Tasha Shermer

Cultural Anthropology
November 7, 2014
Analysis of The Hijras of India: Cultural and Individual Dimensions of
an Institutionalized Third Gender Role.
There are a number of similarities between the Indian hijra
community described by Dr. Nanda in this article and the transgender
community in Western culture. I believe this may indicate there is
possibly a link across cultures in how individuals marginalized for their
alternate gender identity or sexual orientation come together and
develop a community. The general structure of the communities is the
same, but since culture shapes sexual norms, the way they manifest
and present in public society differs based on cultural values and
beliefs.

In Western culture, the lack of a societally accepted or institutionalized

third gender role has created an opening for the creation of a myriad of
alternative gender identities to be adopted. Western society and in
particular American society is very individualistic, and the gender
stratification is not mediated by a potential sacred role in society. This
cultural mentality has shaped the way persons identifying as neither
male nor female construct their identity and sexual orientation. Rather
than being taught they may fit into a third gender role with religious
underpinnings, Western transgendered children undergo enculturation
that provides no knowledge of any acceptable options other than male

Tasha Shermer
Cultural Anthropology
November 7, 2014
or female. Thus, many interpretations of third gender identity and the
labels given to them are unique to the individual and only after
connecting with a larger LGBT community do the individual identities

coalesce into larger, collective identities. However, those gender

identities still number more than three.

Also in the Western LGBT community, new sexual orientations have

arisen to accommodate multiple gender identities. Omnisexual is
sometimes used instead of bisexual to describe ones sexual
orientation by those who want to indicate they are attracted to all
possible genders. The idea of a gender spectrum is closely linked to
the idea that sexual orientation is a spectrum in the LGBT community.

Western LGBT communities in areas with higher concentrations of

people tend to form bonds similar to fictive kinship, if not actually
fictive kinship. Houses in the 1970s-1980s Harlem drag community
are loosely structured in a similar way to the houses or subgroups in
the hijra community. Just as those houses have a guru or leader, the
drag houses had a house mother who advised the younger drag ball
queens on how to survive as a transgendered/homosexual individual in
New York as well as how to prepare their costumes and makeup for

Tasha Shermer
Cultural Anthropology
November 7, 2014
their ball performances. The drag houses had a secular framework,
unlike the framework of the hijra houses.
The sense of needing to enculturate young transgender or
homosexual/bisexual persons about navigating a society that doesnt
necessarily approve of their existence seems common across cultures.

Drag in Western societies is a performance of exaggerated femininity

and in-your-face sexuality that is not necessarily acceptable for women
to exhibit if they want to remain respectable. At Gay Pride events, men
who do not identify as transgender or who do not normally perform in
drag will wear womens clothing and behave in a coarse manner. Often
overly explicit kissing and groping is displayed openly in an attempt to
thumb their nose at societys sexual and gender norms, forcing society
to recognize that they exist and they are not ashamed to express their
sexuality despite societys negative attitudes towards it. This attempt
to cause discomfort by highlighting sexual ambiguity and the
exaggerated expression of femininity is similar to the hijra
performance as a burlesque of female behavior and the exposing of
the mutilated genitals as a method of confrontation.

Tasha Shermer
Cultural Anthropology
November 7, 2014
Perhaps hijras are more often better classified as transgender than
intersex, but a gender identity determined by something outside
oneself (society, religion, nature, genetics) is easier to accept because
its not within the individuals control, therefore it is not a moral failing
and their essence cannot be assigned whatever negative value is
culturally attached to their gender identity or sexual orientation/acts
when they are a choice. The tendency towards being more accepting
towards aspects of an individual identity determined by a higher power
seems to be another generality across many cultures.

Whether or not these apparent similarities or generalities Ive pointed

out would remain so under scrutiny is beyond the scope of this paper.
However, since so many other aspects of culture are shared, it seems
reasonable to conclude that the way sexual and gender minorities deal
with marginalization may be similar across cultures, and at least in this
case, parallels can be drawn between the Western transgender
community and the hijras of India.