Comprehensive Study Notes: Modulating Rage and the Trans Joy Fetish

Overview of Research and Theoretical Framework

Primary Thesis: This article approaches the increasing cultural and academic emphasis on ‘trans joy’ with apprehension. Tenorio argues that while trans rage is an animating force of civic unrest, it is often mediated by a fetishizing discourse of jubilance that insists on affirmative affect as an inherent good.

• The "Trans Joy" Fetish Definition: A discursive preoccupation that fetishizes a trifecta of:     1. Affirmative resistance.     2. Humanistic individualism.     3. Trans resilience.

• Core Theoretical Influences:     - Hil Malatino and Cameron Awkward-Rich: Theorizing the necessity of "bad feelings" and maladjustment for trans liveability.     - Susan Stryker: Theoretical foundational work on "transgender rage."     - Heather Love: Resistance to the "criterion of utility" regarding bad feelings in queer studies.

• Problematic Implications: The discourse of joy is viewed as a "ruse" that shields what enrages from view, potentially simulating happiness rather than stimulating it, and reinforcing neoliberal "good feeling" and liberal democratic models of political mobilization.

The Context of Optimism in Trans Politics

• The "Transgender Tipping Point": A term declared by Time in $2014$ to cite the frontier of sociopolitical inclusion.

• The Optimism Paradox: Tenorio cites Jules Gill-Peterson ($2021$), asking, ‘why is trans politics so fucking optimistic?’ despite increasing rates of violence and legislative assaults on trans quality of life.

• The Rise of Populism: These legislative assaults run parallel with the rise of the alt-right in the United States and elsewhere.

• Examples of joy-rage pairing:     - American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): Framed trans joy as ‘revolutionary in and of itself’ and a ‘vibrant appeal to optimism and celebration’ equal to ‘anger, defiance, and protest’ (Branstetter, $2022$).     - The Kansas Reflector: Headlined coverage of queer and trans youth marching on the Kansas Statehouse in ‘joyful defiance,’ describing them as ‘filled with love and rage’ (Smith, $2023$).

• The "Buffer" Function: Joy serves as a palliative or buffer in response to the contradiction where rage—though a tool of self-preservation—makes trans people ‘unapproachable’ (Malatino, $2022$) and prone to policing.

Conceptualizing Trans Rage

• Susan Stryker’s Definition ($1994$): Rage is the affect emerging from "trans monstrosity." It is a propellant for challenging conditions but can hasten exclusion.

• Verbatim Quote from Stryker: ‘Like the monster, the longer I live in these conditions, the more rage I harbor… It is a rage bred by the necessity of existing in external circumstances that work against my survival’ (Stryker, $1994$: $244$).

• The Double Bind of Outrage:     - Fury is often swallowed because ‘anger didn’t fit the narrative’ (Anders, $2021$).     - Expressed fury can invite ‘intensified scepticism, censure, and punishment’ rather than transformation (Malatino, $2021$).

• Rage as Method:     - Affective Dissonance: A judgment that results in radical politicization (Hemmings, $2012$).     - Radical Dissatisfaction: A demand for change that carries a threat (Malatino, $2021$).     - Protection: It creates a ‘small modicum of space for being that is less subject to trespass’ (Malatino, $2022$).

• Defining "Bad Feelings" (Cameron Awkward-Rich, $2023$):     1. Phenomenologically painful.     2. Not easily harnessed for collective politics and world-making.     3. Regarded as potentially pathological in a diagnostic setting.

Clinical and Political Shifts in Affect

• The Evolution of the DSM:     - Stryker notes that pathologization ($DSM-III$ onwards) dismisses trans voices as ‘confused ranting of a diseased mind.’     - Gender Identity Disorder to Gender Dysphoria: A shift occurring over a decade ago in the US. Pathologization moved from gender nonconformity to ‘affective states’ (mental distress).

• Right-Wing Weaponization: Trans rage is used in right-wing narratives to claim ‘narcissism’ or link transition to mass violence (Cravens, $2024$; Power, $2023$).

• The Politics of "Vibes":     - Harris-Walz Campaign: Characterized as ‘running on vibes’ (McCann, $2024$).     - Ilhan Omar: Victory speech stated, ‘We run the politics of joy’ (Nichols, $2024$).

• Euphoria vs. Dysphoria: The shift to dysphoria as a diagnostic standard has deepened engagement with "gender euphoria" as a counter-measure to nationalism and "broligarchic power."

Critique of the "Joy Deficit" Epistemology

• The KonMari Comparison:     - Marie Kondo: Author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Her method asks ‘Does it spark joy?’ as a founding rule for decision-making.     - Tenorio argues this sidesteps how negative feelings drives adjudications and seeks order out of external chaos.

• Shuster and Westbrook ($2024$):     - Argue there is a "joy deficit" in trans studies caused by exaggerating negative outcomes.     - Claim that focusing only on inequalities is a self-fulfilling prophecy of knowledge production.     - Hypothesis: Improving attitudes by sharing stories of joy unmarked by pain will reduce violence (Westbrook, $2020$).

• Tenorio’s Critique: This creates a cycle of ‘joy = existence = resistance.’ It displaces political attention from structural antagonism to the weight of ‘uplifting hearts and minds.’

Case Study: Public Art and Symbolism

• The "We Are Universal" Mural:     - Artist: Kah Yangni.     - Location: Fishtown neighborhood, Philadelphia.     - Collaboration: Created with residents of Morris Home, the only US residential recovery program for trans/gender-expansive individuals.

• Visual Analysis:     - Phrases included: ‘we’re trans, we’re survivors’, ‘we are joyful’, ‘we feel rage’, ‘we are UNIVERSAL!’.     - Tenorio notes "joyful" is presented as ontological (being), while "rage" is presented as fugacious (felt response).

• The James Baldwin Omission:     - Initially, the mural was to include: ‘to be Black and trans is to be in a constant state of rage’ (adapted from James Baldwin).     - The artist scrapped this to ‘balance the hard parts… with joy’ and connect with the ‘broader community’ (Yurcuba, $2021$).     - Baldwin’s Original Warning ($1961$): It is dangerous to simplify complex issues for the illusion of recognition.

Re-interpreting Stryker and Trans Theory

• Stryker's Reflection ($2019$): In her piece ‘More words’, Stryker re-evaluates her $1994$ work.

• The Shift in Meaning: She now describes the goal of the article as transforming the experience of abjection into a ‘joyously empowering experience’ of a new modality of life.

• Tenorio’s Assessment: This translation of rage into joy reflects the contemporary political lexicon ($25$ years later) and modulates what rage is, potentially blunting its efficacy for political struggle.