The Role of Transgenders Changes in Pakistan

By ⋅ August 29, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment
A demonstration organized last week by the Gender Interactive Alliance in front of the Karachi Press Club in Karachi (Photo: Fahad Desmukh)

A demonstration organized last week by the Gender Interactive Alliance in front of the Karachi Press Club in Karachi (Photo: Fahad Desmukh)

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It is not uncommon in Pakistan that you walk through a market, or stand in a corner and encounter a beggar – a transgender beggar.

The transgenders in Pakistan tend to stand out from the crowd. They dress in colorful female clothes with stuffed bras and wear bright make-up and shiny jewelry.

And transgender beggars are playful and provocative calling their male targets “darling” or “prince.”

In general transgenders have an odd place in Pakistani society.

Once valued for their blessing and feared for their curse, they ae increasingly being sidelined.

Reporter Fahad Desmukh looks at the tight-knit community in Karachi, Pakistan and reports that transgenders are completely serious about who they are.

Discussion

13 comments for “The Role of Transgenders Changes in Pakistan”

  • http://www.facebook.com/katydstewart Katy Stewart

    Good story, but a few comments that needs to be made.
    Please review  glaad’s media reference guide

    http://www.glaad.org/Page.aspx?pid=376

    when discussing transgender people.
    Of note, the word transgender is an adjective, not a noun or adverb. Therefore, transgender persons is correct while “transgenders” is not correct. Further, transgender men are those individuals who were born with female bodies, but have a male gender identity/gender expression. When referring to the women in this piece, the term transgender women should instead have been used. Think of the gender the person identifies with to decide whether to use  “men” or “women”

    Also, transgender itself is a Western term with its own culture and historical meanings, and very much tied with a specific western culture. It is inaccurate to apply such terminology to hijra, who have their own rich cultural history that defines them.

    Thank you for letting me comment, you may contact me at katy@transtexas.org for any questions.

    Katy Stewart, chair – Transgender Education Network of Texas

  • http://www.facebook.com/katydstewart Katy Stewart

    Good story, but a few comments that needs to be made.
    Please review  glaad’s media reference guide

    http://www.glaad.org/Page.aspx?pid=376

    when discussing transgender people.
    Of note, the word transgender is an adjective, not a noun or adverb. Therefore, transgender persons is correct while “transgenders” is not correct. Further, transgender men are those individuals who were born with female bodies, but have a male gender identity/gender expression. When referring to the women in this piece, the term transgender women should instead have been used. Think of the gender the person identifies with to decide whether to use  “men” or “women”

    Also, transgender itself is a Western term with its own culture and historical meanings, and very much tied with a specific western culture. It is inaccurate to apply such terminology to hijra, who have their own rich cultural history that defines them.

    Thank you for letting me comment, you may contact me at katy@transtexas.org for any questions.

    Katy Stewart, chair – Transgender Education Network of Texas

  • http://www.facebook.com/katydstewart Katy Stewart

    Good story, but a few comments that needs to be made.
    Please review  glaad’s media reference guide

    http://www.glaad.org/Page.aspx?pid=376

    when discussing transgender people.
    Of note, the word transgender is an adjective, not a noun or adverb. Therefore, transgender persons is correct while “transgenders” is not correct. Further, transgender men are those individuals who were born with female bodies, but have a male gender identity/gender expression. When referring to the women in this piece, the term transgender women should instead have been used. Think of the gender the person identifies with to decide whether to use  “men” or “women”

    Also, transgender itself is a Western term with its own culture and historical meanings, and very much tied with a specific western culture. It is inaccurate to apply such terminology to hijra, who have their own rich cultural history that defines them.

    Thank you for letting me comment, you may contact me at katy@transtexas.org for any questions.

    Katy Stewart, chair – Transgender Education Network of Texas

  • http://www.facebook.com/katydstewart Katy Stewart

    Good story, but a few comments that needs to be made.
    Please review  glaad’s media reference guide

    http://www.glaad.org/Page.aspx?pid=376

    when discussing transgender people.
    Of note, the word transgender is an adjective, not a noun or adverb. Therefore, transgender persons is correct while “transgenders” is not correct. Further, transgender men are those individuals who were born with female bodies, but have a male gender identity/gender expression. When referring to the women in this piece, the term transgender women should instead have been used. Think of the gender the person identifies with to decide whether to use  “men” or “women”

    Also, transgender itself is a Western term with its own culture and historical meanings, and very much tied with a specific western culture. It is inaccurate to apply such terminology to hijra, who have their own rich cultural history that defines them.

    Thank you for letting me comment, you may contact me at katy@transtexas.org for any questions.

    Katy Stewart, chair – Transgender Education Network of Texas

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=42107993 Nic Cameron

    I was going to shoot The World an email, but Katy Stewart hit the nail on the head and basically said everything I was going to say. I heard this story in the car on my drive home and was white-knuckling my steering wheel, I was so angry. As a trans man in Colorado, hearing the word “transgender” used as a noun and a trans woman referred to as a “transgender man” is beyond offensive. Please, NPR/The World, reconsider your language use in this article – all it does is further the idea that trans people are less than human. We are human beings, just like everyone else.

    • Lauren Wilson

      I logged on this morning to send the world an email and I think I still will; I think it would be worthwhile if you still sent them an email as well… I don’t know if the producers of the show read comments on this page, so I’m going to send them a direct email and I think all the respondents on this page who were as shocked as I was to hear the mislabeling of the transwomen in Pakistan should as well.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=42107993 Nic Cameron

        I actually did end up tracking down the original author and sending him an email.

  • Anonymous

    Unbelievable. The reporter appropriately used pronouns like “she” and “her” in his report about the Pakistani transgender or murat (sp?) activists and community. Why did the anchor insist on rewriting their gender as men? What does Marco Werman know that Fahad Desmukh and the people he interviewed do not?

  • Anonymous

    “Transgender man” is a phrase with a very clear and precise meaning.  I understand that Trans 101 comes with a lot of new terminology, and some terminology might be seen as new, unestablished, or used only within a small politically-motivated group.  ”Transgender man” isn’t one of those.  It’s well-established, even Fox News gets it right.  How did PRI’s editors miss this mistake?

  • http://twitter.com/zeeb24 zeeba hashmi

    They are commonly known as eunuchs in South Asia, as there is no closer English alternative to the word that can define Hijras that have their own characteristic distinctiveness here.  I must also point out to the linguistic confusion many readers here are having over the author’s use of “transgender male”  or female here, (which is commonly attributed in Pakistan)  merely as the result of little exploration into the dynamic sexual communities that have remained oppresively marginalised here for centuries.  But things are changing fast as more awarness is being raised about them .  I have written a small piece on our sexual marginalized community here which we also refer as “Kahwja Sira”.  Link to the blog :  http://criticalppp.com/archives/56405  

    Thanks,

    Zeeba 

  • http://twitter.com/CatPerry_ Cat Perry

    BTW, I just heard Marco make a very quick mention on The World (8/31) of their severe slip-up of calling the story’s subjects trans men rather than trans women. Guess there are no queers on board over there…. Either way, thanks, everyone, for your comments and participation in giving the LGBTIQ community a presence in public radio.

  • http://twitter.com/CatPerry_ Cat Perry

    BTW, I just heard Marco make a very quick mention on The World (8/31) of their severe slip-up of calling the story’s subjects trans men rather than trans women. Guess there are no queers on board over there…. Either way, thanks, everyone, for your comments and participation in giving the LGBTIQ community a presence in public radio.

  • http://twitter.com/CatPerry_ Cat Perry

    BTW, I just heard Marco make a very quick mention on The World (8/31) of their severe slip-up of calling the story’s subjects trans men rather than trans women. Guess there are no queers on board over there…. Either way, thanks, everyone, for your comments and participation in giving the LGBTIQ community a presence in public radio.