Saree: A Tool of Coming Out
Anjali Yadav looks at how the Hijra community uses the saree to assert identity and resist colonial and contemporary marginalization in South Asia.
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Recommended Reads:
Saree: A Tool of Coming Out
Inside the history, politics, and power of Hijra fashion as resistance in South Asia
I was on the road with a friend when we saw a Hijra making their way through the traffic, coaxing and cajoling those in big cars to lighten their pockets. I asked my friend if he had any cash, he fished out a 100-rupee note. A few years ago, in an English elective paper, my professor had told us to always try and give money to the Hijra community: it could be the difference between a peaceful night and a night filled with hateful and violent sex work. When I told this to my friend, he asked, Why can’t they live like normal people? Why do they dress in this fashion, so different from transgenders all around the world?
The nuanced difference between a Hijra and a transgender person is difficult to understand through simple classifications.