Pakistan’s traditional third gender isn’t happy with the trans movement

“In its 70th year of independence, the discussion of gender in Pakistan is more complicated than it’s ever been. In some ways, Pakistan is years ahead of Europe, acknowledging and sometimes celebrating a third gender as part of its established history and future. But the ability to choose gender identity outside of the established third gender system remains elusive and is almost exclusively the preserve of an affluent, educated minority.” More here.

Comment by Bilal Ahmed: You know I’m in multiple minds about this. Yes, Khawaja Sira isn’t strictly “trans” per se, but there are a lot of reasons why activists would identify as trans in Pakistan today, even with the linguistic politics involved there. What’s more is that it’s not that “the notion doesn’t exist in Pakistan,” it obviously does, it’s just that certain behaviours don’t get labeled as “trans” necessarily, and not everyone chooses the label to code it. The danger here is that “trans” gets read as a thing that rich millennials do, when it’s more complicated than that.