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Opinion

Break the taboo, embrace the trans


Published : 11 Jun 2021 08:52 PM | Updated : 11 Jun 2021 11:59 PM

‘Hijra’, ‘Transgender’, and ‘Third gender’ — we tend to look away when these words ring in our ears. This community, in whole, is even deprived of emotional or moral support; in many cases, even from their families. The members of the transgender community, or more locally known as Hijra, have always been mistreated and misrepresented in our society.

Transgender people come from all walks of life, not only from the marginal background. Even till date, they are being looked down upon in our society. As they grow up, a Hijra embodies a woman inside a man’s body, the person’s feminine personalities being dejected, forcing many to run away from their homes, some are even forcibly thrown out of their houses due to social stigmatisation. Eventually, they discover themselves in Hijra communities, as the South Asia’s minority transgender community is known. Millions of transgender persons in South Asia are being discriminated everyday only because of their gender identity. Even though they are recognised as the ‘third gender’ in South Asian countries, till date, their rights are not being implemented.

Clearly, the South Asian countries need more time to accept this gender identity as it is still considered a taboo in our society. We, as a society, are often vocal about human rights and human development, but ironically, this community has always been neglected. Therefore, the time has come to safeguard their rights.

Firstly, we must acknowledge the fact that the gender identity that the trans community represents is not a choice, but is who they are, this is how they were born. We must overcome this stigma of dissecting them into a different category or having belittling tendency towards them. The first thing that comes to our mind is something very demeaning. We consider them aliens, at times… someone neither a male nor a female, who wears revealing, dazzling clothes with loud makeup, and make living by singing and dancing at weddings or birth ceremonies; asking money from commuters stuck at traffic signals. Many choose this lifestyle forcefully, too. Some incline towards prostitution.

We need to put shut such rackets, pull transgender persons out of those, and engage them in productive activities by enhancing their skills. We, the people, have to be aware of that, firstly, educate our children about this, so that they give transgender people the due respect, similar to every human being, instead of having depreciating feelings towards them. Several ways to establish such fundamentalist view, we have to establish institutions, schools, training centres where the pro-Hijra campaign can be bolstered. The key goal of such measures should be to create a path to empower them socially, politically, economically, legally, and physiologically.

According to the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN), the exact number of beleaguered community in Bangladesh is disputed but believed to be upto 1.5 million. As per Business Standard India (BSI), India has about 2 million transgender people, and lastly, according to 2017 Census of Pakistan, there are about 3 lakh transgender people in Pakistan. These figures show the huge number of transgender people in the community in South Asia.

If we can bring all of them under consistent order of growth and betterment, it will show us a ray of hope for equality with dignity amongst the people of a community, that has been long deprived. Education, getting married, among others, are the fundamental rights that each and every individual, irrespective of their age, gender, ethnicity and religion, deserve to get across the world. However, we can agree that slow but steady changes are coming in our society, that will bring about a social development.

We can see that the South Asian countries are experiencing a gradual change in the stereotypical social concept of gender, amid growth and evolvement in both workplaces and in higher education as well. What seemed impossible even a decade ago is now a reality as the transgender community is evolving itself on various productive and white collar platforms.

Once upon a time, what no one thought was possible, has become possible — just a few months ago, when Tashnuva Anan Shishir debuted as the first ever transgender to work as a news presenter on a private television channel in Bangladesh. She also has been into modelling and acting for a long time. She broke the glass ceiling and overcame all the stereotypes, taboo on her path, to achieve this milestone quest. Her journey towards success was not a cakewalk. She had to fight a lot to solidify her societal position, where she stands right now. She was raped, faced countless discriminations, got bullied, but still kept fighting. She never gave up and, did not choose the path other trans usually opt for. They definitely should take inspirations from her struggles, journey… to change their lives for the better.

Another story from which transgenders from the South Asian countries can take inspirations from is Narthaki Nataraj, who became the first person from the Indian trans community to receive a Padmashri award in 2019, the third highest civilian award in the country. Being a Bharatanatyam dancer, Narthaki specialises in the Thanjavar-based Nayaka Bhava tradition and has become a very well-known face with the dance form in India and abroad. She is also a transgender activist who works for the betterment of the members of the community, and is an inspiration for not just them, but for all of us.

Even in a restricted Muslim majority country, like Pakistan, an important milestone was achieved for the transgender community, as the first transgender-only Madrasa was established a few months ago. In a country where transgender people often face ostracism, this definitely was a revolutionary move for the enhancement of that community. To break barriers, this institution was set up by a trans woman named Rani Khan. Her story is also full of hardships. At the age of 13, she was forced to beg on the streets and like others, performed at weddings and functions. But later, she pulled herself out of this and focused to build a trans-only madrasa for her community.

These examples teach us a lot, on how humans can break the shackles of barriers and achieve the impossible with dignity and pride. Let us change our viewpoints and learn to give people the respect they deserve, irrespective of their gender. At the end of the day, we are all human beings, we are all equal, we all have our own struggles, and everyone’s story is significant. Instead of disregarding the transgender people, let’s embrace them, and spark off a social revolution to bring about the much needed change for the transgender community. Let us seek their blessings and keep them close, instead of dissociating them.

 

Badhan Sarkar is working as a feature writer in Bangladesh Post.