The road not taken into making people accept the transgender community from the inside
Significance of education and the human role in change-making
Global protests by the LGBTQ community and activists; fighting for their rightful existence has a long trace in history. The community has come a long way that still continues to hope for their rights and acceptance.
The transgender community has been part of Indian society for centuries. Although historical sculptures, narratives and visuals have depictions of same-sex relationships and the transgender communities, when it comes to acceptance by society; and cultural beliefs and practices, there is still a long way to go. Most of us have encountered them at least once in our lifetime, but our instincts towards them are not humane in the majority. Like many other countries, Indian society lacks to give same dignity to transgender people as others because of the set notions about them.
During one of my academic courses on social impact, I picked the topic of the Transgender community. My motivation to select the topic was to research the wicked social problem, probe into the existing interventions and how might I contribute differently. The project involved various kinds of research but the most important part of the whole process was the conversations I had with people from the transgender community. From learning the right vocabulary to understanding their broad challenges and aspirations, the insights gathered through interviews and research really critical and powerful.
- It is difficult for a transgender person to get any kind of decent job. “We have a lot of talent and entrepreneurship which is unrecognized. When some of our people apply for jobs, they get rejected without being given any reason”. It is true in many cases. In one of the interviews, I learned how they aren’t allowed as a municipal sweeper because of their gender.
- Because of some bad experiences with transgender people, the whole community is criticized. A common perception of hijra is that they are rude, shameless, arrogant. This is not universally true. Similar to how every heterosexual isn’t good with their behavior, there could be bad transgender people as well. It is wrong to judge and discriminate against the whole community because of that.
- People who understand them, treat them nicely.
- The government and other initiatives to transform the social and economic status of transgender people often don’t last long. NGOs and the government have tried various ways of employment. However, even with simple self-employable jobs like Tailoring and stitching classes, common people don’t go to them. Thus, it is the financial hardship that pulls them back into the cycle of beggary and prostitution.
While the awareness for LGBT have been going on for a long time, it seems to be missing to hit the right spot. When I looked through several existing solutions like campaign ideas, poster series, etc, I found missing elements in the narrative. It seemed to me that several of them had pleading undertone to their message about acceptance which is ineffective. The multimedia campaign fails to understand that there is not enough reason for people to connect with such stories or engage in any way. In a general Indian scenario, young children grow up listening to transphobic beliefs by their parents and society and end up developing a repulsive and degrading attitude towards the transgender community.
Education as a driving factor
There is no other social system that is so ubiquitous and directly influential in shaping the mind through which we see the world, others, and our self. This mind shapes our thoughts, emotions, and beliefs which drive our behavior and shape our reality. Events, patterns, and structures like violence, inequity, or climate change are outward manifestations of a collective mind [3].
There was a time when people believed that the Great Wall of China was visible from the moon. Probably many might still believe it or certainly other similar accepted myths that nobody ever cross-checked. In other cases of scientific myths, the urge to produce knowledge and feeding on mutual epistemology, even research papers tend to avoid fact-check before they refer to some previously generated information. An education system is a fundamental tool that influences our ideologies, perspectives, awareness and other belief systems. In a country like India where education is so highly regarded, our learnings at school have a long-lasting impact on our mental model which is difficult to mend once a person grows up.
It is a quintessential problem that our education system has done. In schools, students are never taught about genders beyond the binary. In order to initiate change, the education paradigm needs to change as well. It is only when the young generation studies and learns about the transgender community that they understand them and start to accept them slowly. One thing I believe is that no amount of rules and regulations can cause a self-motivated change of behavior.
“We will never solve our problems simply by instituting new laws and regulations. Ultimately, the source of our problems lies at the level of the individual. If people lack moral values or integrity, no system of laws and regulations will be adequate”.
My approach for the proposed solution
Through my research and critical analysis, I realized that the lack of information about the transgender community is a major cause for their un-acceptance. We treat them differently because we don’t know about them or have been misinformed.
For my course, I proposed a literature story (see here) for school children that is inspired by the life of several transgender people. Literature has the power to evoke emotions, develop moral and emotional intelligence. The topic of transgender requires an empathetic tone to sensitize students; so that as they grow up, they are at least aware of the transgender community in a positive and humane way.
In the proposed story for my course, I tried to capture the main events in the life of a transgender person. Through this story, I shed light upon the significance of family and social support, the importance of doctors, etc. The story aims to educate people about the transgender community and make the conversation normalized. I also focused on the importance of education and collective effort that can help anyone reach success and get accepted. In an Indian home setting, it is common for parents to check their children's homework or help them study. Towards the end of the story, I suggested question-answer and other activities (inspired by the NCERT Textbook) that could do with friends or family, ensuring that there is collective sensitization that extended several generations.
“The really helpful things will not be done from the center; they cannot be done by big organizations, but they can be done by the people themselves” — E. F. Schumacher
Over time, I have come across several other projects related to Colorism (Unfair), Racism (How to talk to white kids about racism), The Crossover (Disability representation in Media), and others. In all of them there is an emphasis on the role of people as the driving factor for social change.
Kelly Murdoch-Kitt, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan said how “human connection drives the creation of effective and socially responsible concepts”. I relate to it because it resonates with the kinds of insights I’ve garnered by working on transgender or other social projects. Changing beliefs and ways of living is a long, unpredictable process but through small interventions, it can happen and that is what matters. Social innovation through awareness is just a small part of the impact that education can do.
While in conversation with Neha Sood, Assistant Director of Campus Sustainability at RIT, she shed some light upon the importance of impactful storytelling. She believes that unless people understand and connect with the transgender community, no level of rules can ascertain a long-lasting impact. The same idea goes in law and order where ruling judges have to be sensitive enough to the problems of others in order to give the right decision that isn’t biased by their preconceived notions.
Social innovation through awareness is just a small part of the impact that education can do.
Some problems persist for generations. Rushing into making an impact only creates more problems either by miscommunication or mismanagement. I am not undermining the positive outcomes of different protests and campaigns, but it also takes careful and collective human effort to bring considerable social change. People take time to unlearn and adapt. Although education as a medium for impact making is relatively slower, the wait is worthwhile.
___________
Bibliography
[1] https://dippedinform.design/transgender-community-social-impact
[2] https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/gender-identity/transgender/whats-transphobia
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jijuG9tyoR0
[7] https://www.luther.edu/oneota-reading-journal/archive/2012/the-value-of-childrens-literature/
