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A Peer-Reviewed International Journal of
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Volume=
-V, Issue-I,
July 2016, Page No. 46-51
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Website: h<=
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Body
Narratives: The Case of Transgender
Pallabi
Baruah
Asst.
Professor, Dept. of English, University of Science and Technology, Meghalay=
a,
India
Abstract
Body Narratives: The Case of Transge=
nder
aims to st=
udy
the autobiography of a transgender writer from India and will attempt to
analyse how trans narratives tend to be body narratives, wherein the somatic
transitions which hold great significance in trans lives also becomes the
central focus in their autobiographies and also how it involves a will to
compose a self, literally, a self which they intend to express in the
autobiography, out of the many selves and eventually how it becomes politic=
al,
the will to be heard and accepted, rather than merely being treated as site
markers of non-binary gender systems. The paper will also attempt to study =
how
the transgendered identity has been significant to queer theory since the
figure of the transgender made possible the merging between the gay and the
lesbian, giving rise to a different type of homosexuality and thereby
broadening its horizon.
Key Words:
Transgender Autobiography, Queer, Gender Studies, Body Narratives, Body
Politics
Body Narratives: The Case of Transge=
nder
aims
to study the autobiography of a transgender[1]
writer from India and will attempt to analyse how trans narratives tend to =
be
body narratives, wherein the somatic transitions which hold great significa=
nce
in trans lives also becomes the central focus in their autobiographies and =
also
how it involves a will to compose a self, literally, a self which they inte=
nd
to express in the autobiography, out of the many selves and eventually how =
it
becomes political, the will to be heard and accepted, rather than merely be=
ing
treated as site markers of non-binary gender systems.
Queer by questioning the hegemony of heterosexuals and rigid definit=
ions
of gender and sexuality, debunked hierarchies and offered space to varied
gender choices, without privileging any. Technically thus, trying to define
what ‘queer’ means would constitute a violation of its very character, for
queer abhors fixity and celebrates fluidity, the undefined, the unheard. And
this is also what the transgender is – fluid, multiple, undefined[2].
But before delving critically into trans autobiographies, the term
‘autobiography’ needs to be understood first. Autobiographies are
self-narratives in which authors try to present themselves to readers in a =
way
they want to be seen. Hence apart from being collective as well as personal
narratives, autobiographies also offer its creator a chance to have made se=
nse
of their lives and experiences as they have answered the question, ‘who am =
I?’,
as observed by Diane Bjorklund, who researched on the genre of autobiograph=
y in
America (Bjorklund 89) . Autobiographers, being aware that their work is go=
ing
to be read by a future audience, accordingly organise the events of their l=
ives
into narrative structure that contains a central point around which it
revolves. Transgender autobiographies, as noticed in many autobiographies i=
ncluding
the ones written in the Indian context such as Vidya’s I Am Vidya and A. Rev=
athi’s
The Truth about Me: A Hijra Life St=
ory,
centres around the body. Having the body as the central point the
different experiences and the life events are told out. Hence their
autobiographies transpire into body narratives.
Autobiography begins on the presumption of self-knowledge and ends i=
n the
creation of a narrative that conceals the promises of its construction,
revealing the impossibility of its own dream. It has been said that for a w=
oman
the autobiography is often a means to survive traumas of childbirth, illnes=
s,
deaths of spouses and children, loss of cultural identity and personal rega=
rd,
fear of loss of beauty and they struggle to find a voice to express. She ca=
nnot
experience herself as an entirely separate identity as she is aware of the =
fact
that she is being defined as a woman whose identity as been pre-determined =
by
the dominant male culture. While on the other hand, male autobiographies
enforces a unity and identity across time by reconstructing the ego as a
safeguard against disintegration and they seldom admit their internal fears=
and
insecurities, hesitations and ruptures to glide smoothly over gaps in memory
and blind spots. The basic masculine self is separate and not connected to =
the
world.
Trans Autobiographies on the other hand develop a dual consciousness.
They don’t recognise themselves in the reflections of cultural representati=
on
and hence a dual consciousness is developed - Self as culturally defined and
Self as different from the cultural definition. From this division, came the
experience of one part being strange and alien, cut-off from the other which
continuously tries to find a voice. They are never together in one place,
always in transit, travelling into alien territory. Sex transformations bei=
ng
an important part of the plot, the focus is on the body and the narrative
interwines in and out of the mind and the body. There autobiographies act a=
s a
means to survive the trauma of self-realisation and social realisation, sex
change and loss of identity, acclimatizing with the new found identity and
empowerment.
I thanked them silently. ‘Thank you for removing my maleness from my
body, thank you for making my body a female body. My life is fulfilled. If =
I die,
I’ll lose nothing.’ (Vidya 16)
=
Living Smile Vidya’s autobiography I
Am Vidya exemplifies this continuous conflict apparent in the Indian Tr=
ans
autobiographies, the Indian experience being no different fromthe West. Vid=
ya,
a transgender or Tirunangai[3]
from Chennai, details the struggle undergone while transforming hirself[4]
from a male (Saravanan) to a female (Vidya).
In Vidya’s autobiography, one can discern that the beleaguered self =
and
body of Vidya is the central point throughout. Vidya’s emotional and sexual
conflicts along with issues of conformity of hir multiple selves becomes
prominent right from the beginning. And it can be observed that through the
process of writing the autobiography, Vidya is actually creating or
constructing a self literally, out of the many selves. Thus one sees how the
transgendered body is obsessed upon and also out of many epiphanies, Vidya’s
sex change with surgical help was the greatest one. After having gone throu=
gh
the painful process of removing male genitals, Saravanan finally got rid of=
his
male identity and changed into Vidya. To quote from the text –
Yes,
what I saw in that moment was death. They had removed that part of me over
which I had silent tears of rejection from the time I could remember. I saw
that my penis and my testicles had been excised. I was sutured and applied
medication after that. I could feel all that very distinctly. Ah! Nirvana. =
The
ultimate peace.
Inside
I was at peace. It was a huge relief. I was now a woman. Mine was a woman’s
body. Its shape would be what my heart wanted, yearned for. This pain would
obliterate all my earlier pains. (Vidya 16)
But the truth is removing the male genitals won’t make a male Sarava=
nan,
a female Vidya. Ze tells all the phases of the changing, feminine mind in a
male body, hir obsession to wear hir sister’s sari’s and dance to the radio
songs, hir strong feelings for Ilango and how he made hir feel like a whole
woman (both mentally and physically), how ze felt hir body as that of a wom=
an’s
with hir imaginary breasts wrapped in a sari and towel-wrapped hair, among
others. To quote one such incident –
Every
time he spoke to me of such things, I thrilled at the thought of the many m=
en
who might enjoy looking at me. It made me blush, all right, but I cannot de=
ny
those thoughts of mine. As the days progressed, I started wishing Ilango wo=
uld
feast on me the way he enjoyed watching other girls. I became eager to win =
his
love....I thought then that what I felt for Ilango was neither love nor lus=
t.
Ilango was the man who kindled in me the kind of changes that occur from ti=
me
to time in a woman’s different stages of development. Ilango was the man who
made me feel whole as a woman. (Vidya 35)
=
Nick
Adams, GLAAD’s director of programs, Transgender Media, made a very powerful
statement, “For a transgender person to step into the world as his or her a=
uthentic
self is a moment of tremendous freedom.” And for Vidya that was hir moment =
of
freedom and liberty which gave her the courage to face the world with her n=
ew
identity. But that doesn't mean that surgery is a miracle cure for the
difficulties of gender dysphoria, which every MTF or FTM transgender underg=
o.
People who make the transition often lose spouses, families, friends and jo=
bs.
They may find themselves completely alone if they relocate to start new liv=
es.
Johns Hopkins University, which in the 1960s was one of the first medical
institutions to perform sex reassignment surgery, questioned the pract=
ice when
officials concluded that it was not helping the transgender’s overall mental
and physical state, a question one needs to analyse and inquire discursivel=
y.
=
The
process of changing one's sex, under the standards of care adopted by the W=
orld
Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), usually, is meeting
with a mental health professional for a diagnosis and psychotherapy, as the=
first
step. A diagnosis of gender identity disorder or gender dysphoria and a let=
ter
of recommendation from the therapist allows a person to begin hormone thera=
py
with a doctor. That is usually followed by a period of living publicly as a
member of the opposite sex and, finally, surgery to alter the genitalia and
other body parts. The hormonal therapies helps FTM transgender develop
secondary male sex characteristics such as a beard and body hair, and helps=
MTF
transgender to change their musculature, skin and fat distribution, all of
which will make them appear more feminine. Body hair also diminishes. But t=
he
hormones' most important contribution is to reduce the dysphoria transgender
people have been struggling with all their lives. After a month or two, the=
ir
bodies and brains begin aligning. And apart from the changes in the body, t=
hese
hormones also make them feel differently. Hence, they start behaving
differently.
Vidya, by portraying the queerness according to the heteronormative
society, throughout her narrative tried to explore the aspects of a
transgendered body, which cannot be defined, is multiple and was almost unh=
eard
of and thereby ze attempted to give a voice to the unheard and the silent. =
The
world can now see what she has always known, that she is — and always has b=
een
— a woman.
On being critically analysed as to why the trans narratives tend to =
be
body narratives, one can account the somatic transitions which hold great
significance in their lives and hence becomes the central focus in the auto=
biographies.
Thus the narratives are written in and out of the body, shifting between the
new found liberties the mind attains, through the body. As Jay Prosser clai=
ms
that sex change is a plot and thus appropriately transsexuals make for adept
and absorbing authors. They read and write out their own body, with a will =
to
be heard and accepted, and herein it becomes political. The body narratives,
narrated through the transgender’s own recounting, centres around the body =
and
valorises the self, thus having pointed out the ‘difference,’ their ultimate
aim is to be accepted, as throughout history transgenders are the unaccepted
and the questioned lot. And this need to be accepted by the traditional heteronormative society[5],
transpires their autobiographies into body narratives.
Works
Cited
1. Bjorklund, Diane. Interpreting the Self: Two Hundred Years of American Autobiography<=
/i>.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. Print =
span>
2. Butler, Judith. Gender
Trouble: Feminism and Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 1999. Print
3. Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality: The Will to Knowledge, Vol 1. trans.
Robert Hurley. London: Penguin Boo=
ks,
1976. Print.
4. Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New Delhi: East West Press, 2009.
Print
5. Halberstam, Judith. In A Queer Time And Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. =
New
York: NYU Press, 2005. Print.
6. Hall, Donald E. and Annamaries Jagose ed. The Routledge Queer Studies Reader. London: Routledge Literature Readers,=
2013.
Print.
7. Hall, Donald E.. Queer
Theories. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Print
8. Hall, Donald E. Reading
Sexualities: Hermeneutic Theory and The Future of Queer Studies. London:
Routledge, 2009.Print
9. Halberstam, Judith. In A Queer Time And Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. =
New
York: NYU Press, 2005. Print.
10. Heyes, Cressida J. “Feminist Solidarity after Queer Theory: The Case=
of
Transgender”.Chicago Journals. =
JSTOR.
Web. 30 Feb. 2013.
11. Jagose, Annamarie. Queer theory: An Introduction. USA: New York University Press, =
1996. Print.
12. Lauretis ,Teresa de. Queer Theory: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities. USA: Indiana Univers=
ity
Press, 1991.
13. Namaste, Ki. “The Politics of Inside/Out: Queer theory,
Poststructuralism, and a Sociological Approach to Sexuality”. Sociological Theory, Vol12, No.2. =
JSTOR.
Web. 9 April 2013.
14. Prosser, Jay. Second
Skins: The Body Narratives of Transsexuality. Columbia: Columbia Univer=
sity
Press, 1998. Print.
15. Revathi. A., V. Geetha. The Truth About Me: A Hijra Life Story. trans. V. Geetha. India=
: Penguin Books, 2010. Print.
16. Sedgwick, Eve Kosovsky. Epistemology of the Closet. USA: University of California Press.
2008. Print.
17. Sedgwick, Eve Kosovsky. Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. Col=
umbia
University Press, 1992. Print.
18. Sedgwick, Eve Kosovsky. Tendencies. Durham: Duke University Press, 1993. Print.
19. Sharma, Pande Bechan. About Me. trans. Ruth Vanita. India: Penguin Books, 2007. Print=
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20. Stryker, Susan, Stephen Whittle.(ed.) The Transgender Studies Reader. New
York:
Routledge, 2006. Print.
21. Vidya, Living Smile. I Am Vidya. Trans. V. Ramnarayan. India: Oxygen Books, 2008. =
Print.
[1]=
Following Sus=
an
Stryker and Cressida J. Heyes, tran=
s
will be used as a broad umbrella term to capture the multiple forms of sex =
and
gender crossings. And here transgender implies a person who lives a gender =
they
are not prenatally assigned as well as a person who undergoes (or hopes to
undergo) any surgery to lessen the difference between her sexed body and ge=
nder
identity.
[2] According
to many theorists such as Donald E. Hall it implies embracing the impossibi=
lity
of comprehensiveness, partiality and diversity.
[3] As
they prefer to be called in Tamil Nadu.
[4]= Leslie Feinbe= rg has introduced the pronouns hir (in= place of her/his) and ze (in place of he/she) to describe hirself. Following her and Cressida J. Heyes, I will use them throughout the paper.<= o:p>
[5] The heteronormative society until recently=
did
not understand or recognise that being transgender is a fact and not a choi=
ce.
Body
Narratives: The Case of Transgender =
Pallabi Baruah