Are transgender people like that by choice? Or is it natural? Kindly explain.
Hasan MahmudExpert
Are transgender people like that by choice? Or is it natural? Kindly explain.
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Before we get into the transgender and intersex issue, let me clear one thing up.
I know many of you think transgender means hermaphrodite/intersex/having both male/female genitalia/characteristics.
But hijra does not mean intersex, hijra broadly refers to a community in Bangladesh, in which there are two types of people, intersex and trans.
But for the sake of argument, I’m going to assume for the time being that intersex = transgender.
Also for the sake of argument I’m assuming there is no such thing as trans. (I repeat, for now, so that we can understand what intersex is with a cool head)
What is intersex?
Intersex is a group of conditions in which the common theme is that a person’s genitalia physically externally, that is, on the outside of the body, do not have the same genitalia internally. That is, “boys” do not have testes and “girls” do not have ovaries.
(These are medical terms, not my invention)
Earlier these conditions were called hermaphrodites. This term is not commonly used now. These conditions are called disorders of sex development (DSDs).
There are 4 categories of these conditions. (There is a long and boring discussion here, you can skip ahead if you want)
1- 46 XX Intersex – In this condition, a person has XX chromosomes (like females) but their external genitalia appear like boys. This can happen due to hormonal imbalance. In most cases these individuals have a normal uterus and fallopian tubes, meaning that she is physically female, even if her genitalia look like boys.
There are several causes of this condition, hormonal imbalance and aromatase deficiency being the main ones. (Keep term two in mind, we’ll come back here later)
2- 46, XY Intersex – In this case, just the reverse of the previous case occurs. Despite having male chromosomes, the external genitalia look like female genitalia. Testes may or may not be located inside the body. There are many reasons behind this, including hormonal imbalance, androgen insensitivity syndrome (there are 150+ types of this defect). Again, keep the terms in mind, I will come back here later.
3- True Gonadal Intersex – They have both ovarian and testicular tissue. This condition can only be called near hermaphrodite, due to the presence of both types of tissue. I have not found the exact cause of this condition.
4- Complex or undetermined intersex – There may be some chromosome configurations other than 46 XX or XY, such as 45 XO, 47 XXY, 47 XXX. In this type, either the sex chromosome (which determines your gender) is missing or there is one more. In this type of case, even if genitalia is not changed, hormonal balance and developmental problems occur.
Before coming to the perspective of Bangladesh, let me brief a little about what happened medically in the world before.
Previously, if a child had been detected as intersex, doctors would have advised to undergo the necessary surgery to shift the external genitalia to matching genitalia. This is done by looking at the external appearance of the genitalia, not the chromosome configuration. (I mentioned above that if the genitalia is like a boy, the chromosomes are boys, but this is not the case with intersex people). In this surgery, the genitalia/tissues of either gender are surgically removed.
Male genitalia reconstruction is considered difficult, usually if the genitalia is not clear, female genitalia reconstruction is done because it is easier.
Later it turned out that in the case of intersex people, it is not the case that all the problems are solved by just seeing how the physical genitalia looks like. Because, as I said earlier, there is a chromosomal imbalance in these cases, and if someone is chromosomally a boy, that is, genetically a boy, no matter how many operations you try to make him completely girly, because his genitalia look like girls, it will not work perfectly. There are many psychological, neural, chromosomal, behavioral issues that will influence which gender identity a person should actually switch to.
(This is why doctors now recommend waiting until they are a little older than operating on intersex children, so that other factors can be ruled out. Because some conditions may not be exactly the same, and different treatments may work better for each.)
Anyway, this is the state of the outer world. Obviously, Bangladesh is not like that. It was only 10 years ago in 2013 that the rights of transgenders were confirmed in Bangladesh.
What happens to transgenders (intersex) in Bangladesh?
Let me ask you a question before entering this discussion, with your hand on your chest, ask yourself, in the last 10 years, have you ever used the word Hijra to abuse/mock?
Unless you’re a visiting angel, your answer should be yes.
Why is the word Hijra a curse? Hijras badly want money on the streets because this is an insult?
Or because this is an insult, the transgenders have to go around the streets asking for money?
I know from my own experience how much a boy child looks a little feminine or a girl child looks a little like boys how much they are ridiculed, even in the most elite schools/colleges/universities of Dhaka.
I have also seen a boy who is a bit healthier and has a bit more fat on his chest, so boys forcefully put their hands on his chest to harass him or make fun of him that his chest is like a girl’s.
Do you think this situation is better outside of Dhaka or in other economic classes?
If a boy’s life is made miserable for being feminine or a girl’s life is made miserable for being boyish, what about intersex children?
Before moving on to the rest of the discussion, one thing everyone agrees on is that it is difficult for transgender (intersex) people to function in educational institutions or society.
You don’t want them in the same school as your child, you don’t want them to have a job, you don’t want them to marry someone you know. Simply put, transgenders are terribly marginalized.
Any parent of an intersex baby like you knows this. For this reason, it used to happen (I don’t know if it still happens) in many cases, if the child is intersex (transgender), the parents would give the child to the transgender community, fearing the trouble of raising that child. This is where these children grow up, out of school and college.
(Not everyone in the transgender community has this same origin, this is an example to illustrate the social standing of intersex people).
The one who doesn’t get education, the society won’t accept him, won’t give him a job, there is no other way to survive except asking for money on the streets?
I assume all of you like me want intersex people to have a better future, no discrimination against them. What to do to determine that?
1- To improve their standing in society.
2- Providing the facilities they need.
Now let’s come to the main talk.
The whole mess starts with a line, a person named Sharifa has a boy’s body, but she thinks she is a girl.
As much as you protest that this only applies to trans people, transgenders (intersex) cannot be boys/girls in body and different in mind.
ok Following this place is a little difficult. I know the writing gets too long, but focus a little.
You know how healthcare is in Bangladesh, right?
I assume you know.
Whether a baby is intersex or non-intersex, this can sometimes be known at birth, if the attending doctor/specialist can catch it.
That’s the best case scenario, to figure this out as soon as possible.
But come down to reality. Do you think there is a doctor in every corner of this country of 20+ crore people? Doctors present at the birth of every baby are so expert in this specific field that they can detect which baby is intersex?
Think about the normal delivery of many babies outside the hospital or in many parts of the country. In that case, how can one detect whether the child has any such problem?
These are the cases where it is clear that a child is intersex.
In some cases, it is possible to tell if a baby is intersex by doing some tests, such as chromosome analysis, hormonal levels, endoscopic tests, MRI, etc. Needless to say, these tests are not cheap, and in most cases, no family in Bangladesh will have the money to afford them.
There are also cases of intersex children who may not realize their intersex condition until puberty, only gradually realizing that the child is intersex during puberty or adolescence.
So we can assume for now that there could be a scenario where a child may start realizing that he/she may not be a boy/girl, but may be intersex.
Now if she is assigned from childhood with a badge on her outer genitalia that she is a boy, but is genetically a girl, what will she feel when she realizes she is a girl in puberty?
He will not think that he is a boy, looks like a boy, but in his heart he is a girl?
Let’s say the other way around, say one is genetically a boy, and outer genitalia is a girl. If at puberty she begins to realize that she feels like a boy even though she has been called a girl since childhood, or if she is a girl she does not have periods, how will she express this?
He will not think that he is a girl, looks like a girl, but in his heart he is a boy?
While discussing the conditions of intersex above, I asked to remember the names of some conditions. Let’s discuss them now, briefly.
Genetically a girl but physically like a boy:
1- Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia): Basically, even if it is a boy/girl genetically, the male sex hormone androgen increases a lot due to the lack of a specific enzyme.
As a result, genetically, a girl’s genitalia can look like a boy’s, and unless the condition is very severe, it is difficult to detect before the child is older.
2- If the mother’s body lacks testosterone for some reason or if the mother’s body has a tumor that produces testosterone (usually in the ovary), even in that case, she is genetically a girl but the physical appearance can be like a boy.
3- Aromatose is an enzyme that converts male sex hormones into estrogens (female sex hormones). If someone has little or none of this, they will develop physical attributes similar to boys, even if they are genetically female, because they have more male sex hormones.
Genetically a boy but physically like a girl:
1- Problems in testis development. Because the testes produce male hormones, testicular problems can occur when someone is genetically male but their genitalia are not formed like boys. (gonadal dysgenesis)
2- This can happen even if there is a deficiency in the enzymes needed to make testosterone
3-Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome- In this case, even if someone is genetically a boy, due to a defect in the X chromosome, the body cannot respond to the hormones that make these boys appear. As a result, a person may be physically a girl on the outside and almost entirely a girl on the inside, just genetically a boy.
(Special note: A common misconception is that intersex people cannot have children. This is not entirely true. Many people with intersex conditions are able to have children, i.e. produce sperm or become pregnant. Not everyone has the same type of disorder of sex development or the same stage.)
There are several other scenarios, but the bottom line is that intersex conditions are not always detectable at the time of childbirth, and in Bangladesh’s perspective that probability is even lower in some scenarios. In short, in the somewhat conservative society of Bangladesh, where it is taboo to talk about these things, even if parents find out that their child has an intersex condition, it is normal to be afraid of the society, or not to understand that the child has an intersex condition.
(Because our generation doesn’t know exactly what intersex is or what the symptoms of intersex are, so how are parents supposed to know?)
So won’t these kids go to school and realize that something is not right by the time they reach puberty?
At this point, don’t children think that maybe the gender they’ve been raised to be, is actually not the same gender?
Since none of these kids are gender specialists, if you have a disease like I don’t understand it, you can tell from some symptoms or feelings that something is color, puberty or later. Something is color, based on what he knows about the boy/girl’s physical appearance, even if he is a boy/girl, he doesn’t think of himself as that gender.
Now if you don’t give children the basic understanding that someone else looks like a boy or a girl, they can be intersex, and because of the condition, they may discover at school age that their genetic gender may be different (when the hormonal activity of puberty causes some (symptoms are intense), so how does he know that if a friend of his goes through something like that, he shouldn’t be mocked or ostracized?
Or, how will the child understand that because of his intersex condition at that age that he feels different about himself, this is a normal thing and he can seek medical help or tell his parents if he wants?
If you don’t understand these things to the child, if you don’t understand this to the people, then ultimately either the parents will remain ignorant and ignore the child’s condition or else the child will never talk about this problem because of shame, and will suffer silently.
A few incentives behind such a long writing.
1- To clear up the point that intersex may be the case for a child who discovers that he has the condition (through various symptoms) a bit older, then it’s very possible that he physically looks like a girl for a long time but is genetically a boy or vice versa
2- Intersex condition is not so easy to detect, and not easily affordable for everyone or realistically. In the country, children are sold due to not being able to pay hospital bills. Do you think these families can spend lakhs of money to get an MRI or chromosome analysis to detect if the child is intersex?
As I said at the beginning of the post, we assume for now that there is no such thing as trance. If you look at this whole thing with that assumption, then it should be clear to you that the thing written in that book, which can only mean trans, cannot mean the intersex condition – this is a wrong conception.
If you want the social acceptance of intersex people who were legally recognized in 2013, then you need to accept their inclusion in your textbooks.
You also have to accept that people don’t identify as transgender from birth, and in many cases people in the transgender (intersex) community are people who either pay for the tests to diagnose their intersex condition or the surgery they need to reassign their gender. Since they can’t make an effort, they remain transgender. No one wants to be marginalised.
If you want the next generation of intersex people not to be marginalized, they are equally right-wing, so you need to make sure that at whatever age they discover they have an intersex condition (be it childhood, adolescence or even older), we establish (intersex conditions are not always diagnosed at birth), at an age so that they are not stigmatized by this discovery, and the necessary gender change process/surgery, during this transformation so that they are not ridiculed. If they don’t have an exemption, they will either never have the courage to undergo the necessary treatment or procedure, or they will have to withdraw from mainstream society and move into the transgender community.
(Remember, we’re not talking about transgender people here, we’re talking about people with intersex conditions).
At the end of such a huge write-up, if anyone doesn’t want to give me myr, I hope you have an intersex condition, how this condition can delay diagnosis or necessary treatment/surgery/transformation, how to look like a boy but genetically look like a woman. There will be an increase in understanding that one can be genetically a boy despite looking like a girl.
(To repeat as a broken record, we are not talking about transgender here. We are talking about the process of discovering this condition as someone who is genetically different from physical appearance.)
I hope it is clear to you how the scenario of being originally/genetically a girl or thinking of yourself as a girl can happen to people with intersex condition, even if they look like a boy physically, and why explaining this to children makes exceptions for people with intersex condition or children in society/school. urgent
If there is no acceptance, then he cannot function in society.
Either he will suffer for the rest of his life due to lack of diagnosis or treatment.
And Niles will be forced to join the transgender community and basically beg for food.