The reality about the Third Gender
While all this wind of protest movement is going in and around the world on a large scale about sexuality; a human being and his/her preferences, a large part of society who has always been neglected and still for the most part is invisible to the people who are still struggling to make ends meet. Yes, you got it right! I am talking about the transgender and eunuch, as now we call them. They have been around since time immemorial and our society has continuously turned a blind eye towards them. We are everyday talking about embracing change and embracing people’s choices about the sex that they choose to date but don’t you people think that there is still a very dire need to embrace the transgender? They are recognized as the one who comes on any auspicious occasion to bless it. And their blessings are considered of very high regard. Government doesn’t do anything for their employment and even if there are any laws or rules they are being largely ignored. They are forced to drop out of school or college due to family and societal pressures and even if some of them makes it to college and finish their higher level studies, who are there to hire them as their employees? I thought the new “changed” world is all about equality and opportunities based on talent! Alas! Many people think that being a transgender is a disease and needs to be cured. I have known a lot of cases about people coming in open about their sexuality and their family pressurizing them to visit a shrink as they could not get in terms with the fact that there kid is not “normal.” Well, in some cases people do require a psych consult as they really have a difficult time accepting their sexuality but still it does not mean that it is a disease!
Portrayal of transgender in Bollywood doesn’t help either. They are either portrayed comically or as a character who is a friend of someone and helping him/her get hitched! Well, I won’t deny this fact either that some of the eunuchs have really come out and made their name in Bollywood such as Bobby Darling, Laxmi etc. We are constantly saying that we, as a country need to develop! But how do we think we are going to develop if we do not develop our thinking and mindset? We need to be more tolerant of the people around us. We should not judge someone by who they are but by what they are. These people already go through a lot of trials and tribulations. Social exclusion, isolation, gender crisis, family pressures, societal pressures to confirm etc. are some of them. They also are exploited on a very large scale. The cases of their rapes and molestation are rarely reported and acted upon. We need to step out and embrace everyone around us and stop distinguishing people by their sexuality and sexual preferences.
————- ABOUT THE AUTHOR: This article is contributed by Kriti Tiwari, our intern. Kriti is a media student from Mumbai. She loves to read and is passionate about writing and dancing. She loves music and is ever so curious to know more and more about the world.
