Queering mothers, Queering daughters: Realities from India and Abroad!!

4 min readJul 17, 2019

When it comes to reality of trans people in India, what reality do I talk about? or whose reality can I talk about? Because India is not a country of single reality. I can only talk about my reality. That of a college educated, Bahujan trans woman privileged enough to access film festival panel in a first world country.

The reality of trans people in India is that when trans community is fighting for their fundamental human rights challenged by draconian trans bill, mainstream LGBT movement is busy celebrating victory against 377. Protests against trans bill hardly see attendance of five to ten cis-people as cis-savarna queers claiming to be warriors of queer movement are busy designing D&I workshops in five star hotels to milk pink economy. Most of these venues are clearly out of reach for a working class trans person.

Caste privilege doesn’t just go away if you are a woman, queer or trans person

There is also this other reality, reality within the trans community, because unlike popular narrative caste privilege doesn’t just go away if you are a woman, queer or trans person. A Brahmin trans/ queer person is often more of a brahmin than a queer, reason why elite queers voted in mass to reelect right wing fascist regime[1].

We have to understand there is a reason why certain trans people want to reclaim the Hinduness of trans folks, bring back the Santana dharma while others are fighting for social justice and reservation for trans communities. Why certain trans people become inspirational enough to give TedX talks and chair D&I panel while others are shunned from job opportunities for being too rebellious.

One of the initial cultural shock for me is how naïve an average cis-queer Londoner is about trans identities.

But is the reality any different for a trans person abroad? At least in India trans women are visible and has a voice of their own and other trans identities are slowly finding their feet. One of the initial cultural shock for me is how naïve an average cis-queer Londoner is about trans identities. Hyper exoticization of trans bodies, gate keeping on who can claim to be a woman and who a trans woman. With “L with T” banners leading London pride this year[2], wonder when will cis-women validating trans woman Stop.

Also every time we try to establish trans women are women, there is a new terminology from west to other/appropriate us. real-woman, cis-woman, natal woman, AFAB, I hear the new word is “Native women”, remember colonial history? The anxiety to protect and safeguard vaginal bodies at times amuse me.

This gate keeping and exoticization are two things I feel very much connected to this movie pixelia. Because trans bodies are stigmatized and heavily gate-keeped in reality most of us exist only in virtual world. The only space where our womanhood wouldn’t be prosecuted is made up of 0 and 1s. From our support network to activism and dating everything happens very much in virtual world, so Mandhakanis are the real Pixelias. The social transition of most young trans folks in india also includes their transition outside Facebook and Whatsapp and moving out into real world.

The last point I would want to touch upon is the eroticizing of trans bodies and trans lives. Why most trans women characters created in India and abroad revolves around male gaze?. The trans woman is not only introduced through the eyes of a man and her body sensually presented through his sexual gaze, her sexuality pans out exactly like an erotica. Here, there is a painful scene where Mandhakani fondly remembers her encounter with tuition master, the scene pans out to the stereotype of queer children enjoying sexual abuse. No film maker will have such scene for a cis-woman but somehow this is a okay for a queer trans character. Our bodies are somehow open for abuse and our scars are expected to heal faster. It is not only film makers even our govt thinks so, that’s thy the trans bill proposed has lighter sentence for violence against trans bodies when compared to cis-women. with that, I ask all of you to voice against the trans bill this BJP govt is so adamant about. Amplify our voice in whatever space you occupy, stage you control, mics you hold!!

Note: This article is the text version of some of the points i raised as part of panel discussion in Queer Asia film festival 2019, organised by SOAS, London(not necessarily in the same order). The panel “Queering mothers, Queering daughters: Realities from India and Abroad!!” was part of the movie Pixelia screened in the festival [4].

Queering mothers, Queering daughters: Realities from India and Abroad!!

Written by Galen Kvinna