Paul B. Preciado

Paul B. Preciado (Spanish: Paul B. Preciado, born Beatriz Preciado (Spanish: Beatriz Preciado), September 11, 1970, Burgos, Spain) is a contemporary Spanish-born writer, philosopher, and curator, queer theorist, and activist. He works on theoretical and applied issues of identity, gender, sexuality, and architecture. Initially known as a female writer and an openly lesbian woman, in 2014 he underwent a transgender transition and in January 2015 changed his name to “Paul.” Paul Preciado grew up in a Catholic family and attended a religious school. In the 1990s, Preciado studied at The New School in New York, where he came as a Fulbright scholar in philosophy. Preciado’s professors included Jacques Derrida and Ágnes Heller. In 2000, Preciado moved to Paris, and in 2002 organized the first drag king studio in France. He later returned to the United States and in 2004 received a doctorate in architecture from Princeton University, defending a dissertation on the role of architecture in Playboy magazine. Based on this dissertation, Preciado later wrote Pornotopia. Architecture and Sexuality in Playboy During the Cold War (Pornotopía. Arquitectura y sexualidad en «Playboy» durante la guerra fría). Since January 2013, Preciado has regularly written articles on gender, sexuality, love, and biopolitics for the website of the French newspaper Libération. In December 2013, he publicly opposed the Mariano Rajoy government’s initiative to restrict abortion rights in Spain. Preciado is currently a professor of political history of the body, gender theory, and performance history at Paris VIII University and director of the Independent Studies Program (PEI) at the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art. From 2005 to 2014, Preciado was in a personal and creative partnership with the French writer Virginie Despentes.