This letter is specifically directed to several white feminists — self-identified as such — who wrote to me in OUTRAGE! that I shouldn’t have suggested a non-English term for “genderqueer” because then I’m doing teh reverse-racist and it’s just plain rude. This is my answer:
————-
Hello.
I know you don’t like talking to me, just the person you’ve constructed as me and taken tufts of my culture’s stereotypes and your view on these stereotypes, but at one point you will have to realise your words are not reflecting back. Ekschully, you might not, considering you haven’t seen it yet. Because I’m such a unicorn, I’ll continue anyway.
At this point, you’re like Sarah Palin to me. Good, I’m sure I have your attention now considering I used a metaphor nice imperial people like you can understand. So, I understand you lyke talking about dusty hijras a lot¹ and it’s like teh povertyporn to you, talking about those poor, intersexed “menwomen” as they’re shunned by society. And you seem too find them adequately exotic, to make them into footnotes; for which I’m eternally grateful, for had it not been for you, no one would know about Indian culture, no? What? Surely we must have our identity through you. Glad we could settle that.
I am writing to you because you decided to write to me, telling me I’m being a “bad feminist” by suggesting that perhaps we need our own terms and definitions for dusty Queer people, because the terms ‘lesbian’, ‘gay’, ‘trans’, ‘queer’, ‘asexual’ etc are all encompassing. But then you forgot one leetal thing, this ‘all encompassing’ definition and terms sometimes stretch only across the US or European borders and as most dusty queers I spoke of in the post, and the dusty queers who squat in ditches next to mine don’t live in the US or Europe! Isn’t that a big surprise, that Indian queers — well, a lot of them anyway — are from India? So we have a leetal different problems than you do. Don’t believe me? I have an extremely Western list to prove to you²:
- Phust of all, in most parts of the country being queer is still a criminal act as the Delhi High Court has only struck down Section 377. The Supreme Court is still ‘thinking’ about this issue. So for us, we still have to decriminialise and destigmatise queer identities, than say, fight for marriage rights.
- Terms such as “corrective rapes”, ‘yoga practices to cure teh queer’ and other quack-y measures are something Indian queers, especially women have to go through a lot. I’m sure fundamentalism exists Over There as well, all I’m saying is you need to acknowledge that dusty Queers do have it much worse.
- We’re not privileged enough to have ‘help-centers’ for queer people, not even in major cities or towns. We do have several NGO’s and Queer-based organisations³ who do as much work they can, unfortunately most work revolves in circles of privilege. I don’t blame them for this, they do all that they can, just hope that one day they’ll have the ability to be more inclusive. YOU however, sitting at the center of privilege don’t get to advocate what dusty queers should do, how they should go to help and support centers or ‘educate themselves’ and not get HIV/AIDS.
- Coming out as queer is a privilege so many people out here simply don’t have, caste-class-religion-societal pressure all tie into it. It’s not just ‘adherence to tradition’ as you keep on saying this is.
THIS is why we need to re-write what being queer is, as dusty peepal squatting in ditches, okay? Now stop infesting my blog with your privilege.
————-
1. Gloria Stienem, Germaine Greer, Naomi Wolf all have at least one reference to “I’ve stood between hijra communities and have felt their potent magic” in perhaps more culture-appropriative terms. I’m not joking, go look it up, I’ll wait here in my ditch. Also, other feminists online have made some off-hand remarks too along similar tropes.
2. Imagine this in a British accent like this is a BBC documentary. Every time I have trouble believing any news, I think of it in a British Dude’s voice and it seems like the ONLY AND HOLY TRUTH for me, I suggest you should try doing this too. This tried and tested method is brought to you by 200+ years of colonialism in the Indian Subcontinent.
3. I’m not going to name any organisations out here. In case anyone wants to know, please drop a non-anonymous message in my Ask box or write to me via e-mail (the address is on the front page of my tumblr). I wouldn’t want trolls to get wind of organisations I’m talking about.
EVERY SINGLE BIT OF THIS. White feminists, we need to be listening much, much harder to things like this. THIS THIS THIS.
↧
Dear White Feminists
↧