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Nov292008
Indian and Hijra
In the days following the Malegaon blasts and the one in Nanded before that, Bjarang Dal activists and leaders have been head to say one sentence in particular – that in the midst of rising Muslim militancy and terrorism, Hindus can not be expected to stand by like hijras and remain passive spectators ? (Whether terrorists have a religion or not is another conversation, but unfortunately a large number of terrorists of various shades are claiming to be so!
Actually that comment is rather an insult to hijras - what sin did they commit, to get an association with people who go around with death and destruction as their companions? Hijras might be a bloody nuisance on the streets with their obscene gestures and garish make up but what else they can do – marginalized and outside the radar of main stream society and devoid of any meaningful employment opportunities, purveying cheap entertainment at weddings and birth day parties is all that they can manage to do any way.
The population of hijras in India is estimated to be between 50,000 and 1.2 million. There is a huge disparity in the numbers because population censuses only give space to define either males or females. There are no reliable statistics.Tamil Nadu in a path breaking move has come to recognize transgeneders – (the term itself is no monolith as transgender is more of an umbrella term).
The word hijra is an Urdu word meaning eunuch or hermaphrodite. However, in reality, hijras are very diverse and most join the community as young boys. Hijras consist of hermaphrodites, as well as women who are unable to menstruate and lead the “normal” female life which consists of getting married and producing children. However, a great number of hijras are men who identify themselves as more feminine than masculine, mostly because their sexual desire is for men and not women.
In Indian culture, although hijras are frequently invited to dance at weddings and celebrations marking the arrival of a first-born and many believe in the potency of the curse they hurl at guests who don’t offer tips. Yet despite their ritual significance, hijras are among the most socially disadvantaged group in India. Ostracised by their families, many organise themselves into communities, which rely on begging. In big cities, it’s not uncommon to see sari-clad hijras panhandling. Sex work is also a major source of income, and rates of HIV among hijras are disproportionately high.
As with homosexuals, The State has a stiff upper lip when it comes to sexual minorities and it is a really stifling place for transsexuals, although unlike homo sexuals, they are not criminally hounded As a result, transsexual people either migrated to other States where there are social spaces for them, or lived anonymously and invisibly in their personal hells
Hijras were granted voting rights in India as late as 1994 and a few hijras like Shabnam Mausi have been elected to public office (Shabnam Mausi was an MLA in Madhya Pradesh from 1998 to 1993 but that has done nothing to rehabilitate the community. The British rulers in India regarded them as a menace to society and stripped the hijras of the laws that granted them the protection they received under Muslim rulers in pre British India and the social tolerance that they received till then gradually disappeared.
And so while a Shabnam Mausi here enters a State Legislature and a Rose Venkatesan there runs a television talk show on main stream Tamil television, the bulk of them still remain the subject of derision and mockery by “virile” leaders like those of the Bajrang Dal till progressive voices become loud enough to be heard above the diin.
The views expressed in this post are those of the writer and are not necessarily endorsed by Mutiny.in
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almostinfamous
001
8:07 pm
well said mate. agree with you 100%
Raj
002
12:33 am
gud 1 Shantanu…
there is also this article by Salman Rushdie.. am not sure if was TOI or HT… but spoke bout how the entire community exists in India… was really gud…
Megha
003
5:25 am
I agree with what you have said about the rights of transgender people as individuals.
I have one point to correct, though -
Transgender is about gender identity, not sexual orientation. A male-to-female transgender person may not be attracted to men. She may just not feel right about her own body or her own gender role. Similarly, a female-to-male transgender person may not be attracted to women. These people do not do this only for sex. If they only wanted sex, they could have had homosexual relationships with members of their same sex.
There is a difference between sex as in reproductive role, sexual orientation as in who you are attracted to, and gender identity as in who you think you are.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that transgender people can be contributing members of society if you let them. I work for a foreign space research organization, and I am transgender. I moved abroad because I did not have a future in India as a transgender person. I live a normal life in the gender I feel I should be.
Here are links to galleries of successful transgender (specifically transexual) people -
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TSsuccesses/TransMen.html
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TSsuccesses/TSgallery1.html (4 pages of these, including some Indian names)
Thank you!
Swati
004
9:35 am
I remember bring up HUMAN RIGHTS wrt transgenders once and one comment was ‘what a topic to bring up at lunch’.
When we refuse to discuss subjects and prefer to sweep topics that don’t affect us personally ( or do even) under the carpet, how are we going to make any progress?
I was told at an NGO in Delhi that babies born with birth defects related to gender were mostly abandoned and had much better chances of being adopted by families from abroad. THIS is the condition of our tolerant society.
ujj
005
11:43 am
@Swati: “When we refuse to discuss subjects and prefer to sweep topics that don’t affect us personally ( or do even) under the carpet, how are we going to make any progress?” Oh you said it all, absolutely agree with you.
There are just somethings that are not even considered, by an average Indian, to be a part of development. This is one of those issues.
Glad you brought it up Shantanu.
shantanu.dutta
006
1:34 pm
Swati,
About the children with birth defects who are abandoned and then adopted overseas, it could be - rather is often an economic issue. Such treatment as is available for these conditions is rather expensive, and even then it may not be fully effective.
Many indian families simply do not have the money. Not saying that it is right therefore right to abandon them, but affluent families from abroad might be able to afford treatment that many Indians might not be able to. — but this is part fact and part speculation and certainly up for debate.
Sameeksha!
007
2:10 pm
There is certainly a new perspective on Transgenders in this country now. Thanks mostly to health interventions.
But Shantanu, you have pointed out a vital link. Conspicuous by its absence. Between development and common cultural undertsanding, particularly of issues that are sensitive in nature for various reasons. How does one fill this gap?
@Swati. Sweeping things under the carpet. You are so right but I am more worried about a software professional who thinks social responsibility is communist shitt and cannot see beyond his own nose, than the political riffraff of the ‘hijra rermark variety’ who are in any case scum of the earth.
When the doctors - by which term I mean educated ppl who understand issues, those who can cure by stepping a little beyond their own lives and ends - don’t want to acknowledge the disease and treat, how can you expect the sick to change? Am i right or wrong?
Swati
008
2:26 pm
Shantanu,
Some cases are beyond cure..and deserving of ACCEPTANCE. Too many stigmas attached to too many things in our country unfortunately. The ‘Hijras’ we see on the streets are as HEALTHY as you and me…there is a gender defect or difference which is not necessarily life threatening and none of our business. They must be educated, employed and treated like you and I are by society. Their deformity or disability must not render us unable to accept them in mainstream society.
Sameeksha, the term ‘education’ needs redefining. I know of a doctor couple that aborted female twins because they already had a daughter . Makes me want to throw up.
contentious
009
4:25 pm
swati @008, agree with you ! Though i think its more of personal squeamishness about these stigmatized issues which education /rational discussion unfortunately cannot overcome.
Swati
010
4:55 pm
It has to begin at a very young age Contentious. Our children have to begin NOW to look at everyone around as normal…but maybe different. It has to start now.
How many of us will be able to do one thing for example…? The next time we see a transgender begging on the street, take him/her to a coffee shop and have a coffee with him/her? He/she IS human…like us all. Is capable of sitting down and drinking some coffee…like us all and having a converstaion. Does not suffer from any disease which will spread from non-physical contact.
Can I do it? Hmm..don’t know…would sure like to try.
Swati
011
4:57 pm
They have the right to every school, every hospital, every restaurant, every cinema hall, every mall like you and me. How come we still don’t see anything wrong with the picture in the blog? Why are they dressed that way? Is that THEM or is that THEM trying to look like us? No special clothes line for them YSL and MANISH MALHOTRA?
Sameeksha!
012
5:44 pm
Swati @010. I did it @ coffee shop. And ice cream on India Gate lawns.
And I think there IS a third category acknowledged in the Indian Passport Application, marked as E. Correct me if i am wrong, but i think it is the gays who are still not considered a legal category. Someone please confirm.
Swati
013
5:47 pm
Yay, sameeksha, pat on the back!!!!
I hope to be able to do it too…it is amazing how even the idea seems so difficult…am sure the actual task wont be.
Sameeksha!
014
6:47 pm
Not all that difficult. Just that they exaggerate their gestures and body language a little bit. That is what makes u uncomfrotable. If u can overlook that in a while, it is pretty ok. u don’t even remember it is someone ‘different’.
Swati
015
9:13 pm
I am sure…gearing up…:)
Megha
016
10:37 pm
I would like to point out that being transgender is not the same as having a birth defect.
All human beings are female by default. In the womb, everyone is female. A male baby becomes male only when the mother’s womb washes the baby in testosterone. If you have a Y chromosome, you have an SRY gene, which helps trigger a testosterone wash in the mother’s body. When the testosterone wash happens, the baby’s body must have the necessary receptor sites. A lot of things have to work perfectly and in perfect time. If not, their brains remain female. Testosterone rewires the brain, but in their brains the rewiring did not happen. This is not a defect, their brains are just more female, that’s all.
Similarly, for female-to-male transgender people, their mother’s bodies produced testosterone to levels too high, or the baby’s body was more receptive to testosterone. Their brains were wired more with testosterone. That’s nor a defect either. Their brains are more male, that’s all.
Gender identity is inside your brain and is a result of the wiring of the brain.
There is no real “treatment” for the transgender situation. Treatments tried in the past have led to depression and suicides.
The best thing you can do for them is to accept them for who they are and to get them involved in society as contributing members. The less you tolerate them, the more they are driven into their own little groups and engage in activities that annoy us all.
Transgender people are not doing anything by their own choice. They are just following what their brains are wired. It is not a birth defect either. They are normal human beings.
Gender roles in society, except reproductive roles, are man made not biological. There is really no reason for following the gender roles. Well, Indian men using “Fair and Lovely” or Western men getting manicures or women who wear men’s clothes are all violating gender roles. There is nothing wrong with any of that! What is wrong is that we are being too judgmental for no reason. Let others live the way they need to.
Transgender is not the same as intersex/hermaphrodite (ie. having sex organs of both sexes) and it is not the same as homosexual (ie. attracted to others of their same sex).
almostinfamous
017
10:50 pm
damn.. great comment megha
Swati
018
6:54 am
Thank you Megha. That was indeed enlightening.
Zoe Brain
019
2:39 pm
I must second the congratulations to Megha for an excellent post, with any differences I have with her factual exposition being trivial and technical. For example, our “best guess” at the moment is that Transsexuality is more properly considered an intersex condition, the result of both one of a number of genetic pre-dispositions, and also an anomalous hormonal environment in the womb. You need both - so one can have the genetic predisposition, but usually things will turn out normally.
I say it’s an “Intersex: condition like many other, more physically obvious ones. Most Intersex conditions result in obvious genital or somatic anomalies, whereas transsexuality affects the central nervous system. It’s an over-simplification to say ‘male brain and mind in a female body” or the reverse, but close enough.
Just to complicate matters, there are some Intersex conditions such as 5alpha-reductase-2 deficiency (5alpha-RD-2) and 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-3 deficiency (17beta-HSD-3) which result in a natural “sex change” between appearance at birth, and appearance later in life. Neurology and thus mind can be of either gender in such cases, and transsexuality can be either induced or cured by the natural changes. Such cases show the folly of trying to over-simplify biology, and the malign ignorance shown in the widespread persecution of such people. Reality is not that simple.
A small disclaimer - I’m one of the few cases on record of such a change, from a male appearance to a female one. Most such changes, over 99%, are in the opposite direction, and there may only be a few dozen people like me in the whole of India, Simple Transsexuality is far more common, and may amount to over a million to some degree or another.
contentious
020
2:47 pm
This condition and issue is far more complicated than it appears. Thanks Megha and Zoe for bringing some clarity on the subject.
Swati
021
3:46 pm
Amazing how much we do not know and have never tried to find out. Thanks Joe.
Swati
022
3:47 pm
Zoe*
apologies.
Zoe Brain
023
4:39 pm
A pardonable mistake under the circumstances
Despite the official medical diagnosis being “severe androgenisation of a non-pregnant woman”, my Birth Certificate still says “Boy”, and negotiating the bureaucracy has proven even more perplexing than the vagaries of unusual medical treatment
Swati
024
4:51 pm
Have you ever been to India, Zoe?
almostinfamous
025
4:59 pm
all i can say is thanks again to Zoe for giving us detail on these topics.
Zoe Brain
026
5:06 am
Thanks everyone for the kind words.
I’ve never been to India, though I have many friends from various parts of your great country. I do have an interest in Indian history, especially the Chola Empire whose trade routes took in everywhere from Africa through to the Indonesian Archipelago.
I’m also a Rocket Scientist, and have been following the Indian Space Programme. My congratulations to all those at the ISRI on their recent spectacular successes - may they continue!
sunny
027
2:59 pm
THE HARSH REALITY:
An article by Times Of India quotes that out of the one million (approx) population of Eunuchs in Delhi, only 1% are born that way. The others are forcefully converted.
In an interview, a forcefully converted Eunuch confessed that the business is deeply connected. The Police are not unaware of this.
A report also states that young men and boys are kidnapped for this business. They are first drugged and then converted in an unconcious state. Some even said that they were forced to get into the habit of taking drugs, and then homosexuality and were then converted. The Godfathers of this business are getting richer by the day and more and more lives are being destroyed every year. After the conversions the young men are not left with any other option than joining the group of other similar men and continuing their business.
The police are well aware of this and so are the other elements of our judiciary, but nothing concrete is being done to stop this forceful trade.
No Government has taken action to curb this crime and no manifesto has ever been made. There are hundereds of NGO’s working for the welfare of Eunuchs, but what about the ones who are forcefully converted?
Their dreams and rights are taken away and they are left with no other proffessional option. Some are forced into the flesh trade and some suffer from HIV, some are forced to perform at marriages while some are forced to beg. The society finds it hard to accept this fact and accept the third sex. Not that they are unaware, its just their fear. But till when will we fear? The Eunuchs must be given their rights to live a dignified life, but shouldn’t policies be made to curb the forceful conversions?
WHY?
Why do we overlook such issues? Why do we read about them and forget? Why don’t we revert back to the reality and work to form a concrete solution? Till when will we shy away from these taboo issues and let them prevail in our society? Its time to wake up. Trust me, it is the correct time to wake up.