“Your boy is a boiii”: capturing the consumption of trans joy in the form of synthetic testosterone

Abstract

ABSTRACT Synthetic testosterone, is an object born of heteronormative sexual anxiety, invented for use by cisgender men. Today, synthetic testosterone functions, as an element of gender-affirming healthcare for specific segments of the trans population. We approach testosterone, throughout this paper, as a technical object and as such a raw material of gender in South Africa. Providing a close reading of South African Medical Journal (SAMJ), we trace the emergence, production, and linguistic life of this technical object as a site of heteronormative anxiety and consider the absent-presence of trans masculinity and trans men in relation to this. Drawing on images created by three South African trans men on Instagram, we explore the technical object’s representations/absences as a material of gendered joy in South Africa. We suggest that the self-representation of the technical object by trans men on Instagram makes it a happy object, one whose consumption is deeply intertwined with joy.