Transgender as a Third Gender: Transgender Identity Development (original) (raw)

Transgender studies have long been highlighted by social, political, moral, theoretical, and methodological constraints, yielding a multitude of transgender representations in the field. Emerging from feminist and gender theory, trans theory asks us to challenge essentialist and heteronormative understandings of gender, sex, and sexuality. The goal of transgender studies is to provide knowledge that will benefit transgender people and communities. Gender diversity has been prevalent in most global societies, "transgender" is a recent social category and phenomenon. Transgender are being deprived of many rights and privileges which other persons enjoy being the citizen of the country. Transgender people are facing serious problems of human rights, violation in the field of education, employment, healthcare, voting and contesting election and regarding their personal freedom, legal protection, family, and marriage etc. They face harassment at workplace, marketplace, and other public places. The contemporary term "transgender" arose in the mid-1990's from the grassroot community of genderdifferent people. Transgender encompasses anyone whose identity or behaviour falls outside of stereotypical gender norms. Transgender has become an umbrella term that is used to describe a wide range of identities and experiments, including but not limited to transsexual people, male and female cross-dressers. A transgender as per the generic definition is a person who chooses to identify himself/herself with a gender different from one assigned at birth. Various institutions and individuals have given definitions globally. Transgenders of India who have been marginalized and decentered for decades have taken to writing to let their unheard voices echo in the ears of society. Their writings are impregnated with their ordeals to be recognized as mere human beings let alone to be treated equal. Colonizers with their tool of cultural imperialism seized the psyche of Indians and metamorphosed their attitudes towards transgender. For this purpose, the present paper will highlight the transgender identity development through the autobiographies of Indian transgenders Manobi Bandopadhya's-A Gift of Goddess Laxmi and Vidya's I am Vidya.