Don’t Trans*Phobe, Trans*Form Yourself—(Anti-)Homophobic and (Anti)Patriarchal Graffiti of the Post-Socialist Transition

This chapter deals with political graffiti and street art addressing sensitive topics related to gender and sexuality in post-socialist Europe, and particularly in Slovenia. Its central research question is how the discourses of homophobia and patriarchalism are constructed and presented on the walls and what reactions and resistances they provoke. The themes of such graffiti usually appear in opposition pairs, i.e. pro et contra, with the most common themes being patriarchalism, feminism, questioning of sexual binarism, sexual and sexual denunciations (in the sense of discrediting various “others”), sexual self-identification, (anti)homophobia, (anti)transphobia, and direct politicization of the movement. The methods of graffiti and street art resistance to sexual and sexual discrimination are either spontaneous, made by anonymous graffiti artists and activists, or organized (actions within the scope of the Red Dawns festival, Slovenia; Decontamination project, Slovenia; Antifa Sisters, Slovenia; Silent Protest, Russia; STAB school, Kyrgyzstan). The author concludes that the hegemonic struggle over gender and sexuality issues is also being fought on the walls of post-socialist cities, and since the political radicalizations in the region, we can expect that number and intensity of such graffiti will increase.