Introduction: “Modern Girls”: Conceptualizing the Trans Woman–Hijra Divide

Summary

This project started with a mistake—a mistake I made while trying to understand the lives of gender nonconforming (GNC) people1 in South India. What initially began as an awkward social blunder evolved into the focal point of my investigation, ultimately shaping the narrative of this book. Let me explain.

One warm, sunny morning, I sat in a small front room of a sexual rights nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Bangalore, India. In addition to the sunlight peeking in through the front windows, the room was lit by a flickering fluorescent “tube light,” creating a maze of shadows. The workday was just beginning, so the office was abuzz with activity. There were people coming in and out, happily greeting one another. It was one of my first days visiting this office, so I did not know many people working there yet. Indeed, many looked my way quizzically, probably wondering why someone like me was there before hurrying off to begin their work.

Sexual rights NGOs first emerged in India in the early 1990s as a response to the global concern over the HIV/AIDS pandemic. These NGOs attracted increased international funding for advocacy targeting groups considered “high risk” for HIV transmission, like feminine-presenting GNC people. Through their advocacy, sexual rights NGOs also inadvertently shaped how both traditional and emerging groups of GNC people are understood in India—by themselves and others around them. That understanding is the subject of this book.

In the midst of this activity at the NGO office, I sat chatting casually with a fluctuating group of between four and six people. Most were paid employees of the NGO, so they would sit and listen or contribute to the conversation for 10–15 minutes before going to do some work, then return later on. As people added this or that idea to the conversation only to leave a moment later, I felt as if they were slowly painting a portrait for me of the larger picture about GNC identity in India—one that I had only the barest outlines of at the time. Looking back on this experience, I realize that the fragmented nature of our conversation reflected the different fragments I have pulled together in this book to explain the emergence of newer groups of transgender women and how ideas about these trans women impact the traditional GNC groups they are often contrasted with.