Beyond the World of Two

A Study on Transgender’s lives

Image source: Mamba Online.com

“I was a woman trapped inside a wrong body” – A. Revathi

Gender equality is an important aspect of debate where discrimination towards Transgender is a long endless running process, which characterises the state of Indian society at each level. The first thing to note is the rigid division of bodies into ‘Male’ and ‘Female’, the two normalized sexes for the society. When sex is assigned, we accept the child’s sexual orientation. While our gender may start with the task of our sex. However, the real struggle begins, when it comes to bodies where society teaches to act according to the assigned gender that was imposed during the birth irrespective of one’s choice. Bodies themselves are gendered in nature, with respect to social wants. “Masculinity and Femininity are compared with certain physical characteristics, stamping us as practically man/women in light of how much those qualities are accessible”. (Butler, 1993)[1] This gendering of our bodies affects how we feel about ourselves, how others see and connect. “This being a man and a woman are inside precarious issues. They are dependably plagued by indecision definitely on the grounds that there is a cost on each identification, the loss of some other arrangement of identifications, the persuasive estimation of a standard on each never picks, a a standard that picks us, yet which we possess, switch, re-signify to the degree that the standard neglects to decide us totally”. (Butler: 86, 1993)[2].

Gender expression is the way for showing our sexual orientation to the world. Everything around the world is assigned a sexual orientation—toys, colours, clothing, and activities are a part of the even more clear cases. Given the power of the gender binary, children stand up to staggering strain to express their gender inside out, antique implications of boy or girl. “Expectations around enunciation are told to us from the moment we are born and passed on through each piece of our lives, including family, culture, peers, schools, gathering, media, and religion” (Goel,2014). When we botch gender with sexual orientation, we are likely going to make doubts about an adolescent that has nothing to do with their character. At that point, when an individual's sexual introduction enunciation is clashing with others' wants, they are customarily thought to be gay. These are inadequate conclusions. Confusing gender and sexual orientation can similarly interfere with an adolescent's ability to fathom and express parts of their sex. It is basic to understand both gender and sexual introduction, yet how we come to fathom these parts of ourselves – and the choices we make to uncover and express them – are unmistakable ways.

Social and Financial Constraints

In Delhi, violence against Transgender is one of the issues that are growing huge public attention. To maintain patriarchal hierarchy and dominance people adopt such practices like verbal, physical and emotional abuse to maintain their dominance over third gender people. Even if one feels escaping from the shackles of those darker phases, they find themselves in a situation where they have no other option but staying and accepting such violence’s. It’s a socially constructed notion that society should only be flooded with heterosexual people. They are highly marginalized, therefore, are directly or indirectly beguiled into life imprisonment.

During the research, it was observed that most of the respondents have migrated to Delhi from neighbouring as well as far off states. Around 80 per cent of the respondents surveyed were either from Bihar or West Bengal, the two eastern states in India. According to them, they’ve migrated because they were socially excluded in their home states. Many of them had been abandoned by their families and society and hence they were forced to live a life of social exclusion. They believe and have experienced that the condition of transgender’s is better in Delhi than any other states in India. Interviewee 1 says “People see us as a menace and avoid the interaction. In Bihar there is no Trans community or supports groups, once identified Transgender’s we are abandoned”. She also reveals, “we face sexual assault from police as well when we ask for any kind of help”.

Experiencing positivity towards the city, Delhi was unexpected. Most of them considered Delhi as a support system, providing a safer place to live in and adding meaning to their existence. Interviewee 2 compared her experiences of Delhi to her birthplace, Bihar; She says, “Being in Bihar was one of the traumatizing days she faced in her life, her own family taunts her for being the way she is”. Moreover, many of them have faced sexual violence from their partners and clients. They were not allowed to participate in any social function and going to most social places were forbidden. In spite of having the desired qualifications, these people could not secure a handsome living for themselves and hence they were forced to make their living as a sex worker. Even after legal recognition as the third gender, it doesn’t make any difference to their sufferings, it’s sad to say that we are still lacking behind because of our unwillingness to look beyond these binaries. For instance, In Pakistan before their legal recognition, if people identified themselves as the third gender they were killed by society. In India, the condition is still better than the other countries, as they have various support groups and NGOs to step forward to support and improve their conditions. Many countries are now trying to follow the path of India like Bangladesh, earlier education facilities were not given to Transgender but now they had provided them with such facilities.

One of the male interviewees shares his bitter experiences with transgender and says “I don’t like third gender people because they don’t act like one”. He further describes an incident, “whenever I go to the railway station, I’m afraid to take an auto, they want money, but molesting and touching our genitals is not acceptable''. Further, he believes, “They must have done the wrong things in their previous life that’s the reason God had cursed them with this identity”. He neglected to identify them into a third gender category, according to him they are not meant to be fit into this society and world. He neither has hatred or empathy towards them, he concluded. In society, it is very common to see the extent of marginalisation they face in day to day life because of lack of awareness. It is the responsibility of every citizen to provide them with equal opportunity at every pace and make a collective contribution towards Inclusive Development.

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[1] Butler, Judith. Bodies that matter, NY, Routledge, 1993

[2] Butler, Judith. Bodies that Matter, NY, Routledge, 1993