Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Trans in India

Most unintentionally funny story this week in trans-news:
In a couple of months, Jinda, a transgender, hopes to put down her begging bowl for good and pick up a mobile phone not to make a call but to repair and assemble them.

The Tamil Nadu Social Welfare Board, along with Madras Christian Council of Social Service (MCCSS) and Manpower Awareness Social Service (MASS) Trust, has collaborated with mobile phone companies Nokia, Motorola and Foxconn to find alternative employment for transgenders. About 100 of them will be trained for a month and will then assemble parts for the phone companies. They will be paid based on their work.
It's nice that we're paying "transgenders" for work, isn't it? HA!

In related news, it's important to note the state of trans-persons in India, where they are identified, essentially, as freaks and are paid to dance at parties and bless people with their magical powers. Seriously. It seems they are about as pariah as they come, but are identified as a third sex. Though hijras hold a special place in Indian mythology, they have not been as well treated by modern culture.

I don't know how much this holds up, considering the latest in India (well, sort of latest). I haven't heard hide nor hair of the gay Prince of India. 

So, actually, this news story is positive -- foreign companies are basically ignorign the modern hatred of trans-individuals and are saying, "hey, we need phones built." I think that's fabulous. Kind of a gender affirmative action.

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