Eunuchs of India - Deprived of Human Rights
Humanrightsdefense.org (http://www.humanrightsdefence.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=361:eunuchs-of-india-deprived-of-human-rights&catid=36:hrd-articles&Itemid=54)
9/19/2008
The term eunuch – hijra – that we commonly use to mean a 'sexless' person has been defined in the dictionary as a castrated man. A hermaphrodite is a creature possessing both the male and female organs. A ->-bleeped-<- is a person who chooses a sex other than the one he/she is born as. Facts tell us that neutralized neutral-sex persons are a rarity. The hijra population in India has a well-defined group structure and regional affiliations with a group head. Though Balucharaji is their Goddess and they revere Ambe Mata, there are religious demarcations. Most of them identify with the female sex. Within the eunuch community, incest is absent. Most of them have worked as prostitutes at one time or another. Serena Nanda's research shows that some persons labeled hijra in India are both prostitutes and celebrants of rites of passage.