Told from a first-person voice that rapidly establishes itself as feminine (in Spanish, nouns and adjectives can be masculine or feminine), we follow the story of a girl trapped in a man’s body. Her name is, although it’s not mentioned until the end of act one approximately, Alejandro. She talks about her childhood in the 1980s in a very humble neighborhood in Madrid, her obsession (and rejection) towards Margarita, the first trans person she ever meets, who is an old and decadent lady, appreciated by the neighbors but forced into solitude. In her words, Margarita is like the proof for trans people that Santa is not real. The main character quickly understands that the more she adapts to her environment (that is, the more she hides her true nature) the more it hurts inside. She witnesses all the abuse (physical, verbal or systemic) the homosexuals around her constantly suffer, and the brutal experiences that conform their existence.
He first love turns out to be Jay, the son of an American army man based in Torrejón de Ardoz (an American base close to Madrid), whom she meets in karate classes. Alongside Jay, they discover Chueca, Madrid’s famous gay neighborhood, with welcoming dwellers and pictures of their dead friends (due to HIV or brutal beatings) decorating the walls of the pubs. It is with Jay that she has her first sexual experience but soon after that a classmate in karate discovers them and tells Jay’s father about it. He disappears overnight and she won’t see him again.
She keeps struggling with her nature and only comes alive at night, dressing as she feels like, having sex (which she uses as a way of escaping, though it is sometimes more an abuse than an act of pleasure) and trying to enjoy herself, but at the same time she still needs to sleep with some piece of clothing as she can’t stand the touch of her own body, which makes her feel uncomfortable. It is during these years of self-destruction that she meets Eugenia, a prostitute who ends up giving her the best of advice: don’t be your own pimp. Accept yourself fully (at your own pace and rhythm) but don’t hide forever. She meets some of Eugenia’s friends and for a while, she feels like she belongs. One day, she is particularly happy because she bought her
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