Third Gender in Society: Indian Hijras and North American Two Spirit People

This essay discusses the identity and position of the third gender in the society, focusing on the conditions of Indian Hijras and North American Two Spirit People. It highlights the exploitation and ignorance faced by these individuals and the need for research and awareness.

Running head: THIRD GENDER IN SOCIETY
THIRD GENDER IN SOCIETY
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author's Note:

1THIRD GENDER IN SOCIETY
The aim of this essay is to discuss the identity and position of the third gender in the
society. This essay is completely based on the identity crisis of the third gender and will be
focusing on the conditions of these individuals with special features irrespective of countries.
The exploitation and ignorance for these individuals are seen to be same in the north America as
well as India. They undergo several crises for which the mainstream social thinking and
understanding or consideration of gender are responsible (Devine, Savage & Scott, 2005, p. 172).
Very few societies in this world have really taken care of these people considering them a gifted
part of the society and respect their two-way thinking capabilities and unusual talents. In both the
cases of the North American Two Spirit People and the Indian Hijras are considered to function
in the systems of multiple gender and seen to be different from the mainstream which has
increased their vulnerabilities in the recent times.
Thesis statement: the situation of the Indian Hijras and North American Two Spirit People has
no difference and all face the same ignorance and oppression from the society.
Third gender or the third sex is the concept based on which the individuals of the human
society are categorized. The word third is actually understood to consider other gender beyond
man or woman. According to the biological perspective, the human chromosome may have
uncommon variations in the sexual dimorphism which create a degree of ambiguity leading to be
known as intersex. From the very beginning of the building of human societies, these people
were present in the communities and considered to be special having uncommon qualities to
either create good or bad for the humanity. The Hijra is a term given to the intersex people,
transgender or eunuchs in the south Asian countries. They associate themselves as Kinnar, the
mythological beings with excellent talents of singing and dancing. The Two Spirit People are the
indigenous North Americans who fulfill the ceremonial role of the third gender in the

2THIRD GENDER IN SOCIETY
communities (Jacobs, Thomas & Lang, 2013, p. 103). There are some very ignorable differences
among hoards of similarities among these to communities separated by the huge distance of land.
Both the Indian Hijras and the North American Two Spirit People play a very important
role in the religious life of their respective societies. However, this is much more emphasized in
the case of Indian Hijras. In earlier times, the Hijras are legitimated by their devotion to the
mother Goddess, particularly the ‘Bahuchara Mata’- the goddess who is considered to be the
direct patron of the Indian Hijras as a symbol of sacrifice, mutilation and purity (Nanda, 2015, p.
373). There are several myths regarding the dual gender of lord Shiva and the female
personification of Krishna- the gods with whom the Indian Hijras identify with. Devoting to
Goddess, emasculation and asceticism, the Hijras gain a special prestige and power. It helps
them to curse or to bless such type of spiritual roles at the time of celebrations like weddings and
child births and the Indian society do respects that to a great extent. On the other hand, North
American Two Spirit People perform several rituals and spiritual roles. The North American
Two Spirit People are valued for their significant contributions to the tribes, notwithstanding of
their gender attributed that they exhibit (Chaudhary & Shukla, 2017, p. 39). They too, gain
prestige by means of performing important spiritual role. They are also very strongly connected
with the supernatural experiences such as their dreams and visions. It is believed that they give
medicines to every problems of real life as they are directly connected to goddess and the spirits.
Hence, most of the common public respect and fear them but it is to note that the prestige and
power of the Hijras in this regard seems to be of much greater.
As mentioned before, both the Indian Hijras and North American Two Spirit People are
the most burdened and exploited sections of the human society (Connell, R. (2017, p. 36). In the
Muslim rule in India the Hijras were appointed to be the watchdog of the harem where the

3THIRD GENDER IN SOCIETY
women of the palace used to stay. They were most loyal as the Indian mythology states hence
had positive role in protecting the holy buildings since the ancient time. Though they are
considered to bring good luck to the new born baby that now create scope for their living in the
contemporary Indian society, is a far cry from the social standing they experience actually. On
the other hand, the North American Two Spirit People are also the sufferers of rumor and
tyranny of the western religion which had been true from time immemorial (Haralambos, 2013,
p. 129). Due to lack of information of these people, the rumor and gossip continue to flourish
which associated them with supernatural. Therefore, they were at the risk of suspicion of the
witchcraft, significantly in cases of death or failed harvest. There have been several instances of
murder in such cases from time to time (Hale et al., 2013, p.22).
The situations of Indian Hijras and North American Two Spirit People are the same as
the information about them are constantly neglected. In this recent time also when the medical
science has developed so much, the two spirited are confused being gay. This is the reason why
they are being associate with the LGBTQ terminology (Costanza-Chock &Schweidler, 2017, p.
160). There are misconceptions regarding these people which do not allow the society to think
that two spirit people are blessed by the Creator for being able to see life though eyes of both
genders. They are not gay which is all about attraction to the person of same sex but it is more
about embodiment of the two genders residing in one person. These people are not the part of
new age movement but were present in the North American society for centuries and showcased
their importance in the medical science. Similarly, the Indian Hijras are not accepted in the
common families and forced to live in the Hijra community. The term Hijra has Semitic Arabic
origin where hjr means leaving one’s tribe. This reveals the tradition of separation of these

4THIRD GENDER IN SOCIETY
people from their normal lives and support themselves by doing some particular jobs which the
society ask or expect them to do.
In the Indian society, the education of third gender is still uncommon and leading a
normal life is impossible (Nanda, 2015). Despite the fact that the situation has change quite in
support of the government, the social ignorance has continued to flow. For the Two Spirit People
of North America there has been a number of social agencies are working so also for the Hijras
in India and other south Asian countries. To build the support system in favor of the two spirited
people and the Indian Hijras the research on them is needed. The work places and universities
however have started to implement the positive campaigns in support of these people to bring
them in the mainstream of the society, this growth is painfully slow. In India, new laws have
been passed to empower this gender by making government IDs, access to the equal schooling,
employments as well as the social programs. In North America, several programs are aiming to
reduce oppression and discrimination of these people in their families, communities and allover
society (Giddens, A., & Griffiths,2008, p. 357).The LGBTQ movement has given assurance to
the North American Two Spirited people to bring them in the main stream by reducing their
physical challenges and freeing the sexuality from questions of dignity and equality. However,
the effect has not yet been well defined and established to secure these people from facing social
discrimination through unrest.
As mentioned before, these people were once considered having special powers to bring
both bans and boons in the society, it was the strategy to secure the rights of these people and
secure them from facing the social discrimination in the name of religion but this apotheosis lost
its importance with time. Now the third gender are also not considered common but in a negative
way. They are forced to leave their families and beg or find work as prostitutes as the

5THIRD GENDER IN SOCIETY
government does not ensure their employability like others (Nanda, 2015, p.414). Therefore,
with the acknowledgment of citizenship and granting of civil rights for the Indian Hijras and
North American Two Spirit People do not effectively support the progressive movement, but
increasing discrimination among people.
Therefore, it can be concluded that Indian Hijras and North American Two Spirit People
though are separated by miles of distance feel common in their sufferings due to social
discrimination and ignorance. Despite the fact that there are several rights and policies present in
the administrative context of the countries but these are not applicable until the perceptions of
the people regarding third gender will not change. The more they will be separated from the
common people the less their advantages will be. This is the reason why ore research on this
topic and awareness is needed.

6THIRD GENDER IN SOCIETY
References:
Chaudhary, N., & Shukla, S. (2017). The third gender and their identity in Indian society.
In Resistance in Everyday Life(pp. 35-48). Springer, Singapore.
Connell, R. (2017). Masculinities. 5th ed. Cambridge: Polity.
Costanza-Chock, S., &Schweidler, C. (2017). Toward transformative media organizing: LGBTQ
and Two-Spirit media work in the United States. Media, Culture & Society, 39(2), 159-
184.
Devine, F., Savage, M., & Scott, J. (2005). Rethinking class (pp. 163-185). Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Giddens, A., & Griffiths, S. (2008). Sociology (5th ed., pp. 338-380). Cambridge, UK: Polity
Press.
Hale, J., McDougall, Elizabeth, Lim, Mee-GaikK, & Washington, Tracy. (2013).
Phenomenology of Two-Spirit Identity: Reservation to Urban Social Landscapes,
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.
Haralambos, M. (2013). Haralambos & Holborn sociology (5th ed., pp. 101-153). London:
Collins.
Jacobs, S. E., Thomas, W., & Lang, S. (Eds.). (2013). Two-spirit people: Native American
gender identity, sexuality, and spirituality. University of Illinois Press.
Nanda, S. (2015). Hijras. The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality, 501-581.