Aquarius Otter

It's wild that #India's government has more of a problem with same-sex marriage than with #trans rights, and that trans existence is less controversial in India than in the UK, US or other Western states.

The upcoming Supreme Court decision can go quite a number of directions regarding the registration of same-sex unions under Indian law, but the Indian government and the governing BJP really did not try to preempt this case despite international trends of the last two decades. They should have seen this case coming after #Section377 was struck down.

#lgbt

May 27, 2023 at 5:19amWeb
Show threadNoam writesMay 27, 2023
@aquarius @bri_seven @edendestroyer I thought Hijra were traditionally seen as a third sex, as opposed to trans women. That is, different genders from what we have in the modern Western world, not transphobia. But I think younger people are more likely to identify as trans women that as hijra. I am by no means an expert, and happy to be corrected if I got this wrong.
Show threadLuci ScissorsMay 27, 2023
@noam @edendestroyer @aquarius they are trans women
Show threadLuci ScissorsMay 27, 2023
@noam @edendestroyer @aquarius see this thread: https://twitter.com/Katrafiy/status/1469344337439834118?s=20
Katra la Pavona, the Femme in Yellow 🏳️‍⚧️ on Twitter

“I think about this image a lot. This is an image from the Aurat March (Women's March) in Karachi, Pakistan, on International Women's Day 2018. The women in the picture are Pakistani trans women, aka khwaja siras or hijras; one is a friend of a close friend of mine.”

Twitter
Show threadLuci ScissorsMay 27, 2023
@noam @edendestroyer @aquarius hijra see themselves as women, but also the inverse is also true. white western trans women are treated and called as hijra by indians. to indians, trans women and hijra are one and the same- they simply categorise us as not women- nothing mystical or exotic or difficult to understand it’s just transmisogyny.
Show threadLuci ScissorsMay 27, 2023
@noam @edendestroyer @aquarius i myself was invited to bless a new home. that’s hijra stuff
Show threadLuci ScissorsMay 27, 2023

@noam @edendestroyer @aquarius there is a big effort to avoid calling a spade a space here by academics- both cross culturally and historically- people may have every single element of what anyone would recognise as a trans person, but academics will say anything to avoid admitting the person is trans.

it’s to make us look like we’re a new phenomenon, a side effect of modern living or something- so they can justify genocides against us- so they can say we’re not a real thing, because look! other cultures and times don’t have people who specifically called themselves trans- a word that was only coined about 80 years ago

Show threadNoam writesMay 27, 2023
@aquarius @bri_seven Thank you for your comments. I am in no way denying that Hijra are trans, and I am aware they suffer, and have suffered, discrimination. I am simply saying I don't fully understand traditional gender constructs in South Asia. What I have heard and read elsewhere is different from what you're posting here.