This community is the oldest existing community of “transgender” individuals, having been referenced in texts thousands of years ago (Bearak), and yet, not a lot of information is available about them, and whatever information is available tends to be a bit contradictory. Because of this, I was forced to gather my primary sources through news articles, few comprehensive studies, and YouTube videos. I couldn't do much with social media because there isn't a huge presence for this specific community online, and what did exist was littered with references to the variant form of hegira, which just so happens to refer to a migration that Muhammad undertook with his followers to Yathrib from Mecca; it's also usually used in a very Islamophobic context, as you can see down below, along with the few relevant examples of the term being used on Twitter.
Throughout my gathering process, I noticed five common themes: 1) Religion and Historical Allegories, 2) Physical Appearance, 3) Medical Procedures and Transitions, 4) Sex Work and Money, and 5) Third Gender vs. Transgender. These themes led me to begin questioning what similarities and differences might exist between the transgender community in the United States and the hijra community in India, and I concluded that while there are numerous similarities in terms of institutionalized and systemic discrimination, the dissimilarities in overall religious/historic allegory and public advocacy make all the difference in terms of campaigning for equality and overall acceptance.
Religion and Historical Allegories
Starting with the Mahabharata, it is important to look at the story of Aravan. Aravan was the son of a great warrior, and while taking part in the Kurukshetra War, Aravan agrees to be the subject of a sacrifice to ensure victory for his people. He asks Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu and the god of love and compassion, to allow him to have a heroic death during the war, and along with that, he wants to be married before his sacrifice in order to receive proper funerary offerings. No normal woman would marry Aravan due to his inevitable death and their eventual widowhood, so Krishna resolves this issue by becoming Mohini, the God’s female form, and marrying Aravan (Pathak). This changing of genders lends itself to the history of the hijras in Hindu culture.
Another example comes from the Ramayana, a story in which Rama, another avatar of Vishnu and beloved prince, leaves the city to go to the forest for 14 years. The entire city follows him to the outskirts of the woods, and before he embarks on his journey, he states, “Men and women, please wipe your tears and go away.” As expected, the people left, except for a select few. These select few did not leave for 14 years, until Rama’s return, because they identified as neither male nor female, thus providing another reference to the hijra community (Nanda 2-3).
Finally, the Kama Sutra, which was believed to be composed in 600 BCE, distinguishes a difference between eunuchs “disguised” as females and eunuchs “disguised” as males. The eunuchs disguised as females are to “imitate” the stereotypical feminine gender roles that society places upon many women: softness, simplicity, gentleness, bashfulness, passivity, etc. They are also expected to dress in feminine clothing, speak in a feminine manner, and perform the acts done on the jaghana, or private area of a woman (in this particular case), with their mouths; they live the lives of courtesans.
In stark contrast to the female disguised eunuchs, the eunuchs disguised as males are to keep their desires a secret, and if they wish to act upon them, they are to live the life of a shampooer. The eunuch is to bath the man’s thighs and jaghana, or private area of a man (in this particular case), and if they are to find the man’s lingam, phallic energy, erect, they are to begin handling it and teasing the man for this erect state. If the man does not say anything in response, the eunuchs are to initiate the sexual act of their own accord, but if the man orders the eunuch to do so, the eunuch is expected to initially protest until eventually agreeing and continuing on with the sexual act, which always involves a detailed 8-step process of pleasuring the man. The current hijra community does not really have anything to do with the male disguised eunuchs, but they do seem to have a lot of overlap with the female disguised eunuchs. And although the Kama Sutra is not technically a holy book, it is one of the oldest existing texts and, therefore, one of the oldest existing references to the hijra culture (Thakur 101-103).
Eunuchs were also highly regarded in many Asian Empires, including the Mughal Empire that ruled India during the 16th and 17th centuries, up until the country became ruled by the British in the 18th century. By 1897, a law had passed that criminalized eunuchs, which is what caused the cultural shift from the hijra community being seen as innately religious figures to outcasts that are good for very little aside from prostitution (Khaleeli). In certain rural areas and, occasionally, in the more populated cities, the hijras have kept their religious figure status by blessing births and marriages, but more often than not, this is not the case. There is a definitive lack of religious/historical allegories in the United States’ transgender community, and it is my belief that this is was a blessing in disguise due to the fact that in both the Mahabharata and, primarily, Kama Sutra, the individuals that would be considered a part of the hijra culture were sexually exploited. While it is an act of compassion bestowed by a God in the Mahabharata, the Kama Sutra tells a very different story in terms of what a hijra’s true purpose is. This difference in history provides a distinct difference that might very well perpetuate unflattering stereotypes that have led to the current state of hijra community.
Physical Appearance
While “going stealth,” an ability to live and pass as one’s gender identity while most people are unaware of their transgender status (Beauchamp 358), is a major concern for transgender individuals in the United States, it is not nearly as important in the hijra community. Hijras have a very deliberate focus on femininity, as I alluded to while discussing the female “disguised” eunuchs of the Kama Sutra, and if they have already left their homes to become a part of the hijra culture, they generally have no problem flaunting it. They wear vibrant saris, grow long hair, and even begin using feminine terms and mannerisms (Nanda 3). While coming into their femininity, hijras do not shave, but rather allow traditional “pluckers” to pluck the hair from their face (McCarthy). Other examples of ways in which the hijra culture embraces their femininity include using women’s names and feminine vocabulary, identifying with goddesses, and utilizing the “women only” seating in public places (Nanda 3), but sometimes this type of visibility perpetuates a certain type of violence that I will discuss in the fourth section of this post dealing with sex work and money.
While hijras tend to wear feminine clothing and adopt feminine behaviors, it is not uncommon for them to also have masculine traits such as the beginnings of a beard, noticeably muscular limbs, and fairly hairy arms (Nanda 3) underneath the makeup and jewelry. This type of gender fluidity lends itself to certain portions of the transgender umbrella, and interestingly enough, this almost allows for a complete undoing of ungendering, a common cisgender privilege that involves reading for “evidence” of a transgender person’s assigned sex (Serano 172). One thing that is certain, however, is that this type of freedom of expression definitely has some overlap with the United States’ transgender community in terms of outward aesthetics. But, what about medical procedures and transitioning?
Medical Procedures and Transitions
As stated previously, eunuchs are men that have been castrated, so it would stand to reason that medical procedures would still be a prevalent theme within the hijra community, but to what extremes? Up until recently, castrations were fairly dangerous. More often than not, they would be performed in shady environments by people who were not trained in any type of medical field for large sums of money, which caused numerous deaths (Gettleman). Not all hijras are castrated, according to Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a notable figurehead and representative for the hijra community, but “the world believes that a castrated hijra alone is a real hijra” (Raode). This is similar to what Serano calls trans-facsimilation, a cisgender privilege that involves “viewing transgender people’s gender as fake or less authentic,” especially without gender reassignment surgery (170). However, much of the news surrounding hijras and castration would disagree with Laxmi.
According to a 2016 article by Tarique Anwar on the India Times website, a man was kidnapped by members of the hijra community and castrated after becoming addicted to various substances and being forced into homosexuality. Raode asserts that “what is needed [here] is an unbiased and impartial inquiry. Prejudice shouldn’t dominate. That hijras receive orders from their community to convert people to their gender is a myth.” The same India Times article asserts, however, that no less than 1,000 men are subjected to this exact scenario each year before being sold as a part of a sex trafficking ring–which is a very real part of the LGBTQ+ community in the United States, unfortunately (Polaris)–and according to a 2014 article from NPR, hijras are basically forced to receive hormone replacement treatment, breast-augmentations, and castration procedures by their elders. These procedures often force the hijras into sex work to pay off their medical debts, which I will talk about in the next section.
While these procedures are definitely not required to be considered a true hijra or transgender individual, it is a common issue between Indian culture and American culture. Strangely enough, however, something that differs in terms of culture is the idea of trans-objectification, which is a cisgender privilege that focuses “almost exclusively on our physical transformation [that] keeps transgender people forever anchored in the assigned sex (Serano 185). While this is a very prevalent issue in the United States, a hijra’s lack of reproductive organs causes them to be seen, technically, as neither male nor female, thus, again, undoing another cisgender privilege; interestingly enough, however, this undoing of one cisgender privilege is the basis for the perpetuation of another one called third-gendering, which occurs when cisgender people “view trans people as separate from ‘man’ and ‘woman’” (Serano 174), and while this is frowned upon in the United States, it is celebrated in India; I will revisit this in the fifth section. Sex Work and Money
The cycle of poverty is “caused by the systemic discrimination and marginalization that trans people are likely to face throughout their lives” (Gehi 324), which causes a disproportionate amount of poverty among transgender people in the United States. Hijras experience much of the same discrimination, such as a lack of access to healthcare and jobs (Gettleman), causing the same issues to permeate their culture as well. Along the same lines of the cycle of poverty, the school-to-prison pipeline asserts that “queer and transgender youth have less chances for success in school” (Lamble 241) and eventually drop out of school for one or more reasons (e.g. bullying, harassment, assault, alienation from education curriculum, suicidal ideation, illegal coping mechanisms, etc.) before getting involved in criminal activity and, eventually, being imprisoned because of this inevitability. Gettleman’s 2018 article points out that Radhika, a hijra, stayed at school for a short period of time before dropping out and getting involved in sex work, and McCarthy states that Abhina Aher, another hijra, was “dragged into the school library [and] stripped and taunted by older male students,” which led the teacher to declare in favor of the abusers and Aher to suppress his identity for upwards of 15 years after being withdrawn from school. While the overall experiences might not lead directly to prison, hijras are often harassed by the police (Gettleman).
Upon leaving their homes to become a part of the hijra community, these individuals find what is referred to as a guru, which is basically an elder hijra who functions as a means of protection and a pimp for the new hijras, also called chelas (Bearak). Because the hijra culture functions very similarly to street gangs in the United States in terms of violence and fighting over territory, the chelas promise the money they make from prostitution, their only available means to make money, to the gurus who, in turn, provide protection, shelter (slums), and a street to work on.
While some hijras are lucky enough to gain extra money by way of dancing or begging, police harassment makes it nearly impossible to even beg for money (Gettleman). Because of the Section 377 law, “homosexual acts [are] a crime” (Khaleeli), which gives the police grounds to arrest any and all hijras they suspect to have participated in such acts regardless of any actual offenses, even though that line of thinking is completely going against and missing the point of what it means to be third gender. This only serves to further perpetuate sex work as the only viable option for hijras to make money, and as a result of this injustice, between 17% and 41% of the hijra community have HIV, as compared to 0.3% of their cishet counterparts, which is 100 times the national average (Bearak). Unfortunately, it seems as though the “a few bad apples” mentality of “thinking in terms of individual behaviors and bad intentions, rather than wide-scale structural oppression,” has permeated the hijra culture, which has severely undermined the “ability to analyze [the] conditions systemically and intergenerationally, and to therefore organize for systemic change” (Bassichis, Lee, and Spade 23-24), especially if thinking in terms of the police harassment and the alleged kidnappings; this gives way to a very bleak outlook for both the hijras involved and the community as a whole.
Third Gender vs. Transgender
Finally, I would like to touch upon the overall differences between India’s third gender and the transgender community, though not strictly limited to the United States. Bearak’s article “Why terms like ‘transgender’ don’t work for India’s ‘third-gender’ communities” states that the main “distinction is the time-honored ritual of leaving one’s home–or being forced out–and undergoing induction into a clan” led by a guru; while I would agree that the terms transgender and third gender are inherently different things, I do not believe that this reason is the key distinction.
More often that not, transgender individuals in the United States find themselves leaving home, either voluntarily or forcibly, and while they do not necessarily become part of a clan that is comparable to what exists in the hijra community, I would argue that they do find themselves in a rather similar position by either getting involved in sex work/trafficking or begging on the streets–though probably due to a combination of job discrimination and subsequent homelessness, rather than being forced into it by a “guru” figure–and that in and of itself is a pretty solid similarity, rather than a key difference. The terms are also similar in the sense that both imply an inherent sense of “othering” that falls just outside of the binary, which can be seen as a good or bad thing, depending.
While those are pretty substantial similarities, there are some glaring differences that prove that they are not the same thing in the slightest. To start with, the hijra community sees their transition as a choice, whereas the transgender community sees gender identity as an inherent sense of self that has always been innately. The supreme court of India recently ruled that “third gender” would be an officially recognized option on legal documents stating, “It is the right of every human being to choose their gender” (Khaleeli), which is in and of itself in direct contrast to how the transgender community views gender identity. The hijra community is also comprised of intersex people and eunuchs, and while one of them is a choice, neither are inherently a gender identity, and therefore, are not a part of the transgender community.
But, the religious aspects–and subsequent sexualization–and the difference in the way “choice” is viewed among the communities contributes to a lack of acceptance and advocacy. Though hijras are very visible in India, few advocate for them because their transition is viewed as a choice, and because of the laws that have been put in place, their actions may be perceived as unnatural and illegal; they were, according to ancient texts, supposed to be responsible for pleasuring cisgender men and women, but they were not given much choice in the matter and were often told to “pretend to not want to perform these sexual acts.” These factors make it seem as though they are less than human and, therefore, undeserving of the same rights as their cisgender counterparts; while the transgender community is also seen as “less than” fairly often, much to my dismay, the people here view it as something that is inherently true of a person, which does not give the same, “Well, you chose it, so you have to live with the consequences,” vibe. This fact, along with the other horrible circumstances brought to light in this post, should be more than enough for an ethically presented call to action, even though there are some glaring differences in the communities. In short, “transgender” is a gender identity, whereas “third gender” is a cultural identity, and once the world learns to put their people before their cultures, we can begin to set our sights on a future where acceptance waits, just beyond the horizon.
Thanks for reading. |