Locating Hijra and Transgender in Bangladeshi Health Discourse A Critical analysis

Abstract

Bangladesh has acknowledged hijra as a separate gender other than men and women since 2013. Nevertheless, they do not have  ccess to sexual reassignment surgery, body modification or hormonal therapy within a legal health framework, whereas being a hijra  or transgender person is a significant  health concern. Still, it has never been considered in health policy. The body of a transgender or  hijra person is always a subject of discrimination. This is not only about prejudice; it is a systematic process that colonial discourses  have hegemonised. To turn hijra from a social category to a medical category, mainly covering them within the disabled framework, is  an influence of medical discourse that must be addressed from an intersectional lens. This chapter also critically analyses Hijra's body  transformation process from a sociological perspective to articulate how hijra and transgender health in Bangladesh discusses  physiology and a part of the socio-cultural construction of the body image of a male-female gender binary. It also analyses the state  policy and its implementation by conducting ethnographic research among hijra in Dhaka, Bangladesh.