Picture by Samsul Alam Helal
In bright sarees and bright make-up these women- the ‘bearers of good luck’, gather outside temples in India offering blessings to you for alms, which if you don’t give happily, you’re probably met with a scorn. They are the Hijras who constitute an integral part of India’s third gender, their communities dating back to four thousand years. Transformations among them are mostly biological and/or spiritual. Many of them transform through month-long self-emasculation rituals in the name of a Hindu goddess while many transform only through castration. Many ancient Indian scriptures have high regard for the Hijras. However, this age-old religious status does not save these victims from contemporary discrimination.
One of these women is Rohini (name changed), a transgender in her late twenties. I remember reading her story. “I soon gave up my boyish lifestyle and started living like a female. This did not go well with my family, schoolmates or neighbours. My father took only a few seconds to disown me. A bunch of young men in my neighbourhood even sexually assaulted me”, she said as tears rolled down her face. “I had to drop out of school and change cities. I moved from Patna to the busy streets of Mumbai struggling to make a living. I had no job. No one would employ me even as a shop assistant or waitress. An older transwoman gave me shelter. I never wanted to get into sex work. But there was no other option. But it’s not easy out there. Competition on the streets is tough. There are too many trans sex workers, younger and more attractive than me, and too few customers. There have even been fights. Customers often refuse to pay, claiming they didn’t know that I was trans. I have been beaten several times.” Rohini’s story is that of thousands of transgender women in India, victims of mostly unreported abuse and violence stigmatised twice- as transgenders and as sex workers.
Stigma and discrimination drive the Hijras away from mainstream society. Young Hijras ostracised by family and society find shelter and safety in the Hijra communities that adhere to certain spiritual standards and earn a living mostly through begging, singing and dancing or sex work. Despite the Supreme Court granting the Hijras some political and economic rights, they continue to be threatened by violence. Hundreds of transgenders are murdered and raped in India every year and the victims include a shocking number of Hijras. However, most of these cases go unreported or hushed up because in countries like India concepts such as equal rights, equal opportunity and human dignity are undervalued and unenforced. Besides, partner violence is an everyday occurring, tolerance to which is fostered heavily by gender roles. Psychologists and researchers are of opinion that stereotypical gender roles lead to equating womanhood with a state of helplessness among other things. This leads some Hijras to quietly tolerate violence from their abusive partners as in doing this, they feel ‘as helpless as a woman’.
The recognition of the third gender by the Supreme Court advances the interest of justice only in a limited dimension in the presence of anti-homosexuality laws which continue to oppress transgender individuals. One of the many dire consequences of this is organised police violence against the Hijras including arbitrary arrests and custodial rape, all of which bear many traits of ‘sexual cleansing’ and face little to no investigation. “Police have often harassed and arrested me. Once they found a condom in my bag and charged me with prostitution”, says Rohini. “I do not carry condoms anymore and often have unprotected sex.”
In bright sarees and bright make-up these women- the ‘bearers of good luck’, gather outside temples in India offering blessings to you for alms, which if you don’t give happily, you’re probably met with a scorn. They are the Hijras who constitute an integral part of India’s third gender, their communities dating back to four thousand years. Transformations among them are mostly biological and/or spiritual. Many of them transform through month-long self-emasculation rituals in the name of a Hindu goddess while many transform only through castration. Many ancient Indian scriptures have high regard for the Hijras. However, this age-old religious status does not save these victims from contemporary discrimination.
One of these women is Rohini (name changed), a transgender in her late twenties. I remember reading her story. “I soon gave up my boyish lifestyle and started living like a female. This did not go well with my family, schoolmates or neighbours. My father took only a few seconds to disown me. A bunch of young men in my neighbourhood even sexually assaulted me”, she said as tears rolled down her face. “I had to drop out of school and change cities. I moved from Patna to the busy streets of Mumbai struggling to make a living. I had no job. No one would employ me even as a shop assistant or waitress. An older transwoman gave me shelter. I never wanted to get into sex work. But there was no other option. But it’s not easy out there. Competition on the streets is tough. There are too many trans sex workers, younger and more attractive than me, and too few customers. There have even been fights. Customers often refuse to pay, claiming they didn’t know that I was trans. I have been beaten several times.” Rohini’s story is that of thousands of transgender women in India, victims of mostly unreported abuse and violence stigmatised twice- as transgenders and as sex workers.
Stigma and discrimination drive the Hijras away from mainstream society. Young Hijras ostracised by family and society find shelter and safety in the Hijra communities that adhere to certain spiritual standards and earn a living mostly through begging, singing and dancing or sex work. Despite the Supreme Court granting the Hijras some political and economic rights, they continue to be threatened by violence. Hundreds of transgenders are murdered and raped in India every year and the victims include a shocking number of Hijras. However, most of these cases go unreported or hushed up because in countries like India concepts such as equal rights, equal opportunity and human dignity are undervalued and unenforced. Besides, partner violence is an everyday occurring, tolerance to which is fostered heavily by gender roles. Psychologists and researchers are of opinion that stereotypical gender roles lead to equating womanhood with a state of helplessness among other things. This leads some Hijras to quietly tolerate violence from their abusive partners as in doing this, they feel ‘as helpless as a woman’.
The recognition of the third gender by the Supreme Court advances the interest of justice only in a limited dimension in the presence of anti-homosexuality laws which continue to oppress transgender individuals. One of the many dire consequences of this is organised police violence against the Hijras including arbitrary arrests and custodial rape, all of which bear many traits of ‘sexual cleansing’ and face little to no investigation. “Police have often harassed and arrested me. Once they found a condom in my bag and charged me with prostitution”, says Rohini. “I do not carry condoms anymore and often have unprotected sex.”