Abstract:

The third important aspect of the Report is the fact that many terms used in English to talk about gender and sexuality cannot be directly translated. The term 'transgender' is a good example. In English, the term is most often used to refer to a very particular life experience, a desire to 'change over' from one gender to another - i.e. the experience of a "woman trapped in a man's body" (and vice versa). This understanding is already based on the presumption that there are only two genders - male and female, and inevitably, that these relate to two 'biological' sexes. This has been recognised as the basic premise of patriarchy - that there are two 'natural' sexes that are radically different from each other and which are expected to fulfil different and particular roles in society. Importantly, it is untrue that languages such as Hindi do not have terms for same-sex desire. Historically, in literature over the centuries, in art and sculpture, in the Hindu 'scriptures' and even in the sciences, there has been a recognition of not just same-sex desire, but of a correlation between desire and personhood. Particular literary and cultural practices have had a range of words to describe same-sex lovers and relationships - the examples of the 'dogana' and 'zanakhi' being two such from the Rekhti tradition in Urdu poetry. And at an everyday, colloquial level, the words 'sakhi' and 'masti ' are commonly used to describe same-sex relationships between women and boys, respectively. Then of course is the plethora of idioms and metaphors that are contained in the realm of 'gaali', or abuses. The gaandu, chhakka, laundebaaz, are all homoerotic references. Or consider the biggest insult to the masculine - that of 'wearing bangles' (choodiyaan pehen-na).