is a trans woman when she is in drag, and don't see the difference between ‘travestis’ and ‘transexuals.’ These identities are compounded by society very often.

I am excited to share more information about these interviews when I have taken the necessary steps.

What’s next?

This week, I will continue to analyze the interviews described above in brief. I will also be working on my ethical dilemma. There are a few last interviews on the schedule with trans people in Sitges before I leave as well.

I would love to hear from you. You can leave me a message in the comments area below, email me (hola@mattiebaird.com) or use the contact page through this site.

Thanks for reading! See you next week!