Viviane Namaste
Viviane K. Namaste is a Canadian feminist professor. Her research focuses on health and sex work. Biography. Namaste received a BA from Carleton University in 1989, an MA in Sociology from York University, and a doctoral degree from Université du Québec à Montréal in Semiotics and Linguistics. She worked within ACT UP Paris. In 2001, she received the Outstanding Book Award from the Gustavus Myers Center for her book titled, "Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People". That same year, Namaste was also a director in the documentary "Madame Lauraine's Transsexual Touch" which deals with  transsexual sex workers as well as sexual health and clientele. Namaste became an associate professor and the Research Chair in HIV/AIDS and Sexual Health at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In 2009, she was awarded the "Canadian Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights", jointly by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Human Rights Watch. In 2013, she was called as an official intervenor in a hearing at the Supreme Court of Canada on whether the ban on solicitation, prohibition of brothels and criminality of making a living from prostitution violates the Charter of Rights . The feminist journal, "", has called Namaste's work, "extremely important". Namaste considers activism more important than work within the humanities. In post-war Quebec, a new form of popular communication emerged: the "yellow newspapers", so named because of the poor quality of their paper. They contained all the gossip about artists, cabarets and nightlife, with content strongly dominated by sexuality. "Invisible Lives" evaluates the erasure of transgender individuals by medical psychiatry. It also draws on the daily lived-experiences of transgendered individuals and describes how their identity permeates every facet of their life from obtaining housing to health care. The  Library Journal wrote that "Invisible Lives" has "broken new ground with one of the first sociological studies of the TS/TG community." This book utilizes case studies as a means to analyze elements such as human rights and prostitution in looking at transsexual politics in Quebec and Canada. Namaste asks what makes someone a woman and whether male to female transsexuals should be included in women's spaces. Namaste also explores how gender and sex are defined in our culture and discusses the everyday manner in which transsexuals face discrimination. In the end, she recommends that feminists "integrate transsexual politics  and theory into their work." One criticism that the journal, "", makes of the writing in "Sex Change, Social Change" is that Namaste is "at times antagonistic towards transsexual and transgender activists and theorists who work within gay, lesbian, or queer frameworks." "Canadian Dimension" writes that her book makes the subject matter "accessible to those unacquainted with the current body of work on transsexuality." This book explores the lives of fourteen transsexual cabaret dancers. By discussing how transsexuals and transvestites were largely responsible for cabaret's culture. Looking at the social changes that occurred in the 60's and 70's  in Quebec, this book examines working conditions for these cabaret dancers as well as police abuse of power.