Sex with Men for Money

Prostitution, as I already described, is very rampant in the Hijra culture because it is one of the only ways the Hijras are able to make a decent amount of money. The only problem with the Hijras being prostitutes is that becoming a Hijra typically means giving up all sexual encounters and desires. Along with giving this up, Hijras are supposed to perform a female role, engaging, when allowed, in female to male intercourse, not male to male. Many Hijra prostitutes perform male to male intercourse, which is illegal because of India’s laws against homosexual acts. These prostitutes are not looked down on, and they are typically not even acknowledged because it is known that there are Hijras who engage in homosexual intercourse, whether or not people discuss it.

I have come to understand that even though prostitution and homosexual intercourse goes against Hijra beliefs, the Hijras who participate in these activities do it because they cannot make a living any other way. Begging doesn’t get them that much money, and there aren’t enough blessing ceremonies to go to for all the Hijras to make a good living. As much as they don’t want to do this, they have to, just as they feel they have to become Hijras. There are, according to Nanda, many Indian men who have homosexual tendencies but are married to women. These men come to the Hijras for prostitution. Although these Hijras are ‘real,’ they blur the line because they are participating in activities contrary to their beliefs. To me, they are just doing what they have to in order to get by.

Works Cited:

Nanda, Serena
1999 The Hijras of India: Neither Man nor Woman. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Image From: http://www.columbia.edu/~blw2102/