"Do transgenders really have genitals? Are they different from a penis or a vagina?"
"If you sit next to a transgender, there will be bad luck upon you."
"If [transgenders] curse you, you are cursed for life."
"The transgender has neither a vagina or a penis, but something in between."
"All Hijras and transgenders only want sex, the only medium through which they earn a living is sex work."
"There is something wrong with a transgender person."
These are all misconceptions.
The Hijra community in Mumbai, India, is a minority. We see them and yet we choose to ignore. We do not try to understand them. This minority suffers from marginalisation, harassment, and misunderstanding. We find them begging and opting for sex-work on the streets of Mumbai. This puts them at a greater risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). But even though they live in constant fear of the IPC 377, they are still a vibrant community.
"If anyone asks me what the definition of transgender is, I will say, what is your opinion about gender?" says Saumya Gupta, a transgender woman working at Humsafar Trust. She, unlike many others, has found a stable job in a professional environment and she helps her community through the organisation.
"It is very difficult to make someone understand what a transgender is because it is such a big umbrella," says Urmi Jadhav, transgender woman and activist from Humsafar Trust. Urmi is President of support group Kinnari – Kastoori and a prominent figure in the hijra community. She goes on to say, "It also depends on the mindset of the society from which that person comes. In India, transgenders usually come from a very low socio-economic strata, so to only understand that they are a transgender despite their society and its influence is difficult. For anybody, the only line I would say, to explain transgender, is: We are human beings, we are just like you."
"When I became aware of myself, self-awareness, that is when I knew [that I was transgender]," says Saumya.
Transgender, by definition, is "of, relating to, or being a person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person's sex at birth" says the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which differs from inter-sex who are born a certain way. Yet, that is not a complete definition. Urmi explains, "What is most important, firstly, is that the person needs to be self-aware, to know who he/she is." Urmi continues, "As and when you grow, this is when you come to know whether you are trapped in male/female body."
Coming out
Worldwide, there are routines and norms that specific cultures follow, ones that we follow and automatically accept, almost blindly, even if they are wrong. "There is a particular routine in the way our Indian society functions where a boy cannot play with a Barbie doll and must play cricket while a girl has to play house," Urmi says. "This is set as the norm which each gender has to follow. The parents fail to understand how that is wrong."
"Sometimes, they go to the extent of taking them to a witch doctor, thinking that something is technically, or mentally, or chemically wrong with their child, to cure them. Some go to churches, some go to other such religious places to try to solve the "problem." They don't want to come to terms with reality. There is also shock treatment, ECT treatment to cure in case there is a "chemical imbalance" and which is making their child feel this way," Urmi explains.
On the other hand, Saumya's experiences were different. She recounts, "In my personal experience, at first my family did not support me and I had to explain again and again. Only then did they accept me." The translator, Jarvis, continued to explain, "There can be parents who are very accepting, and then there are parents who will just disown you. In an Indian scenario, it is very difficult because they can't accept it." In the end, confronting family members and conveying one's self to society is incredibly difficult for this minority.
Indian culture vs. transgender
The word transgender is a very modern term, a global word. In India, Hijra is the national terminology. Unlike transgenders, "Hijras are an actual community, they have their own rituals, traditions, culture. Like a family," Urmi describes. The Hijra community has a particular hierarchy as well, for example a Nayak is the leader which is the "top position", then the guru, who a sub-leader, who has many chelas, who are disciples of the guru who then go on to become other gurus who have their own chelas and the system continues. This is the clear difference between transgenders and Hijras, because to be a Hijra means that you are part of a family, a community, in India.
In Indian culture, the transgender population is a huge umbrella under which there are many subgroups. MTF, FTM, transexuals, inter-sex, cross-dressers are all other identities but they are not the same, and they are all international terminologies. Each sub-group has a different level of acceptance, although marginally the same in Indian culture.
Another sub-group is the Jogta's culture, where the first child is given to the temple to become married to the god of a family. The temple brings up the child as a girl even in cases when the first born in a boy. Because they are raised like that, they are always seen as girls (god-wives) and so the transgenders from that culture get acceptance more easily because of religious reasons. Saumya points out, "The family is ready to give the child and accept who they are, there is no pressure to be something else."