The Made-Up State: Technology, Trans Femininity, and Citizenship in Indonesia

199 Pages·2022·5.619 MB·English

by  Benjamin Hegarty

THE MADE-UP STATE

THE MADE-UP
STATE
Technology, Trans Femininity, and
Citizenship in Indonesia
Benjamin Hegarty
SOUTHEAST ASIA PROGRAM PUBLICATIONS
AN IMPRINT OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON
Southeast Asia Program Publications Editorial Board
Mahinder Kingra (ex officio)
Thak Chaloemtiarana
Chiara Formichi
Tamara Loos
Andrew Willford
Thanks to the generous funding of the McKenzie Fellowship at the University of
Melbourne and the Australian Academy of the Humanities Publication Subsidy
Scheme, the ebook editions of this book are available as open access volumes
through the Cornell Open initiative.
Copyright © 2022 by Cornell University
The text of this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License: https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. To use this book, or parts of this
book, in any way not covered by the license, please contact Cornell University
Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hegarty, Benjamin, author.
Title: The made-up state : technology, trans femininity, and citizenship in
Indonesia / Benjamin Hegarty.
Description: Ithaca : Southeast Asia Program Publications, an imprint of
Cornell University Press, [2022] | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022026353 (print) | LCCN 2022026354 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781501766640 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501766657 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781501766664 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501766671 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Transgender women—Indonesia. | Femininity—Indonesia. |
Identity (Psychology)—Social aspects—Indonesia. | Technology—Social
aspects—Indonesia.
Classification: LCC HQ77.95.I5 H34 2022 (print) | LCC HQ77.95.I5 (ebook) |
DDC 306.76/8082—dc23/eng/20220609
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022026353
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022026354
Cover image: Yetti dressed for the Syawalan celebration held at the
Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association in Yogyakarta, ca. 1986.
Tadi’s personal collection.
For waria, transpuan, and those yet to come

Contents
List of Illustrations ix

Acknowledgments xi

Note on Spelling, Terms, and Pseudonyms xvii

Introduction: Making Public Gender 1

1. Banci, before Waria 24

2. Jakarta, 1968 43

3. The Perfect Woman 65

4. Beauty Experts 85

5. National Glamour 105

Conclusion: Making Up the State 132

Notes 147

References 159

Index 173

Illustrations
1. M ap of Java, ca. 1989 13
2. M ap of key locations in Jakarta, ca. 1968 15
3. “ One evening in Krakatau Street,” part of the “Our
Jakarta” series of cartoons, published in Kompas, 1979 60
4. “ An incident in Lawang Park,” part of the “Our Jakarta”
series of cartoons, published in Kompas, 1979 61
5. C ontestants at the second Queen of Miss
Imitation Girls competition, 1969 87
6. T he winner of the second Queen of Miss Imitation Girls
competition, 1969 88
7. A group of “wadam” in Jakarta 94
8. A waria posing beside a car in Yogyakarta, around 1980 106
9. A waria posing on a street corner in Yogyakarta, ca. 1984 113
10. A waria in daytime dandan at a beach near Yogyakarta
in the mid-1980s 114
11. A waria posing in the style of a portrait photograph
in the mid-1980s 120
12. A waria posing amid foliage in a Yogyakarta studio in
the mid-1980s 122
13. A waria walking through a street in the city, on her way
to an event, in the mid-1980s 124
14. A waria curtsying beneath banana trees at night
in the mid-1980s 125
15. A waria posing on a sofa in the mid-1980s 126
ix