Transgender people in India – a focus on their identities and problems

                   Transgender people in India – a focus on their identities and problems

PART 1

The term 'transgender people' is generally used to describe those who transgress social gender norms. Transgender is often used as an umbrella term to signify individuals who defy rigid, binary gender constructions, and who express or present a breaking and/or blurring of culturally prevalent stereotypical gender roles. Transgender people may live full- or part-time in the gender role 'opposite' to their biological sex.

In contemporary usage, “transgender” has become an umbrella term that is used to describe a wide range of identities and experiences, including but not limited to: pre-operative, post-operative and non-operative transsexual people (who strongly identify with the gender opposite to their biological sex); A transgender person assigned male at birth (AMAB), who transitions to acquire a feminine identity, is referred to as a 'transgender woman'. On the other hand, a transgender person assigned female at birth, who transitions to acquire a masculine identity, is known as a 'transgender man'.

Besides the binary transgender people (i.e. people whom identify themselves as either men or women), there is also a separate class of non binary transgender people.

 Non-binary is an umbrella term used to describe people who do not feel male or female. They may feel that they embody elements of both, that they are somewhere in between or that they are something different. Non-binary people can still have a strong sense of gender. They can find it very distressing to be told that they must identify themselves as male or female. Many identify as transgender.

Being non-binary is different from being intersex. Most non-binary people are born with bodies that look conventionally male or female, but grow up feeling different. Like most people, they usually develop a sense of gender between the ages of three and seven. They may not describe themselves as different until a lot later because they don’t have the words with which to do so, and because there are very few visible non-binary role models. Being non-binary has nothing to do with sexual orientation. Non-binary people have the same range of preferences as other people.

Some non-binary people choose to have surgery or take hormones to alter their bodies and help them feel more comfortable. Others don’t feel that this could help them, or are satisfied with their bodies as they are. Some present themselves androgynously while others look conventionally male or female but may still ‘come out’ by discussing their identities openly. Many try to blend in because they don’t want to risk rejection.

Transgender/ homosexual communities have existed in almost all parts of the world, with their own local identities,customs and rituals. They have been variously known as ‘baklas’ in Philippines, ‘berdaches’ among American Indian tribes, ‘xaniths’ in Oman, ‘serrers’ in Africa, and ‘hijras’, ‘jogappas’, ‘jogtas’, ‘shiv-shaktis’ in South Asia. The transgender expressions of sexuality or gender identity are often hidden or stigmatized by the wider society. Resisting this stigma has been part of the long struggle for survival of the transgender community to live alongside the society at large. Historically, transgender communities, in most cultures of the world, have attempted to appropriate (with varying degrees of success) rituals, folklore and legends in order to obtain a sense of self-validation and carve out a niche for themselves in the traditional social structures. It is for this reason that their destinies have been inextricably interwoven with the social arrangements and power structures of traditional society. Of course it remains an open question as to what extent do they appropriate existing rituals and to what extent are they unable to escape from the circumscribed roles assigned to them.

The hijra community in India has existed with a recorded history of more than 4000 years. Alternately despised and honoured for undergoing castration, they were part of a well-established so-called ‘eunuch’ culture in many societies, especially in the middle-east, holding sanctioned positions in the royal court (e.g. guarding the concubines where they were preferred to male guards since their sexless status ensured that they wouldn’t seduce the women of the harem, taking part in theatrical performances, serving as advisers, and so on). It is important to understand these realities before we begin to consider the sexual non-conformity of the hijras and kothis in the contemporary Indian context.

However, mainstream society does not acknowledge that transgender people have their histories and traditions rooted in the Indian context. This reality will increasingly have to be taken into account by mainstream society and institutions.

In various cultures, transgender people were seen as having special powers due to their assumed ‘third sex’ dimension, and were allowed to take part in semi-religious ceremonies. Often they were tolerated and allowed to live in the role of the other sex, to pursue their occupations (including that of sex work), live in hamams (bath houses), cross-dress, and display other forms of transgender behaviour.

Nevertheless they were often segregated and excluded from many occupations and community practices, and even traded as slaves.

The hijra culture

The hijras in India (‘hijra’ in Arabic means holy, and may have been derived from the Urdu word ‘ezra’ that means a wanderer or a nomad) claim a sacred space in the culture due to their third gender status which is called ‘pingala’ in Sanskrit, and invoked as ‘shiva-shakti’, the image of Shiva as half-male and half-female, representing a god who is ageless, formless, and sexless. Like other communities, the hijras trace their origins to foundational myths in Ramayana and  Mahabharatha. The episode in Ramayana involving hijras occurs when Rama is banished for 14 years. When he leaves for the forest, he turns around to see a large number of his people following him. Rama appeals to ‘all the men and women’ to return to the city, but as the hijras belonging to neither category, they don’t feel bound by his injunction and want to stay with him. Impressed with their devotion, Rama sanctions them the power to confer blessings on auspicious occasions like childbirth, marriage, and inaugural functions — hence the custom of ‘badhai’, in which hijras sing, dance and confer blessings.

Another legend is to be found in Mahabharatha involving Aravan, son of Arjuna and Nagakanya, who offered to face Bhishma in battle and be slaughtered since Bhishma had vowed revenge. Aravan had one condition for sacrificing his life: he wanted to spend the last night of his life in a state of matrimony. Since no one offered to marry him, Krishna assumed the female form of Mohini and married him.

In another legend, a king in Gujarat fell madly in love with ‘Bahucharimatha’, a beautiful goddess riding a peacock. The king wanted to marry her, but she wanted to remain a virgin. When he persisted in his entreaties, she relented but asked him to first have a bath in a pond. On coming out of the pond, he was

horrified to discover that he was emasculated, and could not consummate his union with the goddess. The goddess consoled him by saying that he would found a community of people who would voluntarily castrate themselves in his honour.

Incidents of Misogyny prevailing over India

While 2014 has ushered in debates and outrage over sexual harassment of interns by retired judges as well as rapes of foreign tourists, we are continuously bombarded with news updates of the next crime via twitter hashtags and status updates on Facebook. Musing over the last year’s memories, I can confidently say that though we have realized the importance of women having rights, we have yet to cover many further milestones.

 Here, I would like to recall two distinct incidents that occurred in 2013 and brought home the fact that the position of girls is indeed precarious.  :

Incident No. 1

I was waiting with my parents at a railway station in a city. It was in October and I had come to appear at a competitive examination in the city. Now we were waiting for the train to arrive, seated within the first class railway lounge. There was another family in the same lounge. It was a couple with their 3 young children, two of them being girls. The man was employed in the Indian Army (judging from his manner) and was certainly holding some important position (now and then a few jawans would appear at the lounge, salute him and then converse something with him).

While I was minutely observing his kids( having nothing better to do at the moment), two jawans turned up at the lounge and saluted him. One of them with a packet of ladoos in his hand loudly conveyed, “Sir, Subedar X ne ye mithai bheja he. Ladka hua he.” (Subedar X has sent these sweets. A son has been born to him). The mithais were accepted and the Officer conveyed his greetings to the father of the newborn.

I did not know the family nor they knew us. When our respective trains turned up at the station, the family left first and later we left as well. But I was left with a barrage of questions.  Why do we celebrate the birth of a son with ladoos? Wouldn’t it be proper if every new born was welcomed in a family, irrespective of gender? What did it speak about the behavior of a person who accepted the ladoos without question? And of the attitudes prevailing among our armed forces?

 I had no answers then and felt it improper to interrupt the conversation between the jawans and the officer at that time.  But in my heart I felt a deep sadness.

Incident no. 2

It was December and I was listening to a radio broadcast on my mobile. It was an hourly program on menstrual problems of adolescent girls on Vividh Bharati Channel and a gynecologist had been invited to answer questions regarding the female body and hygiene. As the anchor fired off questions one after the other on menstruation, the gynecologist answered them at length, citing hormonal changes in the female body as well as physical appearance of girls.

At a certain juncture, the gynecologist, in reply to a question posed by the anchor, stated: Mothers should watch over their daughters, so that their daughters do not indulge in such activities that lead them to pregnancy.

Once again I was reminded about the low position of girls. Here, the expert in question was a female who thought it necessary to caution mothers (the target audience is certainly women) by keeping watch over their daughters. Again I felt myself being stabbed by questions: Was the mother solely responsible for watching over her daughter/ daughters? What if the mother was not around and was working far away (construction site/ factory / school/ college/ bank/ office) or was dead? What about those scenarios where a family friend or guardian molested the girl frequently? What about the victims of sexual assault and those who were disabled as well, making them vulnerable to the mercy of others? And the psychological impact of an unwanted pregnancy on an adolescent girl at a time when the Indian society is harsh towards victims of sexual assault and rape? While progress in court trials moving at a snail’s pace sums up the feeling of ‘delayed justice means denied justice’?

I do not have answers to these questions as well.

 Beauty and superstition- a lethal tango for women in India

Some weeks ago one of my relatives died. She was suffering from a rare form of cancer and due to time lapses in obtaining medical aid, her disease progressed fatally and she met an untimely end.

When my relative R was alive, she was greatly admired for her beauty and grace. In her youth she was the cynosure of all eyes. Naturally the web of rumours flew fast and thick and circled around her. People were jealous of her beauty and sought to malign her reputation. Her husband was posted frequently across various places, and hence she could not have a career. Neither did her husband permit her to work, citing her responsibilities to her family. Her talents dried up over time in the same way as a plant would dry up in a desert over lack of water.

 Her married life was fairly good, yet after a certain point of time she developed depression. R frequently complained of diseases present in her body and of shadowy characters who would hang around their rented house in her husband’s absence. She worried over trivial issues and confided more than once, that she feared for her life. Towards the latter part of life, R’s domestic life became chaotic: her husband had a violent streak in him and often assaulted her physically. Moreover she was subjected to jibes from him. Her health took a heavy toll which worsened over time, till she lost the battle to cancer.

Today R is no more. She suffered greatly on account of her beauty some people say. I want to pose some questions to people now:

Is it a crime to have a beautiful face?

Does a person’s beauty give the impression that she is a good prey for all those sadistic predators hanging around the corners?

Why should a girl suffer taunts if she is not pretty at all yet has brains to prove her worth?

Why married women cannot have a career if they are willing to exercise their wishes?

Why is it that in some parts of India, a woman who asserts her rights is branded a witch?

Or if she complains of sickness or diseases people are likely to take her to an ojha than a doctor?

That if she complains of domestic violence, people are likely to check her horoscope for some planetary influence and ask her to ‘settle down amicably’ with her husband, rather than file a complaint on her behalf at the nearest police station and shirk away from providing any monetary aid or offering mental solace to the victim, prevent her from self-guilt and confusion over her priorities?

Why is it that we do not wish upon to intrude upon ‘family privacy’ inspite of the telling signs of domestic violence, though we are eager to scoop up any juicy tales of marital infidelity or rapes happening across the state or country from our friends and neighbours, or are willing participants in the morbid craze to comment on the personal lives of any woman in our neighbourhood?

Why do we believe that only alcoholics assault their wives and disbelieve reports of non-alcoholics/tea-tollers/pan-chewers/beedi smokers assaulting their wives as well, citing that perhaps the wife ‘must have triggered it by her loud mouth’?

I have no answers to these questions. The smoke rising from R’s funeral bears mute testimony to her memories and the agony she suffered at the price of being an woman born in a cynical society and married to a despotic husband. I wish I was old enough to ring the bell on her behalf.

Child Marriage in India- Part 1

                           The menace of early marriage in the lives of girls

In Ancient India, the marriages of girls took place in their teens mostly. In matrilineal societies women had the freedom of choice .Our sacred texts mention the weddings of royal princesses such as Draupadi and Kunti, where the eligible young men of royal descent gathered and the princess would garland someone as per her choice, followed by a proper wedding of the couple. There were certain tests to test the young men and the one who succeeded in all the tests, was deemed worthy of the princess.

At times the swayambars would lead to quarrels between the princes, which would further lead to a bloodbath. But, it must be remembered that only princesses had their ‘swayambars’ ; there is no mention of the lives of the common men and women in the texts, which implies that perhaps the ordinary young girl was bound to wed someone pointed out by her family, or (if she was lucky) could marry someone she loved.

However with the passage of time certain things were rigidly comparmentalised. The Smrtis brought down the marriageable age still lower by dividing the marriageable girls into five classes:

(1) Nagnika or naked,

(2) Gauri, 8 years old,

(3) Rohini, 9 years old,

(4) Kanya, 10 years old and

(5) Rajasvala, above ten years.

Nagnika was regarded as the best stage, hence many girls were married at that stage itself.

It did not help that in Medieval Era invaders invaded India and looted and plundered everything. Education for women was completely forgotten: they remained confined to homes from birth to death, married off in childhood itself and deprived of all opportunities. Moreover, there was a belief that girls must be married before puberty. As a result girls who did not get married early remained unmarried forever. They were considered a burden on their families and some of them turned to prostitution in order to support themselves.