Not all the eunuchs and transgenders are involved in prostitution. Some decide to lead a ‘respectable’ life by marrying other men or their own kind. A lot of eunuchs we interviewed have married among themselves and go around as a couple. Some marry a ‘giriya’. Giriya can go out and again have sex with other girls, if he pleases. He’s not bound but eunuchs are bound to remain loyal and honest with their ‘husband’. Some of them get so emotionally involved with them that if they come to know that their husbands have married elsewhere, they can come to the point of even committing suicide.
An NGO working for them, by the name of The Male Sex Workshop, discovered that eunuchs and transgenders are at high risk of contracting HIV. This is so because they are not aware of safety measures, such as condoms. Even if they are, and the other person refuses to practice safe sex, they have little or no say because they cannot risk their lives by saying ‘No’! They are as delicate and sophisticated as any other female. This prostitution not only results in HIV but other infections too like syphilis, gonorrhea etc. Absolutely these people who have sex with men are hit hard with HIV and remain one of the main high risk groups.
“Eunuchs are innocent, brave people because they own their identity in a society that does not accept them. Every eunuch has a reaction against society because society, even their own families, usually try to suppress their feelings and ultimately discard them”, say the Khiljis. The question that constantly strikes one’s mind is that who is responsible for this misfortune? The eunuchs themselves or the society? And who is going to justify their being? Farah, a eunuch claimed; “Only a Hijra can understand another Hijra!”
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