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molkolsdal · 3 years

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Pakistan's Transgender Community Is Hiding Out in a Hostile City

As Peshawar has come under increasing sway of an extremist view of Islam, its community of transgender hijras has been increasingly marginalized.

By Beenish Ahmed, 16/05/2014 Photos by Abdul Majeed Goraya

"My father used to beat me and ask, 'Why do you have to go around pretending to be a girl?'"

Now at 35, she says her cheeks burn and fists tighten if anyone refers to her as a man.

Khushboo, whose name means fragrance, classifies herself as a hijra, a South Asian gender designation that encompasses transgender and transexual people, as well as transvestites and eunuchs.

She has a different definition for herself and the estimated hundreds of thousands of other hijras across the region. "Our souls are female and our bodies are male," she says, dipping a rag into a red plastic pail filled with a chalky mixture of water and face powder. Surrounded by a group of several other hijras in a room they call their "office," Khushboo smears the dripping rag over her face and adds, "I've known I was a hijra since I was a child."

She used to wear her sisters' clothes. At 16, Khushboo slipped out of the house in one of their outfits and didn't return home for years. Along with another hijra, she settled in Peshawar, a city in northwestern Pakistan one night's drive from the costal city of Karachi where she'd grown up.

Peshawar has long been home to cultural traditions that insist on strict gender segregation, and the city has come under increasing sway of an extremist view of Islam in recent years. These intolerant, conservative beliefs are made brutally clear through the bombings and shootings that are now near-weekly occurrences. Taliban suicide bombers killed 85 worshippers at a church there last September, and militants killed thirteen people at a cinema showing pornographic movies in February. Lesser attacks are momentary blips on local news coverage featuring bloodied streets and blaring sirens.

Khushboo points to battered doors and broken windows around her. She says young men—"college boys" she calls them—wreak havoc on her and fellow hijras who are preparing for a dance performance later that night. Sometimes the men recite scripture and beat the hijras to shame them out of their profession as dancers, and other times they force them to dance or even rape them, she tells me.

Despite the extremism that has only further marred the city since her arrival nearly 20 years ago, Khushboo has an affinity for Peshawar because it's where she had a sort of rebirth as her new self.

Free from the abuse of her father and brothers, as well as the sense of dishonor she felt on behalf of her mother and sisters, Khushboo embraced a new life of openness—and was adopted into a new family.

"In this field we have mothers. We have gurus. We have uncles and aunts," she says, and then points to a girl who's rolling a spliff in the corner of the room. "She's my daughter. I'm a daughter of someone so she has a grandmother too. And," Khushboo adds, "She also has a father."

That last bit comes so quickly that I almost miss it. I inquire further about the girl's "papa" and Khushboo says, "Her father is married to someone else, but he loves me." She then goes on to explain what their relationship entails—and it's all very practical until it gets utterly tragic: "If I'm sick, he comes by and brings me medicine," she says proudly. "If I don't have money he drops some cash off. If I die, it's this man who will dress me up as a man and take my body to his house to carry out the cemetery. He might not explain the full story and just say that I was killed in the market or that there was some kind of shooting, but he's the one who will take care of the funeral."

I can't help but think that this grim possibility is one that Khushboo has discussed with her "husband"—and one that he too has come to terms with.

"In Pakistani society, there is a really strong [sense of] place and family," says Dr. Jamil Ahmad Chitrali, a professor of anthropology. "There is no alternative for anyone."

Based at the University of Peshawar, Chitrali has written about the city's hijra community. He says that by forging the same sorts of familial connections that they left behind, hijras create a social order that mimics the very society from which many of them fled.

"It's forcing all those revolutionary individuals who are against those binaries of man and woman to come into a structure which is reaffirming patriarchy," he says.

Pakistan's hijras have made some strides in recent years despite their rather isolated existence. In 2012, the Pakistani Supreme Court allowed for a "third gender" category to be added to national identity cards, which effectively gave hijras increased legal standing. It's because of this broader recognition that hijras could vote in that year's presidential election—at least five hijras even ran for office.

But the third gender classification has made little practical difference in Khusbhoo's life. "We live in a third world," she says, the difference between her life and that of a cisgender person just as stark as the difference between life in Pakistan, and say, Monaco.

And, she says, no matter what she does, she'll always be seen as different.

"Even if I give up dancing, everyone will still call me a hijra so what's the point? Why not do what I love?" She adds that even if she were to become a traveling evangelist, her family would still regard her with the same disdain. "I'm better off staying a hijra."

And that's the hardest thing that Khushboo has to face: her family. She got back in touch with them after five years of not speaking, and goes to see them in Karachi at least once a year. But when she does, she goes dressed as a man.

Though she moves about as a woman in Peshawar, Khushboo wears a black floor length, full-sleeved robe (or abaya), and a face covering (or niqab) that reveals only her eyes to hide herself from prying eyes. Even so, she's been thrown out of several houses by people who fear hijras will ruin their neighborhood.

While they occupy a marginalized space across Pakistan, hijras are probably worst off in Peshawar. In all of the other major cities in the country, they are frequent sites at traffic intersections or in shopping centers where they offer a prayer for a few rupees. Many passersby fear denying them might mean a curse and so will either oblige quickly or turn away completely.

I've spent a lot of time in Peshawar over the years, and have never seen hijras out in public the way they are in other cities. After speaking with Professor Chitrali, I learned that might be because hijras have a different role in the Pathan society that dominates the Peshawar area. In this part of the country, hijras aren't seen to have some sort of greater spiritual connection than cisgender people—instead, their role is celebratory. They're often asked to sing and dance at weddings and births.

"It's their performance which gives [a family] social recognition," Chitrali says, though the tradition is fading as weddings move from family houses into wedding halls. Some might have other professions—Khushboo says she has hijra friends who are lawyers and pilots and act cisgender in order to maintain their jobs, though they're free to "be themselves" with her and other hijras. Due to a lack of societal acceptance, many hijras live marginalized lives as low-income entertainers, but they've got a bit of a role as educators, too. Hijras sometimes teach—or even initiate—young men into sex. For many in Peshawar who live by strict religious and cultural codes that denounce almost any pre-marital interaction between the sexes as sinful, hijras provide a sort of in-between, or a "cushion," as Chitrali calls it.

"If you cross the domain of manhood into womanhood, that is against the culture, that is crossing your limits. But you can always move into the gray area, so this hijra community, in that sense, in a clear binary of man and woman among Pathans, [forms] a gray area." But he says that this "learning experience" is becoming less common with such how-to's readily available on the internet.

In Peshawar's increasingly religiously-motivated milieu, the presence of hijras—be they dancers or sex workers—is frowned upon and politicians vie for favor by pushing them out of their homes and worksites.

Seeing this, Malik Iqbal says he wanted to do something. "I sympathize with them because no one gives them any space," he tells me.

He rents out the office that Khusboo and her fellow hijras use to prepare for their dances.

"I didn't used to be on their side," Iqbal says. "Now I help them. I say they're humans too. We should have some empathy for that reason. Not just me, everyone should empathize with them as people."

But some believe Iqbal's connection to hijras goes beyond a shared humanity. Though he refuses to speak about it, Iqbal was arrested in 2010 for attempting to marry a hijra called Rani. Such a union would be illegal under Pakistani law, which only recognizes marriages between men and women. He has repeatedly denied the charge and claimed that police were trying to extort money from hijras at an event that wasn't a marriage but an innocent birthday party. Either way, the shock the story garnered reveals just how far removed everyday Pakistanis are from the hijra community. A big-grossing film called Bol, or Speak—released in 2011—may have helped some, but real connections like Iqbal's remain few.

And not everyone in close proximity to hirjas is sympathetic. Noor Illahi, who owns a grain shop down the street from the hijras' office, doesn't have a problem with the hijras themselves or even their work, but thinks they should find some other place to go. "My work has suffered because of them. The other storeowners and I, we think they should be given some place off to the side. It should be separate."

He's worked in his store for 15 years and says that sales have dropped fifty percent since the hijras set up shop next door a few years ago. "There are a lot of fights here now. They create quite a scene sometimes."

The raucousness has driven away his customers. Those who stop in the area are more interested in the hijras than the sacks of flour he has for sale.

"I'm not personally offended by them. But look," he says, pointing to a group of several white shalwar kameez-clad men loitering outside the hijra's building. "These poor people have earned just three or four hundred rupees all day ($3-4) and they'll come here and waste it all on them."

The men are all rickshaw drivers. One by one, they go on the record to deny being there to solicit sex. "We're just here to chit chat with them," one says while peering over his shoulder to see if any of the hijras have come out into the alley. "It's a totally innocent relationship that we have with them."

Back up in the hijras' office, the lights have gone out as a part of the rolling power outages that have frustrated Pakistanis for years. It might be another hour before they're ready to leave for their performance. When they do, they'll be cloaked in massive shawls and under the cover of night.

#long post #Pakistan #lgbtq #ASIA #transgender #hijra #gender #peshawar #beenish ahmed #Abdul Majeed Goraya

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dreamvvithme · 4 years

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Hirja in Between (2018)

#greg hsu #hijra in between #taiwanese movie

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badmousestuff-blog · 5 years

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Caela’s Report

The Reactionary Nightmare of the CPGB-ML

Prelude: A Flawed Declaration

MOTION 8: “Identity politics are anti-Marxian and a harmful diversion from the class struggle”

Motion 8, passed by the CPGB-ML, is thoroughly anti-materialist and profoundly reactionary. In this, the party dogwhistles at “LGBT ideology” being harmful to the working class, who are nebulously defined. This motion says nothing but declares loudly a lack of solidarity with struggles of gender and sexuality, alienating not only those oppressed on those grounds but those who are allied with them. The party seems unconcerned with allying with those masses concerned with the wellbeing of LGBT people, instead using the language of conservatism (“identity politics”) to signal this message:

There Are No Gays In The USSR!

“Why gay rights is not a class issue”

If we are to believe the party, the question of gay rights is not only “not a class question”, but also solvable by the communist revolution in itself. When class antagonism ends, the line goes, then LGBT people will be liberated by proxy. These two statements, however, carry an internal contradiction: if LGBT people are not an oppressed class, as people of colour and women are, then the antagonism towards them will not be resolved by revolution. If they are an oppressed class, then the CPGB-ML is failing in its duty to support all classes oppressed by capitalism, and is thus not only failing tactically but theoretically.

However, this contradiction is not resolved with self-criticism, or improvement of the party line, but through dismissal and ignorance – the worst failure of any communist party. Instead, the party chides LGBT people, and the activists supporting their rights, not merely as reactionaries (as they continue to go on later), but are contrasted against the ultimately nebulous term “ordinary people” - the framing of this implying that abnormality and difference is in itself harmful – consciously or not, the party has taken the conservative line of ignorance and repulsion. This does nothing to improve the lives of LGBT people, many of whom are working class precisely because they are discriminated against by capitalists, many, especially trans people, taking up sex work as the only available option. To stand in solidarity with all oppressed classes means to stand for LGBT rights and liberation, and if one ignores the problem it does not go away. “There are no invalids in the USSR!” means nothing to those disabled people specifically oppressed by bad, exclusionary and anti-materialist policy.

The Root of Left Reaction: The Worker as Biotruth

“The reactionary nightmare of ‘gender fluidity’”

Here we find the largest flaw in CPGB-ML’s ideology, in fact, the one from which myriad other flaws originate – the worker, “ordinary”, is not allowed to be corrupted by the outsider, the abnormal. This takes the class status of the worker and turns it into a crude biopolitics, in which the body of the worker, not their status, is at the forefront. In that sense, though they take some token stand against racism, their assertion that “class is the primary struggle” (said directly to a person of colour asking about racial oppression) makes sense. To the CPGB-ML, all oppression consists of class oppression, and everything else is a corruption, a “harmful distraction.” There is a preference for immediate physicality over psychology – which is why, in part, the party denounces trans people.

In this article, the party demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of the material conditons not only of LGBT people, but all those who are not oppressed strictly along economic lines. There is a preference given to immediate physicality – the worker’s arm over the worker’s mind. Ultimately, the line on which the CPGB-ML stand is “the worker”, those who are producing in some capacity. Placing the ability to work at the forefront of one’s politics, especially in an age where so many cannot work, is a privilege only the able-bodied can afford. A Communist revolution, without a plan for those most marginalised by capital and thus the least likely to work, is doomed to fail. A politics that does not take into account the mental health of the masses is a rejection of materialism and thus counter- revolutionary in one of its core ideas. Disregarding the importance of mental health, the article states:

There is even a movement termed ‘ableism’ or ‘trans-ableism’. There exist people who say: “I look as if I’ve got two arms and two legs, but actually in reality, I feel like I was born disabled.”

The writer simply cannot comprehend that there exist invisible disabilities, and things that prevent work that aren’t removed limbs. To the party, the worker is thus conceived as machinery – something whose value lies in working at peak efficiency. This is capitalist logic and should be stamped out of any revolutionary theory, instead valuing people inherently as members of a communist society.

On gender, the writer of this article uses vague truisms to point to what may seem like intuitive answers – however, in simplifying the argument so much, it becomes easy to rebut. Geometry and biology are entirely seperate fields, let alone geometry and psychology – the attempt to say “why can’t a circle self-identify as a square” falls flat, because a circle is not an organism. Thus, the question of “is there a material reality” is a thinly-veiled attempt to get the reader to agree to their conception of reality, and what is material. The hammer does not operate without an arm to drive it, and the arm does not operate without a mind to will it. Creating a staw opponent who argues that “there is no material reality” is a fundamental failure in understanding anything outside of the writer’s experience. In that sense, the writer, and by proxy the party, places the individual conception of reality above the masses – they are not following the research, not conducting their own, and thus relying solely on prejudice. Again, this returns to the hand and the mind – both need each other, and the party disregards one, failing to see an entire side of the process. The article proceeds not dialectically, but via assertion – though the writer brags about being an adherent to the dialectical process, they do not practice it. Similarly, just as the party states their anti-racism, their members cannot avoid white chauvinism and pushing people of colour away from the party. For example, this excerpt:

It’s very useful not to trust muslims or not to trust Pakistanis or not to trust Afro-Americans, or “I don’t really like that Nigerian who lives next door to me, they’re a bit different aren’t they?” Well, if people rub along with each other, they get over that don’t they?

The writer goes on to assert that race itself is a construction of the bourgoisie, and should thus be disregarded in revolutionary movements for a unified class line. However, if one were to conceive of capital itself in the same way, then the logic becomes apparently flawed; constructions of the bourgeoisie need to be acknowledged and worked through, not discarded on the altar of progress. Every time a movement fails to acknowledge this, it fails the masses.

Thus, onto gender, a construction of the modern era. Countless examples of non-binary genders have existed in pre- modern societies, especially outside of Europe and its empire; I need not list them here, but examples include Two- Spirit people of First Nations descent, the Waria of Indonesia, the Hirja of India, etc. - all of these conceptions arose independently of one another, long before capital established itself. If we are searching for material reality, the gender binary seems to fly in the face of it – it arises as the Other of the dominant class (men). Gender is a historically contingent category, and is a process of becoming (as Simone de Beauvoir describes) a gender, rather than being born it. Even the sex binary is fundamentally flawed and ideological, as intersex people are routinely violated at birth to enforce it. This binary is purely in the realm of ideas, and as such is anti-materialist. To embrace gender divergence, even gender fluidity, as the title of the article states but does not elaborate on, aligns perfectly with a historically materialist conception of history. The writer accuses trans people of being purely idealist – I have demonstrated that it is in fact the opposite – enforcing the gender and sex binaries are firmly anti-materialist. The division of the working class is not in the removal of these binaries, they are those binaries.

So, I ask, when you routinely ask why women and people of colour do not come to your side, and when you’re constantly accused of queerphobia, do you not perform the self-criticism necessary to grow, and realise that your policies are alienating the masses? Why do you meet the idea of the number of trans people being ten percent, not with engagement, but with rejection and incredulity, inventing some narrative that trans people are telling gay people that they are trans?

There are two answers to this question: one, that your party is ignorant of the facts, and has not done the research necessary to engage with this issue, and has regardless written an article and held a party congress on the issue. The other option is that your party holds a resentment to queer people (thinly veiled over with empty statements of acceptance) many of whom are working-class specifically by modes of capitalist oppression. Both of these solutions render the CPGB-ML unable to represent the masses, and thus unfit to call itself a party of the proletariat.

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pasdesexepasdeprobleme · 6 years

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Hier, j’ai posté ce post qui a eu quelques réponses, je me permets donc d’y répondre:

Je n’ai pas minimisé la discrimination des personnes gay et bi, j’ai seulement fait une comparaison sur le fait qu’une personne gay/bi/pan est persécutée sur son orientation sexuelle tout comme une personne Ace est persécutée sur son orientation sexuelle. C’est le seul point commun que j’ai évoqué et je n’ai pas fait de comparaison de faits ou de statistiques. La communauté gay/bi/pan a une plus grande présence dans notre histoire et l’historique des oppressions qu’elle a subi remonte à plusieurs siècles, là où la communauté Ace s’est formé à la fin du XXème siècle. Du coup, je ne vois pas dans mon post une phrase qui insinuerait le fait que les personnes gay/bi/pan seraient infériorisées afin que je mette en valeur les personnes Ace.

Cette réponse est de la merde. De la grosse merde. Déjà parce que je parle des communautés LGBT+ (et non pas LGBT), mais aussi parce que vous vous faites preuve d’une ignorance inouïe. Depuis quand est-ce que les communauté LGBT+ doivent lutter sur ce qui est juridique pour qu’une identité soit incluse ? Le mouvement LGBT+ lutte contre les injustices et les lois anti-LGBT+, mais aussi les violences et les préjugés en général, pour une meilleure représentation médiatique et une meilleure perception sociale; des objectifs qui sortent du cadre juridique. Et parlons de droits, justement. Lorsqu’une personne m’a menacé de viol correctif et m’a invité à une soirée dans le but de me droguer, j’avais mon droit d’être ouvertement asexuel sans qu’il y ait de répercussions ? Lorsqu’une personne en couple a des rapports sexuels non-consentis avec son/sa partenaire qui veut “la remettre dans le droit chemin”, cette personne a le droit de ne pas avoir de rapports sexuels quand elle le souhaite ? Quand une personne subit des thérapies de conversion ou est internée dans un hôpital psychiatrique parce que son asexualité est vue comme une anomalie par la société, cette personne a le droit d’être respectée en tant qu’être humain indépendant de son orientation ? Et toujours en termes de droits, l’Inde a une communauté de personnes appelées hirjas, une communauté trans/agenre qui considérait l’asexualité comme sacrée selon certain-es de ses membres. Cette communauté a subi un fort déclin lorsque le colonialisme européen et son conventionnalisme LGBT+phobe a changé la société indienne. Plusieurs identités dont l’asexualité ont été vues comme non-correspondantes à la cishétéronorme et l’amatonorme et ont été oppressés. Un mouvement de masse s’est fait pour que des droits soient infériorisés.

Pas la peine de le vouloir, c’est déjà fait. La communauté asexuelle repose sur des communautés indépendantes telles que l’AVEN et l’AVA qui ont leurs propres missions. Donc encore une fois, rien n’empêche l’inclusion des personnes Ace dans le mouvement LGBT+, et les exclusionists sortent des justifications à deux balles.

...ok, mais encore une fois, qu’est-ce que l’inclusion des personnes Ace dans le mouvement LGBT+ a de problématique ? Comme le dit mon texte, il est possible pour une personne Ace d’être dans une communauté indépendante ET d’être militant dans le mouvement LGBT+ par rapport à son orientation. Et la culture du viol ne concerne pas que le mouvement féministe et les communautés Ace, vous me montrez une autre justification à deux balles alors que c’est tout à fait simple d’inclure les personnes Ace dans le mouvement LGBT+.

Je le répète, une personne Ace sera persécutée sur son orientation sexuelle. Par conséquent, on se doit d’accepter les personnes cishétéromantiques Ace dans le milieu LGBT+, puisqu’il accepte les personnes qui sont marginalisées sur leur orientation ou leur genre qui dévie de la cishétéronorme. Leur hétéromantisme et leur cisidentité ne seront pas prises en compte dans le mouvement, mais leur asexualité, si.

Si. J’ai subi des préjugés et des menaces de viol par rapport à mon asexualité. Des personnes ace ont subi des viols correctifs et d’autres ont subi des thérapies de conversion. Notre société veut que le sexe soit quelque chose de naturel et d’essentiel pour chaque individu-e. Si une personne Ace ne se soumet pas à cette norme, elle en souffre. Et, encore une fois, il n’y a pas que le cadre juridique qui est en jeu dans les luttes du mouvement LGBT+., il y a aussi la lutte pour la fin des préjugés, une représentation non-négative dans les médias et le monde, etc. Et j’ai déjà parlé de droits précédemment dans ce post. Voilà donc les réponses que je souhaitais adresser, surtout dans le but de justifier à des détracteur-ices que les personnes Ace ont leur place dans le milieu LGBT+, tout en ayant leur communauté séparé.

#réponse #lgbt+#bagaitte #whatthefrance #asexualité #ace #ace discourse

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hegemonyisphony-blog · 5 years

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Kira Hall summarizes the patterns of grammatical gender in standard Hindi. The language used by the hirjas, the "third sex", in Varanasi, India, exemplifies the convergence of these two aspects of language and gender. Hirjas strategically and consciously manipulate a two-gender linguistic system to reflect their own transformation into a third category of gender. Hall describes the alternation between feminine and masculine reference in Hindi, since many nouns, verbs, postpositions and adjectival modifiers inflect for gender.

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jinhawooyoon · 7 years

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Pansexuals are transphobic bi people who fetishize trans people for inclusion points. Dating trans people doesnt make you a special sexuality, lesbian, gay and straight people will and do date nb people, you cant claim to be attracted to ALL genders especially if its just in theory, if you havent even INTERACTED with people of every gender. You cant throw all non-binary genders onto one heap of attraction because they're not the same (two spirit, hirja, bigender, agender, etc).

Being bisexual means that you are attracted to more than one gender, but not all of them. (Usually, bi is for 2 gender and polysexual is used for more than 2) I know a guy who is attracted to every gender except boys. He is fine with nb people who have a penis, but do not feel attraction to anyone who identify as a boy. Being pan is just not caring about the gender. How is not caring about the gender transphobic? They can feel attraction to trans people...They're not agaisnt them? I don't think I understand what you're trying to say here...Sorry

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juudgeblog · 6 years

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National Legal Services Authority vs Union of India – Case Analysis

In this article, Yash Dahiya of Amity Law School, Noida analyses the landmark judgment, NALSA vs. Union of India.[(2014) 5 SCC 438]

PARTIES

1) National Legal Services Authority (Primary petitioner)

2) Poojaya Mata Nasib Kaur Ji Women Welfare Society

3) Laxmi Narayan Tripathy

Vs.

4) Union of India (Defendant)

Coram

1) Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan

2) Justice A.K. Sikri

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

For long the transgender community or the TG community in which the term transgender is an umbrella term has been sidelined by the community and have been tormented and discriminated. [1]They continuously face abuse and violence just because they don’t come under the universally recognised genders i.e. male and females. They are tortured and do not enjoy the same freedom and rights which the citizens enjoy. They are shunned and defamed by the society and are considered as untouchables. They are considered as a liability and pain for the nation.

Finally a petition was filed by the National Legal Services Authority which was the primary petitioner which provides free legal aid to the disadvantaged and unprivileged sections of the society and resorts to solve their grievances. The organisation works for the betterment of the society and thus the petition was filed so that Transgender can be recognised as a third gender in the eyes of the law other than the binary genders i.e. male and female. Poojaya Mata Nasib Kaur Ji Women Welfare Society who filed a writ petition and Laxmi Narayan Tripathy who is renowned Hirja activist also filed a petition.

The petitions were filed on the grounds that non recognition of the transgender community as a separate sexual and gender identity is a violation of many Fundamental and Human Rights, which are protected by the Indian Constitution and other International Human Rights documents.[2] Fundamental rights such as article 14(Right to equality), article 21(Right to life and liberty) etc. Transgenders have the right to enjoy the same rights and freedoms which the binary genders male and female enjoy.

FACTS OF THE CASE

However, the transgender community face a lot of humiliation and disgrace in the present times. They are not allowed medical, educational facilities etc. They are exploited and harassed by people. All these are violations of the fundamental rights of our country and several International Human rights documents which are given above. This eventually led to the filling of the petition. By virtue of the same, laws governing marriage, adoption, inheritance, succession, taxation and welfare were all governed by whether or not you are male or female. Interestingly, this determination of gender is always done at birth. It is due to this lack of legal provisions for persons of the third gender that they faced discrimination across various walks of life. Thus the case came before the court when a public Interest Litigation was filed by the National Legal Services Authority followed by other petitioners as well.[11]

ARGUMENTS AND REASONING

The petitioners were joined by a number of interveners. They argued that only binary genders of male and female were recognised under Indian law and the lack of legal measures to cater for the needs of the represented groups contradicted a number of constitutional rights including the rights to a dignified life, equality before the law, non-discrimination and freedom of expression. [12]They are disrespected and exploited by people.

According to article 14 (right to equality) of the Indian constitution no person shall be discriminated on the basis of sex, religion etc. The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law within the territory of India.[13] It is not restricted to male and female.

According to article 15 of the Indian constitution

The State shall not on the ground of race, sex, religion etc. be discriminated Also no person should be on the grounds of religion, race, sex etc. be restricted to use wells, shops, public restaurants etc. They should also not be restricted to use wells, roads etc. It should not prevent the State from making any special provision for children and women.[14]

Article 19 of the Indian constitution which guarantees citizens freedom of speech, form associations or unions, to meet peacefully without any arms etc. is also being violated over here and is perhaps one of the most important right which is being violated.[15] Many times we can see that transgender’s don’t get to dress the way they like as it’s against the culture of our country. This right includes the right to expression of one’s self-identified gender. This expression may be done through dress, words, action or behaviour or any other manner.[16]

And finally article 21 of our Indian constitution which is the most extensive right guarantees citizens the right to personal life and liberty i.e. no person shall be deprived of his life and personal liberty except by law. Transgender’s have every right to live their life in a dignified and a respectful way. It also includes right to live with human dignity. Expression of oneself with respect to a gender which is self-recognized is an important part of Article 21.[17]

Article 16 is also being violated which says that there should be equal opportunities to all citizens. No person shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence etc. be discriminated. Transgender’s are not given equal job opportunities.

There are many international laws as well which are being violated

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Article 6 (right to life).

Article 7 (prohibition of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment).

Article 16 (recognition before the law),

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

Article 6 (right to life)

Yogyakarta Principles, Principles 1 (universal enjoyment of human rights), 2 (rights to equality and non-discrimination), 3 (right to recognition before the law), 6 (right to privacy), 4 (right to life), 9 (right to treatment with humanity while in detention), 6 (right to privacy), 18 (protection from medical abuses)

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Articles 11 (discrimination in employment) and 24 (commitment of State parties)

Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European Convention of Human Rights), Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and 14 (non-discrimination)

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties Articles 31, 32 (Interpretation of International Conventions) [18]

So due to all these reasons transgender’s live a tough life. If their gender is recognised things would be much easier for them. It would be easier for them to fill forms and they won’t have any difficulty in choosing between sexes as they would have a separate gender in the form. They won’t have to under any operation to recognize themselves under a particular sex. They would get to enjoy all the rights which male and female citizens get to enjoy.

The defendants on the other hand defended by saying that the state government have set up an “Expert Committee on Issues Relating to Transgender” and said that the petitioner’s views would be sought as part of the process. Various states and union territories have also argued that they have taken significant steps to improve the conditions and status of the transgender community.[19]

Click here

JUDGMENT

It was divisional bench. The judgment was given by Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice A.K Sikri. However, Justice A.K Sikri gave a separate opinion with some additional comments.[20] The judgment relied on many courts of foreign countries such as courts of Malaysia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Australia and English courts as well. Firstly the court put emphasis on the psychological sex rather than the biological sex. The Court talks about the Corbett v. Corbett[21] with its complete emphasis on biological sex. It also talks about Attorney-General v. Otahuhu Family Court which talks about New Zealand’s standard requiring surgical and medical procedures to effect a transformation in. The court says no to gender recognition based on biological way and gives full importance to recognition by psychological tests.

Before getting into the constitutional harms it is imperative to mention that Para 53 of the judgement: “Any international convention not inconsistent with the fundamental rights and in harmony with its spirit must be read into those provisions”.[22] It is also said that all those principles discussed on TGs and international conventions including Yogyakarta principles, which are consistent with the fundamental rights of the Constitution of India must be recognised and followed.[23] Transgender people are suppressed and are faced with discrimination in various aspects of life including health, employment etc. The court referred to Part 21 of the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, wherein it is stated that States are obliged to protect all persons regardless of their sexual orientation or transgender identity. The court acknowledged the fact that there is absence of legislations in the country and it was therefore necessary to follow International Conventions.[24]

The court held that transgenders falls within the purview of the Indian constitution and therefore should enjoy all the rights of the constitution. These rights include article 14 which guarantees right to equality. Article 14 is a right enjoyed by “any person” (similarly, it applies equally to men, women and transgender people. Hence, transgender people are entitled to equal legal protection of the law. They have equal right in employment, health care, education and civil rights. Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity represents inequality before the law and unequal protection of the law and violates Article 14.

Article 15 requires the improvement of socially and educationally disadvantaged groups. The Court says that transgender have not been able to enjoy the provisions as under Article 15(4) for the advancement of the socially and educationally backward. They constitute such a group and the state is bound to take some proper action to remedy the injustice done to them for centuries.

The Court stated that a person’s right to show or express gender identity through words, dress, action or behaviour is included in the Article 19 (right to freedom of expression). Privacy, self-identity, autonomy and personal integrity are fundamental rights protected by Article 19.

The court also held that the Transgender community have the right to article 21. They have the right to live a dignified life and enjoy personal liberty.

The Court declared that the Centre and State governments must grant recognition of gender identity as male, female or third gender in the eyes of the law. It was observed that transgenders require full recognition in the eyes of the law. They should get to enjoy health care, education etc.

By this judgement all government documents such as ration card, passports etc. would recognize third gender.[25] The court also held that he transgender’s are citizens of India and are fully entitled to get the benefit of all schemes and programmes launched by the Government irrespective of their population. Now the Election Commission of India has also taken special measures to enrol.[26] In his judgment in the NALSA case Justice Radhakrishnan admits this fact in these words: “Seldom, our society realizes or cares to realize the trauma, agony and pain which the members of Transgender community undergo, nor appreciates the innate feelings of the members of the Transgender community, especially of those whose mind and body disown their biological sex. Our society often ridicules and abuses the Transgender community and in public places like railway stations, bus stands, schools, workplaces, malls, theatres, hospitals, they are side-lined and treated as untouchables, forgetting the fact that the moral failure lies in the society’s unwillingness to contain or embrace different gender identities and expressions, a mindset which we have to change”[27] . From Justice Radhakrishnan’s opening lines talking about the moral failure of society’s unwillingness to contain or embrace different gender identities and expressions, down to Justice Sikri’s cognizance of the painful process of transitioning from one gender to another, this is a text that is shot through with empathy.[28]

The court also took the decision that Hijras, Eunuchs are to be treated as “third gender”. it made various declarations and directions to the Centre and State Governments such as to operate separate HIV Zero-Surveillance Centres, Provision for separate public toilets and appropriate medical care in hospitals for transgender’s, frame various social welfare awareness schemes for the improvement of conditions of the TG community, to make the public aware about the atrocities against the TG community and to regain the respect and trust the TG community once enjoyed. [29]

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Well, we cannot ignore the fact that the TG community for long have suffered and gone through torture, humiliation and pain. They kept quiet and suffered but finally through this judgement the condition of the transgender community has improved. This judgement has made an impact not only in India but throughout the world. The exclusion of the TG community from participation in the society is a major human rights issue. India follows democracy and democracy includes everyone irrespective of their deformation, condition etc. Everyone should be treated equally and should get equal protection of law if we go by the 3 conditions of Rule of Law which includes equality.

However, there are flaws in the judgment as well. Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity is different from the gender given to them at birth, and in the case of India, there are variety of identities, such as kothi, transman etc. is not clearly outlined in the judgment.[30] A comprehensive list of replies by commentators and collectives has been posted by Orinam. In one of them, Gee Imaan Semmalar offers an analysis of the text of the judgment, and its possible implications. He terms the judgment “confusing,” and it combines a number of transgender identities, for example referring to all hijras as ‘third gender’. [31] Dutta points out that at one aspect it tries to promote self-identification but in another way it is trying to promote more psychological tests.

The Yogyakarta Principles was not accepted in its true spirit and letter.[32] The issue of sexual intercourse too wasn’t looked deep into. [33]The need for separate detention facilities were not taken into consideration. [34]It also doesn’t check on the atrocities by the Transgender community by the police who do not listen and solve the grievances of the TG community[35]. Thus the judgment does not look into the long term and extensive solution to the problems faced by the transgender community.[36]

Well in the end 15th April 2014 is a crucial day for the transgender community. It’s a very important step and plays a very important role in protecting human rights.[37]

CONCLUSION AND AUTHORS PERSONAL VIEW

It is great that now that there is a verdict which makes transgender a spate gender then the binary gender, however, all is not over now. The transgender community still has a long way to go. Battles are not won just like that a lot of scarifies and effort needs to be put in. According to Guari Sawant who refuses to be addressed as a man or a female Speaking at Hijra Habba (Transgender Amalgamation) event organised by India HIV/AIDS Alliance said that “If people want to recognise us, then they should recognise us as transgenders.” It has been years since the historic verdict, but Sawant said that “it seemed changing people’s mindsets would take longer”.

“If people have started accepting me as a mother, they will also accept us at workplaces and give us more opportunities,” she hoped.

Sawant had adopted a girl, Gayatri, who was about to be sold off in the red-light area of Sonagachi in Kolkata.

“I adopted a daughter to show that even we can become mothers. I did it for my justice, for my rights so that people can recognise us,” she said.

Not bothered by being stereotyped and judged, Gauri is proud of the identity given by nature.

“Law has identified us as transgenders. It is about who I am. I’m not an alien,” she said.

While the fight for the transgenders’ rights continues, she said she tried to find joy in the little things in life.

So, in the end, it depends on what we make out of it and we should remember that our preamble starts with “We the people of India”.

Understanding the term, Transgender

The concept of Hijras and other transgender’s is not a new concept. They were recognised in Ancient India as well. Lord Rama, when in exile with Sita and Lakshman from the kingdom for 14 years, turns around his followers and asks all men and women to leave them alone and return back to the city. Among the followers Hijras were also there who did not feel that they should follow this order. Lord Rama was very impressed by this and gave them power to bless on auspicious occasions like childbirth and marriage.[3] Transgender’s which include Hijras, Kothis, Aravanis have a very strong presence in Hindu mythology and other religious texts.[4]

Hijra community has also been mentioned in the Kama Sutra, a text on human sexual behaviour written sometime between 400 BCE and 200 CE which is a Hindu text[5] They have been called as ‘tritiyapakriti’ or third gender has been an important part of Vedic and Puranic literatures, it . The term ‘napunsaka’ has been used to show the absence of procreative capability of a person.[6]

There are many forms of Shiva one of which is when he merges himself with his wife Parvathi to become Ardhanari a very important figure in the Hijra community.[7]

In Mahabharata Aravan son of Arjun and Nagakanya offers himself to be sacrificed to Goddess Kali so that the Pandavs can win the war. But it was in one condition that Aravan has to spend his last day of his life in matrimony.

Unfortunately, Aravan could not find any woman who would agree to marry him as no woman wanted to marry a man who is going to die in the next day after marriage. Lord Krishna distressed by seeing this converts himself in the form of a woman called Mohini and marries him. The Hirjas of Tamil Nadu consider Aravan their ancestor and call themselves Aravanis. [8]

Hijras also held important positions in courts and posts in administration during the Mughal era in India from the 16th to the 19th century. They had religious authority and gave blessings in religious ceremonies. [9]

A detailed analysis of the historical background of Hijras in Mughal era is there in the book of Gayatri Reddy, “With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India” – Yoda Press (2006).

The onset of colonial rule changed everything from the 18th century onwards. Early European travellers showed that they showed disgust by the sight of Hijras and could not understand why they were given so much respect in the royal courts and other institutions. In the second half of the 19th century, the British colonial administration tirelessly tried to criminalize the Hijra community and to deny them the civil rights. Hijras were considered to be separate caste or tribe in different parts of India by the colonial administration. The pre partition stage changed the conditions of the transgender community[10].

[1]A Case Note on National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India by Salmaj, I pleaders, Sept 9, 2017.

[2] A Note Case On National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India by Salmaj, I pleaders, Sept 9, 2017

[3]A Brief History of Transgender’s in India, Welcome to IILS blog, March 10, 2017.

[4] ibid

[5] A Brief History Of Hijra, India’s Third Gender by Sridevi Nambiar, Culture Trip, January 1,2017.

[6] A Brief History of Transgender’s in India, Welcome to IILS blog, March 10, 2017.

[7] A Brief History Of Hijra, India’s Third Gender by Sridevi Nambiar, Culture Trip, January 1,2017.

[8] Pg. 8, Historical Evolution of Transgender Community in India, ARSS Vol. 4 No 1 Jan- June 2015, M.Michelraj.

[9]Ibid

[10] Ibid

[11] Pg. no 140, NALSA Versus Union of India: The Supreme Court has started the Ball Rolling, Chanakya National Law University Journal Vol. 5, 2015, SCC Online, Anand Swaroop Das.

[12]Ibid.

[13] Article 14 in the Constitution of India 1949, Indian Kanoon.

[14] Article 15 in the Constitution of India 1949, Indian Kanoon.

[15] Article 19 in the Constitution Of India 1949, Indian Kanoon.

[16] A Case Note on National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India by Salmaj, I pleaders, Sept 9, 2017.

[17] Ibid

[18] NALSA vs. UOI (2014) 5 SCC 438.

[19] NALSA vs. UOI (2014) 5 SCC 438.

[20] NALSA vs. UOI (2014) 5 SCC 438.

[21] National Legal Services Authority versus Union of India — Preliminary Reactions, by Danish Sheikh, Alternative Law Forum.

[22] Ibid

[23] Ibid

[24] A Case Note on National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India by Salmaj, I pleaders, Sept 9, 2017.

[25] Asserting the Human Dignity: The Judgment of the Supreme Court of India in NALSA Case, by Dr Lokendra Malik, Live Law, and June 12, 2015.

[26] Ibid

[27] Ibid

[28] National Legal Services Authority versus Union of India — Preliminary Reactions, by Danish Sheikh, Alternative Law Forum.

[29]A Case Note on National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India by Salma, I pleaders, Sept 9, 2017.

[30] Ibid

[31] Over Two Years After Landmark Judgment, Transgender People Are Still Struggling, by ShreyaIla Anasuya, The Wire, May 15th 2016.

[32] A Case Note on National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India by Salmaj, I pleaders, Sept 9, 2017.

[33] Ibid

[34] Ibid

[35]Ibid

[36]Ibid

[37]Ibid

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National Legal Services Authority vs Union of India – Case Analysis syndicated from https://namechangersmumbai.wordpress.com/

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loyallogic · 6 years

Text

National Legal Services Authority vs Union of India – Case Analysis

In this article, Yash Dahiya of Amity Law School, Noida analyses the landmark judgment, NALSA vs. Union of India.[(2014) 5 SCC 438]

PARTIES

1) National Legal Services Authority (Primary petitioner)

2) Poojaya Mata Nasib Kaur Ji Women Welfare Society

3) Laxmi Narayan Tripathy

Vs.

4) Union of India (Defendant)

Coram

1) Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan

2) Justice A.K. Sikri

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

FACTS OF THE CASE

ARGUMENTS AND REASONING

According to article 15 of the Indian constitution

There are many international laws as well which are being violated

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Article 6 (right to life).

Article 7 (prohibition of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment).

Article 16 (recognition before the law),

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

Article 6 (right to life)

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Articles 11 (discrimination in employment) and 24 (commitment of State parties)

Convention for Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (European Convention of Human Rights), Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and 14 (non-discrimination)

Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties Articles 31, 32 (Interpretation of International Conventions) [18]

Click here

JUDGMENT

The court also held that the Transgender community have the right to article 21. They have the right to live a dignified life and enjoy personal liberty.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Well in the end 15th April 2014 is a crucial day for the transgender community. It’s a very important step and plays a very important role in protecting human rights.[37]

CONCLUSION AND AUTHORS PERSONAL VIEW

“If people have started accepting me as a mother, they will also accept us at workplaces and give us more opportunities,” she hoped.

Sawant had adopted a girl, Gayatri, who was about to be sold off in the red-light area of Sonagachi in Kolkata.

“I adopted a daughter to show that even we can become mothers. I did it for my justice, for my rights so that people can recognise us,” she said.

Not bothered by being stereotyped and judged, Gauri is proud of the identity given by nature.

“Law has identified us as transgenders. It is about who I am. I’m not an alien,” she said.

While the fight for the transgenders’ rights continues, she said she tried to find joy in the little things in life.

So, in the end, it depends on what we make out of it and we should remember that our preamble starts with “We the people of India”.

Understanding the term, Transgender

There are many forms of Shiva one of which is when he merges himself with his wife Parvathi to become Ardhanari a very important figure in the Hijra community.[7]

[1]A Case Note on National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India by Salmaj, I pleaders, Sept 9, 2017.

[2] A Note Case On National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India by Salmaj, I pleaders, Sept 9, 2017

[3]A Brief History of Transgender’s in India, Welcome to IILS blog, March 10, 2017.

[4] ibid

[5] A Brief History Of Hijra, India’s Third Gender by Sridevi Nambiar, Culture Trip, January 1,2017.

[6] A Brief History of Transgender’s in India, Welcome to IILS blog, March 10, 2017.

[7] A Brief History Of Hijra, India’s Third Gender by Sridevi Nambiar, Culture Trip, January 1,2017.

[8] Pg. 8, Historical Evolution of Transgender Community in India, ARSS Vol. 4 No 1 Jan- June 2015, M.Michelraj.

[9]Ibid

[10] Ibid

[11] Pg. no 140, NALSA Versus Union of India: The Supreme Court has started the Ball Rolling, Chanakya National Law University Journal Vol. 5, 2015, SCC Online, Anand Swaroop Das.

[12]Ibid.

[13] Article 14 in the Constitution of India 1949, Indian Kanoon.

[14] Article 15 in the Constitution of India 1949, Indian Kanoon.

[15] Article 19 in the Constitution Of India 1949, Indian Kanoon.

[16] A Case Note on National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India by Salmaj, I pleaders, Sept 9, 2017.

[17] Ibid

[18] NALSA vs. UOI (2014) 5 SCC 438.

[19] NALSA vs. UOI (2014) 5 SCC 438.

[20] NALSA vs. UOI (2014) 5 SCC 438.

[21] National Legal Services Authority versus Union of India — Preliminary Reactions, by Danish Sheikh, Alternative Law Forum.

[22] Ibid

[23] Ibid

[24] A Case Note on National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India by Salmaj, I pleaders, Sept 9, 2017.

[25] Asserting the Human Dignity: The Judgment of the Supreme Court of India in NALSA Case, by Dr Lokendra Malik, Live Law, and June 12, 2015.

[26] Ibid

[27] Ibid

[28] National Legal Services Authority versus Union of India — Preliminary Reactions, by Danish Sheikh, Alternative Law Forum.

[29]A Case Note on National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India by Salma, I pleaders, Sept 9, 2017.

[30] Ibid

[31] Over Two Years After Landmark Judgment, Transgender People Are Still Struggling, by ShreyaIla Anasuya, The Wire, May 15th 2016.

[32] A Case Note on National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India by Salmaj, I pleaders, Sept 9, 2017.

[33] Ibid

[34] Ibid

[35]Ibid

[36]Ibid

[37]Ibid

The post National Legal Services Authority vs Union of India – Case Analysis appeared first on iPleaders.

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claudehenrion · 7 years

Text

Pourquoi l'islam fait-il peur ? ( II ) - la double faute

Il est facile de tourner le dos à tout ce qui n'entre pas dans le moule pervers de la pensée unique : il suffit de se laisser porter par la vague et pousser par les vents... surtout mauvais ! Depuis Munich (en réalité, c’est depuis bien plus longtemps que ça … mais la mémoire aime oublier ce qui la dérange !), on sait pourtant où cette attitude conduit inexorablement tous ceux qui croient qu'elle présente le plus petit intérêt : dans l'abîme ! A l'opposé du fameux ''sens'' que croyait avoir trouvé Marx, l'histoire ne serait-elle, en ultime ressort, qu’un éternel recommencement ?

(1)- L'Islam-religion ordonne à tout bon musulman de quitter toute terre peuplée d'infidèles pour retourner sur des terres sacrées de l'Oumma, où règne la loi de l'Islam, la charia'a. Cette obligation s'appelle la Hirja (= l’Hégire). Vivre dans un pays non musulman ferait courir un grand danger à un musulman, tant pour sa religion, sa moralité et sa conduite que pour son éthique, au point que (je cite le ‘’Hadith’’) la Parole du Prophète (paix et bénédictions d’Allah soient sur lui) dit : ''Je me désavoue de tout musulman qui s’installe au sein des polythéistes''. La justification textuelle de cette précaution est dans le constat de la da'wah salafiyyah (= la bonne compréhension de l’Islam) que ''d'autres de ceux qui sont partis [dans ces pays] sont revenus comme pervertis, et d'autres en ayant apostasié leur religion et en ayant mécru en celle-ci comme en toute autre religion''. La parole sacrée est claire, précise, et elle ne connaît pas d’exceptions.

(2)- A l'opposé complet de cette règle coranique, l'islamisme-politique, dont les dérives monstrueuses s'imposent de plus en plus en terre d'Islam comme dans le monde ''harb'' (= à conquérir/convertir), recommande l'émigration vers les terres d'infidèles pour les amener par tous les moyens à ‘’la vraie foi’’. C'est la théorie de la ''guerre des ventres'', chère au tyran Erdogan, qui avait été condamné en 1998 pour incitation à la haine en faisant sien un poème de Zia Gokalp (1876-1924) : "Les minarets sont nos baïonnettes, les coupoles nos casques, les mosquées sont nos casernes et les croyants nos soldats"... dont il a repris les idées récemment, dans sa haine pathologique contre les néerlandais...). La terrible crise des soi-disant ''migrants'' qui endeuille chaque jour l'Europe et la Méditerranée est donc la concrétisation d'une volonté de ''subduction par le nombre’’ de la population de l’Europe, vieillissante à ne plus savoir se renouveler. Cette opposition profonde entre la théorie et la pratique remet en mémoire le cauchemar de ''la génération sacrifiée'', ce marqueur de la Gauche qui se croyait triomphante. L'islamisme serait-il ''une maladie infantile'' de l'Islam, à la manière dont le gauchisme l’est du communisme, comme le disait Lénine ?

(3)- Les journalistes et les esprits qui ''penchent à gauche'' (c'est la même chose !) sont frappés de cécité et de paralysie devant ce qui n'est plus une “immigration” et encore moins une “migration”. Englués dans des analyses fausses, rétrogrades et passéistes, ils sont incapables de voir ce qui leur crève les yeux... Ce refus du réel, rebaptisé progressisme par ses gourous, est une fuite sans espoir vers des lendemains dont la seule définition est… qu'ils n'en ont aucune ! De grandes consciences sans science ont beau nous imposer, sans preuve, leurs fantasmes idiots (''ce n'est pas ça, l'Islam !'' ou ‘’pas d'amalgame !''), on pense aux invasions barbares du bas moyen-âge, qui ont eu raison de l’Empire Romain. Elles refusent de voir que les islamistes ont un seul programme : éliminer les juifs, puis les athées, puis les chrétiens, de préférence dans cet ordre... ou un autre.

(4)- Nos leaders sans vision commettent 2 fautes lourdes de conséquences. (a)- la haine systémique qu’ils ont de la religion (à leurs yeux seule responsable des malheurs du monde), les rend incapables de ‘’piger’’ ce qu'est une pensée religieuse... Ils ressassent donc l'idée absurde de ''dé-radicalisation'' (ces tartuffes n'osent même pas dire qu'ils pensent ''dés-islamisation'' !), ce qui est aussi stupide que de parler d'interrompre une fonction naturelle ou un processus biologique : la foi d’un vrai ''croyant'' est aussi facile à modifier que... la couleur de ses yeux ! (b)- Un faux égalitarisme de doctrine leur interdit d'incriminer les dérives de la seule religion qui pose des problèmes à leur conception de la République, ce qui leur permet de les condamner toutes, dans un ''amalgame'' d'une malhonnêteté absolue (qu’ils reprochent à ceux qui, contrairement à eux, ne le pratiquent pas). La référence à l'islam qu’ils font n'est en général qu'un prétexte pour camoufler aux yeux des ‘’trissottins’’ des réalités moins avouables : les soi-disant terroristes sont le plus souvent des gangsters ou des psychopathes qui trouvent pratique de camoufler leurs exactions et leurs envies pathologiques de nuire ou de tuer en invoquant leur religion… Une religion que très peu de gens ont étudiée, que personne ne connaît vraiment (il faut avoir le courage de le dire !), et dont tout le monde a donc peur, sans toujours voir pourquoi il faut la craindre... (à suivre).

H-Cl.

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sapphic-pride · 7 years

Note

See that's what I mean. Gender is invisible. People can have fluctuating genders, experience more than one gender at the same time, have culture-specific genders like Muxes or Hirja, that it doesn't make sense to only like one gender over another when gender is infinite. How can we be born attracted to only one gender? I don't even know my gender. All I know is, using the language of sexuality studies from the past century, I was born same-sex attracted with a preference for female-looking afabs

“how can someone tell when a nb person is woman aligned? since no gender has a specific look & we can’t read minds?”

I think these questions are fromdifferent people, but they’re very similar so I’m going to answer themtogether.

To start off, many people are not born attracted to only onegender. That’s why bisexuality,polysexuality, pansexuality, and other multi-gender-attraction labelsexist. So there’s that.

You’re correct that gender isinvisible, and it’s impossible to know a person’s gender (or body parts) justby looking at them in your daily life. I’ve written a few posts aboutthis on my personal blog (firstpost, secondpost) if you’d like to read more of my opinions on this topic. To summarize, gender and cisnormativity are sociallyconstructed, and since attraction is based on gender and often cisnormativity,attraction is also socially constructed to a certain extent…not in the sense of “my attraction to this person is fake,” but in the sense of “my attraction to [broadgender category] is heavily influenced by and intertwined with societal normsabout gender and gender roles.”

Frankly, if people of any gendercan look like anything, and can wear any clothes, and can perform any genderrole(s) that they want, what even isgender? We often talk about gender inrelation to the patriarchy, but considering that the patriarchy is useless andshouldn’t exist, this seems rather strange. If we take the patriarchy away, what do genders become? What does it even mean to be a woman, or aman, or nonbinary in the first place? And how is it possible to be attracted to any particular gender as agroup, especially when we talk about the emotional or romantic aspects ofattraction? It all becomes verywishy-washy.

So yes, this is going to mean thatsometimes you will assume someone’s gender, and maybe you’ll be attracted tothem, and then you might find out that your assumption was incorrect, and yeah,this is going to be confusing and make you question your sexuality and themeaning of gender and why all of this matters in the first place.

And that’s okay.

The point isn’t that you’resupposed to magically know the gender of every person you ever see. The point is that, even though the constructionof gender is really unnecessary and probably shouldn’t exist, we live in asociety where it does exist, andpeople have found comfort in the labels (or lack thereof) that they use todescribe themselves. That means we haveto respect those labels and identities, no matter how foreign they may seem tous, and no matter how they go against what we’ve been taught about attraction.

I think this is why “diamoric”and related labels are becoming increasingly more popular – because more andmore people are recognizing that gender is complicated and nuanced, and thismeans attraction is complicated and nuanced. Gender and attraction are incredibly more complex than simply “ciswoman,” “cis man,” “gay,” and “straight.” And our understanding of these topics is still evolving, and willcontinue to evolve.

So to circle back to the originalissue of same-sex attraction vs. same-gender attraction while we know gender isinvisible and also kind of not real…what does all of this mean for ourorientations and labels? Honestly, I don’tknow. I don’t think anyone really does,and that’s why I’ve only barely scratched the surface in this post. What I can tell you is that as long as you’rerespecting the genders of the people around you and not actively excludingpeople or putting them down, you’re fine. So talk to people about their gender. Ask people what pronouns and labels (if any) they use to describethemselves. Soak up as much knowledge asyou can about gender and people’s experiences of it, and then…take Gender™ with a grain of salt and go about your life. No one is asking you to be an all-knowingmind reader with a perfect understanding of gender and its implications, no oneis expecting you to never get anything wrong, and no one is expecting you todate a person of every existing gender experience. What isexpected, though, is that you treat people with respect, understand thatwomanhood (and all other genders) can come in many forms, and work toincorporate a nuanced understanding of gender into your interactions with otherpeople…including your potential partners, regardless of what body parts theymay have.

I don’t know if that helps, butthat’s all I’ve got. Thanks for thethoughtful questions :)

#asks

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