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Transgender
community
searches for a new
identity
Radhika Giri
CHENNAI, Jan. 20. – Long hair decked in flowers, bodies swathed
in colourful sarees, the mandatory lipstick, bindhi and bangles
and the elaborate sway have traditionally identified Tamil
Nadu’s aravanis.
However, this appearance may soon be a thing of the past. The
community, also known
elsewhere in the country as hijras, or in modern terminology as
transgender or transsexual,
has always lived an ostracised existence. But they are now
drawing from lessons in etiquette to enable them to reach out to
a non-responsive society and find a
new identity that is
accepted.
“Why blame it all on society? Even we are to
blame,” says Suguna, who has been a member of the aravani
community for the past 20
years. Clad in a comely blue saree, Suguna can pass off for any
South Indian housewife. Although they often consider themselves
as members of a “third sex”, aravanis often refer to themselves
as and dress as women. At the VHS auditorium in Chennai on
Thursday, Suguna was one of the 35 aravanis receiving a lesson
on behaviour. These women had congregated from various parts of
Tamil Nadu for the third ‘Aravanigal Dinam’ (Transgender
Day).
Over the past two years the tutorial has quietly
covered about 30,000 transsexuals spread in seven districts. The
aravanis are advised on how to behave when in the company of
those outside their community,
even if other people are rude. The ultimate aim is to win them
over. The idea took off after a proposal by a meeting of jamaats
(a jamaat is a congregation of aravanis) under the initiative of
the Tamil Nadu AIDS Initiative-Voluntary Health Services
(TAI-VHS) mooted the idea of celebrating
Transgender Day on 18 January.
Accepted in 2005, the celebration proved to be a
hit among those in the community
who welcomed the idea of the aravanis coming together at an
alternative venue, away from the glare of the well known annual
hijra festival held at Koovagam in Villipuram district between
April and May.
In 2003 TAI initiated a focused programme for
transsexuals with funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation (BMGF). The aim of the project was initially to
encourage the aravani community
(counted in sexual health terminology as MSM, or men who have
sex with men), kothis (regarded as feminine males or men/boys
who take a feminine role in sex with men, but do not live in the
kind of intentional communities that aravanis usually live in)
and DDs (who have sex with both men and women) to take
precautions during sex. However, soon the project was doing
more.
For instance, the tutorial has already broken the
ice within the community. And
Dr R Lakshmibai, project director, TAI-VHS, has no problem in
posing the query to the group: “What do you do when someone
refuses to meet your request for money or eatables on the
street?” “Billi panniruvom, chakla panniruvom, (we clap our
hands and ridicule them),” comes the reply from the advanis.
Many of them hide their face behind sarees in laughter. “Stop
doing that if you want acceptance,” the director says, joining
in the laughter and the gathered voice their acceptance. “We
feel it is time someone addressed the lifestyle problems of
aravanis,” says Dr Lakshmibai, speaking after the programme.
The initiative, already the longest running
focused programme for the transgendered
community in the state, is
attempting to persuade about 40,000 aravanis not to bother
making an obvious physical statement of their sexuality in
public and to stop new members
of the community from being
castrated. Most aravanis are born as men, though some may be
“inter-sex” (with ambiguous genitalia). Traditionally aravanis
and hijras were castrated and referred to also as eunuchs,
though this practice is becoming more rare. Dr Lakshmibai
explains that what started as an AIDS preventive initiative
became a developmental programme for aravanis.
“We observed that the problem of the aravanis was
two-fold. On the one hand they suffered from guilt everyday. On
the other, they had no self confidence to lay down some rules
with their clients. To address it we have now offered them
options for additional sources of income, such as training them
to become cooks or beauticians, so that they do not have to
accept compromises at (sex) work. For this to succeed they will
also have to be accepted in society,” says Dr Lakshmibai.
Addressing their health concerns also means
persuading them to feel comfortable about their prevailing
physical appearance, so as to avoid exploitation by quacks. “We
are trying to persuade them to keep their physical appearance
even while asserting their sexual orientation,” says Dr
Lakshmibai.
“Wear a saree if you want to but do not go in for
nirvana (emasculation surgery to remove male genital organs).
There are problems. You may not be able to urinate,” she tells
the aravanis,. They tell her no one has dared to say this openly
to them before.
The message has already gone to the
community which is now trying
to turn over a new leaf by
volunteering with social activities such as blood donation and
tree planting activities to integrate themselves with society.
They say the tutorial has worked wonders for them. “I can
clearly see a change in the way people conduct themselves
towards us now. We were taught what to say and when to say it,”
says Suguna.
Last year, Dr Lakshmibai also quietly involved
them in administering polio drops. The response from society has
been encouraging, she says. The reactions have also been
encouraging for someone like S Arul Raj, who has been floating
between gender identities. Two years ago, Raj, a graduate sales
officer with a private company selling Carbon Electrodes, was on
the verge of assuming his dream name “Bharadhi Kanamma”. As with
many aravanis, Raj, who was not an open transexual in public,
called himself Bharadhi Kanamma when among the
community but kept his
trousers and shirt on for the sake of his job. But two years ago
he decided enough was enough and decided to ditch his job as
well as the male attire for a feminine name and
identity. He was counselled by
TAI not to. Persuaded, he went back to hold on to his male name
and his job but no longer kept his gender
identity a secret. After
making a television appearance to put forth a plea to society to
accept them, Raj, in December last left his job.
“There was a time when I dreamed of living in a
big bunglow, wearing sarees and having a family. Today I would
say that all that I want is social acceptance of my status. Many
in my community raise the
demand for government jobs and ration cards. I would say just
start loving us and we will get everything else ourselves,” says
Raj, who has decided to live with the
community as he looks for a job.
(Names of aravanis have been changed to protect their
identities)
Original link: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=2&theme=&usrsess=1&id=144255
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