Ellyn Ruddick-Sunstein: For Call Me Heena, Bangladeshi photographer Shahria Sharmin intimately explores the country’s Hijra community, composed of people who were assigned male anatomies at birth but identify as being internally female. Sharmin explains that the Hijra identity exists outside of Western definitions like transgender and is perhaps better described as a third gender. Hijras adopt traditionally female roles, becoming mothers and wives, although their marriages are not recognized legally. In mainstream society, Hijras are met with prejudice and incorrectly labeled as hermaphrodites and eunuchs. Growing up, Sharmin herself was taught to see Hijras as aberrant and sub-human. She met a Hijra named Heena while pursuing project on garment workers, and as their friendship grew, she began to see the beauty of the the Hijra community. Heena shared her dreams of being a wife and told Sharmin that she felt like a mermaid, with her anatomy in disagreement with her mind’s feminine identity. More here.