Phermaportus t1_ir24nve wrote
Hey!
I was wondering if it's fair to call them the "transgender community" or if their gender expression is just outside the gender binary and "transgender" is just used as a bit of a shortcut to get the point across in a more westernized understanding of gender.
Also, would you say their role in Kashmiri society has expanded with time?
Luigi_Conte OP t1_ir260zg wrote
It is quite a controversial issue! Actually there's no word for them in Kashmiri language than a slur (Lanch), but when they informally speak to each other they use this same word (almost like afroamericans did with n..., trying to use a transformative approach). When they speak to outsiders they often use the term Hijra, which is anyway related to Hindu transgenders, or transgenders. It is also interesting to know that they have a guru-disciple social structure, with a complicated network of sisterly relation that makes actually feel we're speaking of a community.
aagjevraagje t1_ir29zds wrote
>It is also interesting to know that they have a guru-disciple social structure, with a complicated network of sisterly relation that makes actually feel we're speaking of a community
It's weirdly simular to like ballroom culture in the west in that regard.
Luigi_Conte OP t1_ir2cbyy wrote
As this traditional system is much older than the ballroom culture I might hypotesize that the latter might have been inspired by some pre-existing practices and rituals. In this perspective I will add that whenever there are tensions in the community (let's say someone speaking behind someone else) things are discussed and dramatized in front of the others, somehow playing with tensions and dissipating the aggressiveness throughout a ritualized approach
[deleted] t1_ir2gej3 wrote
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