ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes different manifestations of queer bodies (queerpos) as Gothic elements in the short story by Costa Rican author José Ricardo Chaves (San José, 1958), “El prostíbulo mágico de Monsieur Venus” [“Monsieur Venus’s Magical Brothel”] (Jaguares góticos [Gothic Jaguars], 2003). This story subverts the hegemonic binary oppositions of gender labels—male and female. With this text, Chaves destabilizes the traditional borders between the sexes by proposing the characterization of the bisexual, the hermaphrodite, and the androgynous. Such figures undermine the status quo since they present the importance of the hybrid, the intersexual, as well as the significance of ambiguous beings by thus overthrowing the long-established binary logic. In this sense, both the hermaphrodite and the androgynous, as well as the bisexual disrupt the hegemonic discourse by provoking chaos, horror, and destabilization. That is why they are considered abnormal, unnatural, and perverse beings by patriarchy. By the same token, Chaves’s story not only uses queer bodies (queerpos) to destabilize the norm, but they are also accompanied by sexual practices which are disassociated from and condemned by the heteronormative system since they are not intended to procreate, but, on the contrary, to enhance sexual pleasure, seek the satisfaction of desire, and even achieve spiritual transcendence. In sum, this chapter explores how and why the queer body, as presented in Chaves’s story, is inherently Gothic since it destabilizes the naturality and authenticity of gender, sexual roles, and certain sexual practices.
