There is a really horrible report in todays' Times of India.
The title is
'Boy made Transgender, court books 13'.
To precis
In 2006 a 16yr old boy was kidnapped and taken to Pune (city in India) and in particular the Transgender district of that city and handed over to a trans woman. She locked him up for a month in her house. Then she taught the boy to dress like a woman and to start begging on the streets of Pune. He earned around 400rup (approx $6) a day. The woman took the lot and gave him a small amount for food.
The he was forced to agree to a sex change which was carried out in the state of Andhra Pradesh in Nov2007
After recupertating for a month 'she' was now forced to work as a prostitute after a big party had been thrown by the trans community to welcome her into it.
Later 'she 'was sold to another person and forced to serve(as a prostitute) at least 10 customers a day.
Finally, she/he escaped in 2009 and made her way to Chennai and involved the police.
most of those charged were members of the trans community. The doctor who did the op was also charged.
The trial of them all begins on April 25th.
Really sad state of affairs. Those who did this to him probably had it done to them and they really know no different...
(I'm in Chennai at the moment)
Samantha
Comments
a couple of things make little sense here
1. he was in a hospital, the whole hospital couldnt have been in on it. why didnt he say anything (since this is supposedly a forced feminization, i will refer to him as such)
2. when begging he was out free, could have run away to police or yell for help. (i dont know what the conditions are like there, but if they were that bad, surely running away was better than living a lie for scraps. he could have kept begging and kept the money, etc)
3. we in the trans community are generally more compassionate (i like to think based on my experiences at least) so that the claim all but the doctor were members of this "ring" is disturbing. just because you have SRS does NOT make you truly Trans, it just means you have had an operation. if they were all forced as well it is NOT a trans community issue, it is a legal issue. if someone is trying to "make" transpersons, and they have gravitated to the area because it is where they will fit in best, does NOT make them a member of the community really.
4. if the trans community there thought he was a real transsexual, of course they would welcome him as her, but this makes it sound like it was the whole community involved in this forced feminization. i hope it is just paraphrasing and NOT how the article was written.
5. i hope those responsible are found to be similar victims, and the truth comes out. if they are not "victims" but predators, then we will have a hard time in some countries after this comes out, like most groups, our "worst" will be who we all are the the masses (based on how we are portrayed by the news agencies, and i use that term "news" loosely).
Teresa L.
Teresa L.
Indian Society
is very deferential. no one will say or do anything without the approval of their superiors. It is perfectly reasonable to assume that the Doctors involved (who are virtual gods in the hospital) would spin a story that would be believed. Because of the deference, no one would question it.
As for escaping while out on the streets begging, I was out shopping in Chennai yesterday and saw the organized begging teams in action. Their 'Pimp' controls the whole show. It was quite impressive to see them target the tourists (mostly Japanese). A modern day Fagin I suppose.
It would not be easy to escape the rest of the team especially if threats about their own safety had been made if someone did escape.
You really have to experience real life over here to even begin to understand it. The 'caste' system is still very active. My Tuk-Tuk driver is from the Untouchables caste. As the old sketch with Ronnie Corbett, Ronnie Barker and John Cleese goes, those at the bottom 'know their place'. He earns around $40 a day. out of that he has to pay for fuel for his Tuk-Tuk, support a family of 6 (4 children). So when I tip him $0.50 on a fare of $2.00 he is overjoyed. It means nothing to me but to him it is as if he has won the lottery. Life is very cheap here. If I were to tip him $2.00 on the same fare, he would refuse it. He is really proud that he owns his vehicle and would see that as an insult. He will talk to me in ways that he couldn't talk to another Indian because 'he knows his place'. Sad but true.
You've hit the nail pretty close to right on the head Sam.
Firstly Life is extremely cheap in India and the things parents do to their children would leave western parents astounded and sickened.
The brutally cruel fact being that poor Indian parents feel forced by the grinding poverty to view their own children as little more than assets to be pawned for their own survival. The way those 'assets' are subsequently treated (prostituted and or enslaved) for other's profit is sickening. The film 'Slum-dog Millionaire' only just scratches the surface!!! The truth is infinitely worse and
I will not offend you with details of mutilated beggars I have seen in the back streets of Cholcattah (Calcutta)when I was a young man in my late twenties early thirties 1974/78 and my ship was regularly calling into Calcutta. Suffice to say they were grotesque and on full public display, often hanging up in cages for perverts to view then hire for whatever gratifications they wanted (usually sexual). You have no idea how low the human condition can sink until you have seen the back streets of Calcutta.
Yes, I know much has changed infinitely for the better in India but this report only serves to illustrate that the mind-set about dispensable human material still endures in India and other third world countries. Consider the recent paedophile scandals with Phillipino children being used online. It was the parents and relatives who perpetrated those crimes.
As to that boy submitting or sinking to the lowest depths of degradation like prostitution and begging well there I speak from life.
When hunger and cold are threatening your life, you'll do anything to survive. The damage to the mind is the removal of just about all taboos and standards by those who bend the twig to stunt the tree.
This...
in a country where 60% or more of women report being sexually abused by their families/work colleagues; where rape is a very common crime, and where I remember years ago seeing a documentary about the hijras (eunuchs) and one of them claimed the castration had been done against his will. It's also a country where large numbers of female foetuses are aborted just for being female. So anything can happen.
Angharad