Trans Literalism and the Semiotic (Gender) Ideology of Secularism

Recent works within trans studies in religion by Max Strassfeld and Colby Gordon have performed "bad" literal readings of sexed religious materials to resource trans possibilities within religious traditions. In addition, these thinkers have argued that contemporary critiques of such readings resonate with historical Christian polemics for allegorical, spiritual readings over material, literal readings. This paper develops this connection further with Saba Mahmood's description of the semiotic ideology of modern secularism in which "proper" religious reading practices must not collapse the arbitrary distinction between sign and signified. Therefore, current suspicions and critiques of trans literalism both as a reading practice and as an ongoing political commitment to the materialities of changing sex can be understood as one way in which transness (in current political parlance, "gender ideology") is marked as outside the bounds of proper secular rationality.