Being an outsider looking into the queer community of Kolkata (and to a certain extent India) has been a pleasant, frustrating, entertaining, disappointing, enlightening experience. At the very least my vocabulary has expanded in terms of gender and sexual variant terminology.
Let’s start with: (these definitions are taken from Narrain and Bhan’s "Because I have a voice: Queer Politics in India")
Hijras: as a community they represent an existing Indian tradition. Traditionally hijra communities were comprised of hermaphrodites and men who underwent radical castration (removal of both the testes and the penis), but presently include those who go in for hormonal treatment and those who undergo sex-change operations. The community has its own culture and ways of living, including their own festivals and gods and goddesses.
Kothis: A kothi, though biologically male, adopts feminine modes of dress, speech and behaviour.
Though there are supposed to be other gender- and sexuality-based identities in India today (aside from your run-of-the-mill lesbians, gays, bi’s, and trans) the two above are the most common. What stroke me the most is that like everything else in this country (and most of the world for that matter) the queer community is still very patriarchal. Kothis and Hijras are genetic males. At the forefront of the gay movement in India there are mostly men.
Though these communities self identify as being “gender non-conformist,” the reality is that they still subscribe to a traditional view of what it means to be female. At a time ripe for re-writing definitions of gender, of what it means to be male and female. Most groups are holding on to hetero-normative understandings of gender, sexuality and the body.
I have been asked to help a local LGBT group that works with youth to develop some interventions to work with kothi youth. When I asked who is working with females, the issue was dismissed as someone else’s responsibility. When asked what was hoped to be accomplished with the youth, this point of view arose:
“We think of ourselves as women. We put make-ups, wear woman's attires, etc. As per her, motherhood is one of the aspects of womanhood. Since we cannot give birth to a child, why can’t we adopt nor do something for the orphan children.”
Is this really the best we can do with the next generation of queer activist!? Turn them into house-wives!?
A dear friend working in India has had a frustrating time with a lesbian group because they do not want to recognize male-identified women. Or lesbians who fall outside of their narrow gender view.
I like to think that being non-sexual or gender norm allows for a certain degree of greater vision. But when confronted with the reality of narrow minded faggots, dykes, chicks-with-dicks, and dudes-with-cunts I wonder what the fucking point is!
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4 comments:
Dearest Andy...
I found your post very interesting (and had read about the officer who
dresses as Radha!).
Previously, I had only heard/read of "Hijras" referred to as eunuchs, so it was good to learn the Indian term. I have seen a few around Dehradun, and when I lived here before saw some hijras around Delhi. One fine afternoon Ben actually met one young male dressed as female, with makeup and all in the park here. I wasn't with him, but saw the photos. Otherwise that's been
the extent of my exposure to the queer/gender variant community here, which obviously amounts to not much!
I do feel a bit depressed to hear that the dominant gender norms prevail even in the queer community. At the same time, I'm not surprised. Society here is still seems to steeped/entrenched in tradition and social conformity. I imagine it's very difficult to break out of these mores. I also think of the irony that I'm working at an NGO that preaches empowerment but opresses its own staff members, and it just keeps coming back to me what Lauren said when we were on the way to clean the Yamuna...India truly is the "land of contrasts."
I am saddened to hear that the group you're working with neglects female
issues, and even more depressed by the idea that the essence of being a
woman means looking "feminine" by wearing makeup, being a mother/housewife, and so on. I would be interested to hear about how your work develops, and currently how you're feeling about these issues?!
Much Love,
Catherine
don't give up just yet!! (I know you won't:) Just because their sexual/and or gender identities don't jive w/ the norm, doesn't mean they aren't exposed to the same society that we all are. it's hard not to fall into step, all we can do is try and find our place, squeeze in there any way we can.
Andy,
Patriarchy rules all over the world. Living in San Francisco for 11 yrs, the mecca of all sexual minorities in the US, we are still able to see this behavior from the queer communities and the little tolerance some sexual minorities have toward other sexual minorities. When I was working for SFWAR(women against rape), one of the "girls" was OK as long as she identified as lesbian. She was in the closet - "she" was actually a biological female who was transgender and was having difficulties coming out as such. As soon as he did, they gave him a hard time and he had to leave.
It's everywhere - luckily the world has people such as yourself (and I want to be included in this group) who don't keep quiet and work hard to make changes happen.
GREAT BLOG!!
Andy- Thank god I have a fellow queer to commiserate with in India!
I've been involved with a 'lesbian' group that a local queer NGO is trying to organize. Everyone in the group identifies as an FTM or a lesbian. If you are an FTM you dress as a man and if you are a lesbian you dress as a woman. You consequentially then emulate characteristics of each gender and do not variate your chosen gender role! Considering that I dont see myself as either a lesbian or an FTM, but rather as genderqueer, people are very confused about my identity. I wear boy clothes one day and girl the next. Sometimes I act girlish in boy clothes and sometimes I act boyish in boy clothes. They all assumed that I was an FTM because I have short hair, but now everyone is confused. I am letting them ruminate in confusion and refuse to explain, at least for awhile.
What gets my VERY annoyed is that some people are hesistent to allow Hijras (MTFs) who identify as lesbians to enter into the group. To me this is equivelent to saying that they are not REALLY women, so they dont REALLY count as lesbians, which is insulting to their identity. They also insist on calling it a 'lesbian' group even though some people involved date FTMs who ID as male, not women. These FTMs dont come to the group, b/c since they ID as male, why would they come to a group that insists that it is only for 'women' who love 'women'? I think that the easiest thing to do would be just to simply the terminology and say that it is a group for people who are born as female or ID as female who love people who are born as female or ID as female, but not everyone involved agrees. The way I see it if we start drawing lines which exclude people of similar experience, whats the point of forming a group and calling it a community?
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