CHOOSING FROM THE WORST

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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EUNUCH PROSTITUTION

It is thus clear that the third gender in Pakistan is for sure not accepted till now. They are recognized to exist but are discriminated against. A lot of people raise their voices and say that ‘they are also human beings and should be given the opportunity to lead a normal life’. And then it is the same people who use and abuse them and exploit them in the worst manners for their own satisfaction. This brings us to the shameful but very much there problem of our society, eunuch prostitution. This thing is very common in Pakistan, primarily Lahore. Late at night, one can see these eunuchs standing at bus stops in the markets and in the very famous Red Light area. Some of them keep waiting for their clients, the other attracting men. Their clients are ‘normal’ men, who allow themselves both a wife and a hijra. Some even have longtime lovers, who say that hijras are not real men, they don’t have that essence. Not only this, girls as young as 12 years roam those streets carrying bottles of perfumed oil, offering to give a massage for as little as Rs. 50. It seems as if they are enjoying it, they are happy with the way it all works. But a deeper look into their lives and history reveals that things are a lot different from what they seem to be. These are eunuch and transgenders who are shunned by their families and who live under the constant threat of abuse and exploitation. These are those individuals who we blame for polluting our society but have we ever thought why they do this? None of them are given any job opportunities. They are barely treated as human beings. They have no voice. Our society is so ignorant, conservative and intolerant towards there sexual minorities that they can never come to peace with them. So in such suffocating conditions, what options do we leave them with? For sure, they do not have a choice than to indulge in such sexual activities and earn a living or to beg around. 2% of the total eunuchs are indulged in prostitution by their own will.

This is not just the only reason for being involved in prostitution. When eunuchs or transgenders are born in a family, they are neither accepted by males nor by females of their family, for the reason that they belong to the third kind and people around them cannot accept them. Some parents feel that they might improve if they are married off, but that only ends up in a bigger disaster. They enjoy having sex with females but they frequently urge to have sex with a male. With the woman, they are active partner but they constantly desire to be the passive partner and the only option they are left with is to have anal sex.

Another misfortune with eunuchs is that the males in their society recognize them and find them a as a good source of having sex. Not many girls are available and men in our communities are so frustrated that they use the ‘third kind’. If there is a reaction, it is called rape. If they survive, they go through many psychological changes and discover a lot of things. Firstly, they learn that they are attracted to mean and this satisfies their feminine soul. Secondly, they realize that they can have sex like this with a man. This causes a reaction then and they further abuse men in the same manner, they avenge their harassment and take out their aggression. Some, likewise, adopt it as a profession.

After facing the concept of prostitution by eunuchs and transgenders, one is forced to ponder over the fact that who are the people responsible for their sexual abuse? Regarding this question we went to many eunuchs and they said that they are exploited by homosexuals who pick them up from different places and pay them for a one night stand. “It’s the men in uniforms ho exploit us the most”, said another eunuch. “People think we are public property to be used and abused at will. I once resolved to never go with someone I was suspicious of, but that’s hardly a choice, since we can’t fight these men”. One group said, “It’s the policemen who harass us the most, who pick us up at their will, use and abuse us, and snatch away our money”.

Anyone would find this shocking because everyday, we are shouting at the top of our lungs that government should protect them, but how can government take any steps when public servants themselves are corrupt and are encouraging such shameful activities?

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DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Hijras are denied any quota in employment on the basis of their handicap (if it is there) and also deprived of opportunities to take education because of people’s attitude towards them. From our preliminary research, it is evident that few of the hijras are willing to work because of the discrimination that they have been subjected to when they tried to look for employment opportunities. Laila narrates, “I was employed as a servant in one of the houses. Once when I served a glass of water to a guest she refused to take it from me only because I was a hijra and later the owner refused to keep me anymore”. It is thus evident that even if the eunuchs want to work, we do not give them enough employment opportunities. We eliminate them and this stigmatized group of people remains victims to ridicule. Since they are made fun of in schools, at employment and discouraged from working like other individuals, the only options left for the hijras to earn their living are beggary and prostitution. They roam the streets, taking feminish names like Shabnam, Chanda and Laila and beg for money. Sometimes they face dejection and sometimes abuse and exploitation. “We want to be treated like normal human beings. We want to have a voice, be heard”, said Savera, one of the hijras interviewed. “We have emotions too, we feel like all other men and women and we get hurt when people ridicule us”.

SHOULD WE BE BLAMED?

We all hold the same notion in our mind. Eunuchs(hijras) bring up misery upon themselves because they believe in earning easy money by begging and by serving as sex workers. What we fail to understand is the fact that we do not leave any option for them. How many of us would be willing to work for and with the hijras? How many of us can provide them with the very right of living without being discriminated? How many of us would be willing to employ them at our work places and treat them like we treat our other work mates? Maybe one or two, or if we become generous, five of us might stand up in their support but minority has no say! We can only kick around, still manage to do nothing. These are questions that have always been unanswered and the very reason why such discrimination has always existed is that even if we have the solution to this problem, we are so small in number that we have no say at all! Some will not even dare propose any solution.

INSIGHT

An insight into the lives of these hijras shows that as much as they want to be a part of this society, they are discriminated ever since they are born. According to one hijra Laila, “the journey of discrimination began at home, when at the age of 7, I was subjected to mockery in school, when I began to show signs of feminism”. This discrimination takes a harsh shape when the family decides either to give the child to the eunuch community or when they run off to live with people already living in eunuch community. For most of us it is a sympathetic story of not more than 5 minutes. We feel sorry for them when we hear their tragedy and moments later when we come across one such eunuch in the streets or at some celebration/wedding, we are one of the not so few people making fun of them, laughing and mocking at them.