Translating Spanish transfeminist activism into Italian. Performativity, DIY, and affective contaminations.

This article examines the translations into Italian of four post-porn and transfeminist Spanish texts, written by the writers and performers Diana Torres and Itziar Ziga: Pornoterrorismo/Porn terrorism (2014), Fica Potens/ Powerful Cunt (2015), Vomitorium/Vomitorium (2017), and Diventare Cagna/Becoming a Bitch (2015). The texts were translated by a group of Italian transfeminist translators. The presentations of these translations, between the years 2014 and 2017, have helped to enhance the Italian debate on post-porn and on issues such as slut-shaming, prostitution rights, and male violence against women. The concepts that will be discussed in this article are performativity, DIY translation, and contamination. Performativity and the DIY ethos relate to the fact that, prior to the publication of these translations, the texts were partially translated/interpreted by non-professional translators as well as performed, or used, within workshops of self-experimentation (for example those on female ejaculation); the presentations of these translations contributed to the creation of subsequent translations, workshops, performances, and performers. The concept of contamination, finally, is the product of these DIY translations and self-experimentations, which are capable of generating a contagious energy (Massumi 2002; Gregg and Seigworth 2010) that contributes to the creation of new affective networks and alliances among transfeminist collectives.