Aino Pihlak

PhD Program (She/Her)

Campus

Fields of Study

Areas of Interest

Social histories of trans existence, Trans feminine sub-cultures, trans feminine periodical networks, trans feminine porn studies, trans feminine sex-work, normativity, desirability, and respectability as they relate to 20th-century trans existences

Major and Minor Fields

Major

  • Gender, Sex, and Sexualities

Minor 1

Histories of Erotica

Minor 2

Critical Public Histories of Gender, Sex, and Sexualities

Working Dissertation

Title

“Delicate Sisterhood/ Durable Borders: The Texture of Existence in 20th -Century North American Straight Trans Feminine Subcult

Supervisors

Dr. Elspeth Brown

Biography

Aino Pihlak is a trans woman and emerging social historian who studies past articulations of trans feminine existence. In addition to her interest in trans feminine porn studies, she is a scholar of twentieth-century, Anglophone, and overwhelmingly white, trans feminine subcultural periodical networks. She hopes her analyses of the complexities and messiness of past trans lives honours those who built the path she now walks on.

Awards

Education

MA, History, The University of Victoria
BA, History & Political Science, The University of Ottawa

Cohort