This article by CNN talks about how the Indian election system has been changed to allow intersexed people, eunuchs and trans people the right to choose ‘other’ as a gender. I don’t know enough about the Indian trans/intersexed/eunuch communities to say whether this is a major step forward or not (my assumption from my reading is that it is viewed as a positive move, however). Whilst this is being claimed as a positive move, I worry about the international interpretation of it.
You see, governments find trans people troublesome and difficult to understand. For some reason, human culture likes putting people in boxes and when you want to move from one box to another or don’t fit into a particular box, bureaucracies get difficult. A classic example of this is countries such as France who make trans people jump through expensive and time consuming hoops to get ID papers congruent with their identified gender (though they have, at least, stopped requiring the post-operative exam from a doctor a few years ago!) Another is the complete lack of understanding shown to people who identify as neither male nor female: In Europe I don’t know of a single country that allows people to tick a box called ‘other’ if they don’t identify in one of the traditionally approved genders.
What worries me about ‘other’ is that it is an easy way for bureaucracies to get out of the issue of providing gender congruent ID. Giving people the right to use ‘other’ instead of their assigned gender is easier for bureaucracies than allowing trans people to choose their identified gender. The bureaucracy feels happy that it is no longer forcing trans people to identify in their assigned gender and it safely keeps us from disappearing into the woodwork by identifying as completely normal members of our identified gender.
‘Other’ has one single right use: It is a great option for those who really don’t identify as either male or female. It is not an option for people like me: I identify as female and ‘other’ would be completely inappropriate (and discriminating) for me.
Aside from the fact that it is sad that we still have such a reliance on gender markers on documentation (after all, just how important is it really), I just wish that we would let people choose the gender marker which suits them best, be that ‘male’, ‘female’ or ‘other’. I hope that is what is happening in India (I’m trying to find out more) and I do so hope that the ‘other’ option is not there as the only alternative to selecting ones assigned gender.
Please: Let trans and interesexed people identify as who they really are!Possibly Related Posts:
I suppose ‘other’ is better than ‘don’t know’, ‘not sure’, ‘both’ or ‘neither’. Personally I don’t like any of those options. For me it would be male, female, androgyne or neuter.
Shirley Anne xxx
Shirley Anne´s last blog ..Trapped.
Yes, they’re all fine, as long as trans and intersex people aren’t forced to choose ‘androgyne’ or ‘neuter’, I’d be completely OK with that. ‘Other’, ‘androgyne’ and ‘neuter’ are all completely fine for some people, but not for me, nor for the majority of trans people, most of whom tend to be quite strongly gendered.
Oh yes, I didn’t mean trans people in general but there are those who seem not to fit quite into a box. Yes, most trans people are certain where on the spectrum they feel they are. You and I fall into that category because we are females and know it. Love
Shirley Anne xxx
Shirley Anne´s last blog ..Trapped.
Reading that article, it doesn’t seem that the person in question would get to choose their designation. It looked to me that poll workers would be allowed to assign “other” to anyone who applied for voter registration, who didn’t meet their idea of male or female. I agree, the whole third gender option is totally not what we need.
That’s exactly the same feeling I get. It is different there, with a ‘third gender’ quite positively recognised, but people of the ‘third gender’ do still live rotten lives so I don’t think this is going to help hugely. I still haven’t found if they have the right to choose their identified gender, but I think not. It seems to be either having ones assigned gender or ‘other’.
Yes, the third gender is very problematic for us. I know of very few trans people who would really be happy with that, though for some it is the right identity. I just hope that our governments don’t get tempted by the same idea of using that as a way out of letting us have our identified gender on our documents.
India is an up and coming nation. It’s history goes way back as do some of it’s laws and ideas. The whole population is run under the ‘caste’ system not unlike it was (and still is to some extent) here, with upper, middle and lower class and below them vagrants. Although India is becoming a 21st century country it still clings to old ways. Here in Europe and the western world we have progressed somewhat and I think the idea of having a third gender would be greatly opposed and in my mind quite rightly so, I wouldn’t expect that to change.
Shirley Anne xxx
Shirley Anne´s last blog ..Old Posts.
The more I read about this, the more it is becoming clear that this is a half step in the right direction for trans people in India in that a lot of them do identify as a third gender. That it seems to be the only alternative to being labelled by your assigned gender is the sad thing.
As for us over here, I’m not so sure that non trans-aware bureaucrats couldn’t see this as a good way of fixing the problem. Remember that us Brits have it a lot better than most of the rest of Europe and in the countries where there’s no way to get gender congruent ID, the ‘other’ or ‘T’ tags could be seen as a sop to quieten down trans people. I have a strong belief in never underestimating the laziness, lack of ingenuity and lack of interest in hearing the truth of the average bureaucrat!
Have you read Nicky’s (aka the candyfloss girl) latest post which refers to a newspaper article about defects in genitalia discovered at birth? A really fascinating article if you have the time to read it.
Shirley Anne x
Shirley Anne´s last blog ..It’s confirmed!