Gender-variant identities worldwide: Difference between revisions

In south Asian countries including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the [[hijra]] are people who were [[Sexes#Assigned male at birth|assigned male at birth]], who have a feminine gender expression. Traditionally and today, some hijras seek castration. Hijras live together communally. They have important roles in religious practice. They can be Hindu or Muslim. Hijra traditions are ancient. The earliest mention of hijras is in the ''Kama Sutra,'' from 400 BCE to 300 CE.<ref>{{cite book|title=Refractions of Desire, Feminist Perspectives in the Novels of Toni Morrison, Michèle Roberts, and Anita Desai|author=Sengupta, J.|date=2006|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors|isbn=9788126906291|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9Y_tQfm_WgC|page=21|accessdate=7 December 2014}}</ref> In one of the earliest Western records of them, Franciscan travelers wrote about seeing hijras in the 1650s.<ref>Donald Lach. ''Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume III: A Century of Advance. Book 2, South Asia.'' University of Chicago, 1998.</ref> From the 1850s onward, the British Raj criminalized and tried to exterminate hijras.<ref>Laurence W. Preston. "A Right to Exist: Eunuchs and the State in Nineteenth-Century India." ''Modern Asian Studies'' (journal), April 1987, vol. 21, issue 2, pp. 371–387 doi=10.1017/S0026749X00013858 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231903575</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Reddy, Gayatri.|title=With respect to sex : negotiating hijra identity in South India|date=2005|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-70754-9|location=Chicago|oclc=655225261}}</ref> Since the late 20th century, hijra activists and non-government organizations have lobbied for official recognition of the hijra as a legal sex other than male or female. This is important for them to be able to have passports, travel, hold jobs, and other rights. They have been successful at achieving legal recognition as another gender in Nepal, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.<ref>Reddy, Gayatri, With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India, 310 pp., University of Chicago Press, 2005 ISBN 0-226-70755-5 (see p. 8)</ref><ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/11/12/india.gender.voting/index.html, "India's third gender gets own identity in voter rolls", Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN.com], Nov. 2009 </ref><ref>Mitch Kellaway. "Trans Indian's Predicament at Border Shows the U.S. Lags Behind." May 9, 2015. Advocate. http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2015/05/09/trans-indian-womans-predicament-border-shows-us-lags-behind</ref><ref>[http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/25/pakistan-recognizes-third-gender/ "Pakistan Recognizes Third Gender", Ria Misra, Politics Daily], Dec. 2009</ref><ref>[http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/nov/11/hijras-now-separate-gender, "Hijras now a separate gender", Mohosinul Karim, Dhaka Tribune], Nov. 2013 </ref><ref>http://www.attn.com/stories/868/transgender-passport-status</ref> The Hijra in India alone may number as many as 2,000,000 today.<ref>Reddy, Gayatri, With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India, 310 pp., University of Chicago Press, 2005 ISBN 0-226-70755-5 (see p. 8)</ref>