Make a Woman a Man and a Man Can-Can: The Ritual of Sex |
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| Written by Morgan Whitfield |
| Wednesday, 03 October 2007 19:00 |
Photo by Morgan Whitfield
It was when her rouged lips blew a kiss my way that I noticed the five o’clock shadow along her chin.Her eyes were thickly lined with kohl and her long braids of hair were elaborately ladylike. The gyrations of her slim hips and sinewy shoulders were also a campy tribute to womanhood. With tinny music blaring and a seductive kiss, my curiosity was peaked.This was four years ago, when my train pulled into the main station of Mumbai and two tall, singing Hijras in saffron saris came aboard. The two entertainers sang for coins in deep but trilling voices. Their dancing was aggressive, but feminine. Their costumes and makeup was theatrical but pretty. They weren’t women. They weren’t men. They were another category altogether: Hijras. India’s third gender, or eunuched, people are famous entertainers.Which is apt, as sociologist Judith Butler famously coined “gender is performative.” During the day Hijras can make a living by entertaining and performing in various festivals and weddings. However, at night they must engage in sex work and prostitution to make ends meet. One role is therefore legal and above board, while the other role is illegal and publicly denounced. >To Hijras’ gender is born in ritual and their lives are defined by it. Approximately one million Hijras who live in India identify themselves as third gendered, transgendered, transsexual, eunuchs, or queer. The Hijras population has been a politically oppressed and economically depressed minority since colonialism, as they are a ghettoized minority whose group receives no special treatment or recognition under the government. Making it difficult to garnish any political rights, Hijras are not listed under any scheduled caste or group, nor are they formally acknowledged in Indian policies. In other words, Hijras live in a transitional space- occupying a traditional role within society while also challenging sexual and gender norms. My first encounter with the Hijras on the train had surprised me on several levels. The Hijras were loud, abrasive garish and impossible to overlook. Yet all the passengers around me , especially the men, immediately looked down and away. My first encounter with the Hijras on the train had surprised me on several levels. The Hijras were loud, abrasive, garish and impossible to overlook. Yet all the passengers sitting around me, especially the men, immediately looked down and away. There was a self-imposed blindness to see what was in front of them. It later occurred to me that Hijras were fascinating because they demonstrate how sex as a ritual can be changed, misinterpreted and lastly exploited within both western and Indian society. At the root of Hijra ideology, is the notion that one’s sex can be changed. When evaluating the gender of Hijras it is important to look at their bodies as a political site. The physical body is a place of struggle and contestation, a territory over which the Hijras have taken control. It is incredibly rare that Hijras are born intersexed. By mocking the very Victorian notion that sex determines gender, most undergo a ritual surgery to remove the penis and testicles; full details of which can be accounted in anthropologist Serena Nanda’s groundbreaking work Neither Man nor Woman. Through the process of castration they remold the space they inhabit. Once the genitals are removed Hijras bleed out of the wound, representing their one and only menstruation. They become more than a man or woman, as they are a different gender altogether. Their body becomes a site of change, and this change elevates the body to a site of gender contestation. The changing landscape of their bodies become a living protest to gender norms. This castration is ironic since Hijras gain power by throwing away the phallus. Since it is emasculating for an Indian man to view a Hijra’s lack-of-genitals, Hijras have the power to scare men and extort favours from them, simply by flirtatiously lifting their saris (a Hijra lifting her skirt on a train is said to be in possession of an 'All-India Pass’). Additionally, sex as a ritual has been misinterpreted by Indian laws and its enforcers when Hijras are involved. Since work for Hijras tends to take place in fairly open spaces, such as public parks, streets, alleys and trains, the power dynamics between them and the state are hostile. Although performing in public places allow Hijras the ability to reach more clientele, it also puts them in vulnerable positions in terms of police brutality, harassment and extortion.
Photo by Morgan Whitfield
One Hijra that I interviewed reported that the police viewed carrying a condom as evidence of a crime, for any sex that a Hijra has is an act of sodomy. This is a dangerous precedent to set for those who do sex work in the age of HIV/AIDS. While sodomy laws are barely seen in the courts (only 30 reported cases have gone to the higher courts from 1860 to 1992) these laws are used by the police for purposes of extortion. There are few people who have actually been prosecuted under these laws, yet the existence of such laws is enough to be used as a threat. Finally, the political ritualization of sex for Hijras, works to benefit their cause, as Hijras are exploiting their crisis in order to garnish human rights attention. Sex work is a tricky proposition which makes you wonder who is really getting screwed, however, Hijras are starting to exploit their perceived connection to sex work as a route to pursue the privileges of human rights. If western sex (anal sex) means western consequences (HIV/AIDS) then western rights should also be applicable and imported. Hijras are using HIV/AIDS as a wedge issue, to take control of the dialogue surrounding identity politics. The money flowing into NGO’s for HIV/AIDShas given Hijras activists an opportunity to shine light on the abuses that lead Hijras to take up sex work. Using this platform Hijras have garnered more attention by struggling for the right to be elected into political office, demonstrating their victimization under police brutality, and becoming activists working for a safer environment for sex workers. Hijras are therefore fighting for a voice in the political discourse.The Hijras are now the most visible of invisible minorities in India. While foreign anthropologists and sociologists find the ‘otherness’ and ‘exoticism’ of Hijras fascinating, when I asked a development worker in Bangalore about Hijras she exclaimed “Yes! Yes! The Hijras! They get all the attention! How come nobody writes about the lesbians in India? We do exist!” Pointing out that while there is a silent consensus within the Indian community about Hijras, there is also a silent consensus that foreigners have about gay rights. We value gay marriage in Canada, but not enough to export this value. For some reason the right to love is not considered a freedom that one should harp on about, like food, water, or education, when we prioritise human rights. Apparently love and sex are not that important. On my last visit to Bangalore’s infamous Cubbon Park there was the familiar sight of Hijras singing and lounging. However, instead of Cubbon Park being the local pick-up place for sex work, the Hijras were using their old hang-out for a protest. Sex is a ritual, but traditionally, so are Hijras loudly clapping, thumping, cajoling, singing and dancing in public squares. Fortunately, the rituals of sex no longer mean a precarious underground existence for Hijras. Instead, the historical stigma and taboo surrounding sex and sexual orientation has been used as a vehicle for protesting health, poverty and human rights issues. Sex no longer is a ritual resisting reality, but a force changing Indian perception and empowering Hijras in its wake.
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