“Becoming a Transvestite”:

Intersectionality, Performance, and Self-Affirmation in Divinas Divas (2016)

Abstract

The article analyzes the documentary Divinas Divas (2016), by Leandra Leal, as a historical and cultural record of the trajectory of transgender artists in Brazil, highlighting Rogéria, Jane Di Castro, and Eloína dos Leopardos, and engaging with narratives by Aloma Divina. The research addresses the construction of transgender femininities during the military-civil dictatorship (1964–1985), bodily practices such as hormones and silicone, and aesthetic references inspired by cinema and TV divas. It examines the intersection of gender, race, and class, experiences of racism and discrimination, and the distinction between “transgender artists” and transgender individuals in prostitution. It emphasizes the body as a political and aesthetic artifact, subverting gender norms, and problematizes attempts at whitening and cisgender passability. It concludes that the film, by articulating memory, art, and resistance, contributes to the historiography of transgender identities and to counter-hegemonic narratives.