Viviane K. Namaste is a Canadian feminist professor at

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. Her research focuses on

sexual health Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a field of research, health care, and social activism that explores the health of an individual's reproductive system and sexual well-being during all stages of their life. Sexual and reproductive healt ...

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

prevention, and

sex work Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to volun ...

Education and work

Namaste received a BA from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

in 1989, an MA in

Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

from

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

, and a doctorate from

Université du Québec à Montréal The (UQAM; ), is a French language, French-language public university, public research university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the system. UQAM was founded on April 9, 1969, by the government o ...

Semiotics Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is a ...

and

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

. She worked within

ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

Paris. In 2001, she received the Outstanding Book Award from the Gustavus Myers Center for her book titled, ''Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People''. That same year, Namaste was also a director in the documentary ''Madame Lauraine's Transsexual Touch'' which deals with

transsexual A transsexual person is someone who experiences a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desires to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (incl ...

sex workers A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker" According to one view, sex work is vo ...

as well as

and clientele. Namaste became an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

and the Research Chair in

and Sexual Health at

, Quebec, Canada. In 2009, she received the "Canadian Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights", awarded jointly by the HIV Legal Network and

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

. In 2013, she was called as an official

intervenor In law, intervention is a procedure to allow a Party (law), nonparty, called intervenor (also spelled intervener) to join ongoing litigation, either as a matter of right or at the discretion of the court, without the permission of the original lit ...

in a hearing at the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

on whether the ban on

solicitation Solicitation is the act of offering, or attempting to purchase, goods and/or services. Legal status may be specific to the time or place where it occurs. The crime of "solicitation to commit a crime" occurs when a person encourages, "solicits, r ...

, prohibition of brothels and criminality of making a living from prostitution violates the Charter of Rights. The feminist journal, ''

Hypatia Hypatia (born 350–370 – March 415 AD) was a Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician who lived in Alexandria, Egypt (Roman province), Egypt: at that time a major city of the Eastern Roman Empire. In Alexandria, Hypatia was ...

'', has called Namaste's work, "extremely important".

Bibliography

* 2000 · ''Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People'' * 2005 · ''Sex Change, Social Change: Reflections on Identity, Institutions, and Imperialism'' * 2005 · ''C'était du spectacle! L'histoire des artistes transsexuelles à Montréal, 1955–1985'' * 2012 · ''HIV Prevention and Bisexual Realities'' * 2015 · ''Oversight'' * 2017 · ''Imprimés interdits: La censure des journaux jaunes au Québec, 1955–1975'' * 2019 · ''Thinking Differently about HIV/AIDS: Contributions from Critical Social Science'' * 2019 · ''Savoirs créoles: Leçons du sida pour l'histoire de Montréal''

Education and work

Bibliography

References

Further reading