ANTH-110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Eunuch, Transvestism, Erectile Dysfunction
17 Oct 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Represented as the main alternative to traditional genders; in india, it is the third gender, a transsexed or transvestite individual. As vehicles of divine power, these hijras traditionally are present at childbirths, at marriagesand serve as servants of the goddesses temple. However, they non traditionally engage in prostitution and sex work with men. It is a masculine noun, translating into hermaphrodite or eunuch. -if a hijra is not born with a defective sex organ (and most are not), he must make it defective during the rebirth from male to hijra this is called emasculation. When hijras are made, they are envisioned as a loss of virility, thus a loss of what makes the man a man; But by performing many female gender ideals and roles, they are women; yet they are not fully women because they lack the ability to bear children. Main affliation to hinduism; however many also claim muslim roots and the two are not incompatible.
