Ahana Bannerjie
I don’t know whether I should be writing this. It might seem like I am complaining about it, but I have no option left other than to write about it. I am a transsexual. I cannot help it. I am still in my transition. I can be happy about the fact that things are working out for me. But I’m not selfish enough to turn my back on those individuals who are unfortunate enough to not yet discover all the facts about the procedures of sexual transition, or are yet to come to terms with their gender identity, or even have the courage and the means to disclose the full facts about their truth to their parents and loved ones.
So here I am, writing this article and getting on with what I want to talk about.
The Indian transsexual: Still dreaming of paradise
In popular discourse we keep referring to the rights of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders, or in other words, LGBT rights. But how true is this supposed inclusive appellation? Should I just say an “Oops” and rephrase myself to just “GL” rights? Do “rights” in this sexual rights activism really operate beyond the ‘Rights of Gays and Lesbians’?
Since the early days of the fight for the rights of the sexual minority community, did anyone really care how things would be after we are granted permission to live legally as humans? I don’t think so. Everyone from social workers to lay sympathizer activists went out of their way to reach the ‘Hijras’ to garner support for their ‘demands’. Although I still do not fully understand what these ‘demands’ really are, or what they actually mean.
The Hijra community is not made up of a homogeneous group of individuals. There is diversity within it. Many in the Hijra community are crossdressing males, that is males who wear female attire. Some are castrated males, that is they have surgically had their male genitals removed, but have not had a reconstructive surgery to have an artificial vagina created in its place. Some are “shemales”, that is essentially they are homosexual men who have had a surgery to create breasts like females by way of silicone implants, and even sometimes to change the appearance of their face to look feminine and who regularly crossdress, while retaining the male genitals that they were born with. And finally there are the biological hermaphrodites, people who were born with an undetermined sex or genital.
Many of these divergent groups join the Hijra community for lack of proper employment opportunities, merely as a source of income, for they have to feed their family. Donning make-up like a girl and going out begging with the other hijras it seems is a easy way to make money. Some merely enjoyed crossdressing, and being in the hijra fold gives them the opportunity to express themselves without fear or inhibitions. Some actually enjoy physical intimacy with someone else in exchange for money. Many join to earn enough money for their surgical transition from male to female, which is an expensive procedure. Many join the community because they did not find any support in their domestic bases, and being a truant, found a shelter in the community. Some of these run-aways will ultimately decide to get castrated and live out the rest of their life in the community’s service.
Given this diversity, we can safely say that the Hijra community comprises of hermaphrodites, transsexuals, transvestites, and transgendered persons. Certainly not all Hijras are transsexuals. A transsexual is different. He/she can be a referred as gay or lesbian person in the initial stages of the life prior to surgery, especially if that person’s primary sexual and emotional affectation is with a person of his/her biological sex. A transsexual, irrespective of whether he/she has the support of his/her family, will go for hormones therapy and take the necessary steps to surgically alter the body to their opposite sex. The primary urge is to change their physical image as recognized in public into something which is in conformity with their self perception.
Usually most of us transsexuals are educated, have the means to live life on our own terms, and are often accepted by our families. I don’t have anything against the Hijra community, but people should try to understand the clear distinctions within the Hijra community and outside, and stop painting everyone with the same brush. A lot of transsexuals do not consciously join the Hijra community, and equating the two may not be correct. Many male-to-female transsexuals would ideally like to live life post-surgery, as a regular woman in society, may be get married to a man, and adopt kids and raise them like your average family.
Post legalization of gay sex, life has been too good for many people in the queer community. Gays and lesbians started getting social acceptance and permissions from their guardians to live together with their partners, not to speak of a sense of belonging from their peers. Today, they can live the way they like and feel protected from discrimination. They can seek the help of the laws of the state as well as the police, if they are bothered unnecessarily. Needless to say, the same is largely true with people who identify as ‘Bisexuals’.
The reason is not far to seek. Most queer people are not distinguishable from the general public. It’s not easy to specially recognize their lot as something different. They don’t have any special characteristic and because most sexual activity is a private matter, can hardly be seen to be doing anything different publicly. I do not grudge them this social anonymity, but I have to acknowledge that this anonymity, or shall I call it invisibility is the basic truth, which shields them from a lot of discrimination and prejudice!
By contrast, every time the gender role that society expects from a person is not adhered to, it is a public manifestation that challenges social norms, and raises social opposition. Obviously this leads to discrimination, sometimes even violence. One easy form of this discrimination is the labeling by one name ‘Hijra’, often used derogatively, to every gender variant person, be they transgender, transsexual, or transvestite.
In this rather confusing and complex scene, my question is, where are our rights as transsexuals, in midst of other sub-communities of queer people? We transsexuals have long stood side by side with other queer groups and fought for our rights, but today do we really have a place at the table? Why do we continue to feel that we have been used whenever the need arose, but are actually abused? Why do even the queer people marginalize us?
Nothing changed for us. It’s all the same. We are still struggling for recognition, within and outside the queer community. If we do not put on make-up, we are labeled as effeminate gays. When we don make-up and go out, we are called crossdressers, allegedly someone fraudulently living like women but are actually men. Everyone in society, including members of our own queer community ridicule us, wherever we go. Things are still the same for us.
It was a month ago, that I went back and visited my cousins in New Delhi. What I had left there when I left Delhi, I found in the same state when I went back. People did grow up, and had started accepting homosexuals, but only those homosexuals who do not live dressed in salwar suits, or skirts or frocks and who do not wear make-up. I went back to the Sarojini Nagar market, and there too, the same people who used to pass lewd comments at me years ago, commented and eve-teased me once again.
So how has the Delhi High Court’s judgment on section 377 really changed anything for me? Where are my rights as a transsexual person?
