ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the intersections of age, place, sex work and travestis and transwomen in South Brazil. The research originated from the fact that there are few travestis and transwomen who survive the struggle of everyday structural violence. Discrimination, marginalization and violence had impact on their lives, culminating in their premature death. There is a need, therefore, to make visible the aging process. The group of participants in this research either worked in the past or still work in prostitution and, according to the Associação Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais (ANTRA) (National Association of Travestis and Transpeople), constitute the most vulnerable group regarding vulnerability and early and violent deaths. The life expectancy of travestis and transwomen in Brazil is 35 years old. This implies that low-income travestis and transwomen with poor education who depend on prostitution live daily with the idea of a premature death. This makes them live the present with intensity, with few concerns about their aging process. As a group of gender non-conforming people, their social and economic vulnerability increases in their old age. Unlike the majority of the Brazilian population – who experience a life course in which they expect to age and then die – travestis and transwomen expect death but not to experience aging. This group’s aging process is specific and has not been extensively explored by gerontologists, who privilege gender normative populations.
