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Meet The Transwoman Who Became India’s First International Trans Queen!

Written By: Sonali
September 24, 2020
  • Full Read
Spread the love

Where do you think movies are inspired from? No, not the one that leaves you with constipation but the one that challenges the society and its rules.

Naaz’s story is no less than a movie — but this heroine got through all the hardships and struggles in her life — and she always came out fiercer and stronger!

Her story started way back when she was in kindergarten — living her first stage performance at the age of 4, performing as a doll. She always loved dolls! She loved makeup, acting, and most of her stage performances in school were of a female protagonist. “I never had to accept myself! I always knew that I was a woman. The difference is that this world saw the woman in me much later than I spotted her,” speaks Naaz Joshi, the protagonist of my story who went on to make world records.

When her parents realized about her sexual identity and her love for dolls, they were shaken — no, not because she loved dolls, but because their ‘son’ loved dolls!

We have been conditioned to this pseudo fact since the puratan kaal — that, a girl always likes dolls & pink colour and that, a boy cannot like anything else other than superheroes, cars and motorbikes, and of course, blue colour!!

Naaz’s femininity became a shame to her siblings in school, so she was sent to boarding and, till date, is not allowed to meet any of her relatives. Her parents were ashamed of her, and they still are, and her mother never let her have that mother-daughter bond which her sister is blessed with.

Meet The Transwoman Who Became India’s First International Trans Queen!
The only transwoman to win the title of Miss World Diversity thrice in a row

She has always been deprived of her parents’ love since a tender age. She studied by herself, worked by herself and learnt the basic equations of duniyadaari on her own. But this was not enough for the young child; she was yet to see a lot more.

While she was away from her parents, she was molested by her paternal uncle. She was raped by her cousins and also harassed by her school teachers. 

She started working in a dance bar at the age of 11, and completed her schooling. At 18, she took the entrance exam and got admitted in NIFT. Her cousin sister Viveka Babajee sponsored her education. She got the opportunity to work with giants like Ritu Kumar and Ritu Beri, but her coworkers rejected her. She decided to go for sex reassignment surgery, but the amount was unaffordable. She worked as a sex worker, and in 2013, she became the woman she always wanted to be!

She soon got into modelling after that, and in 2015, she became India’s first trans cover model. She won many pageants and also started her own pageant house ‘Mrs India Home Makers’. The same year, she also represented India at the United Nations and got Miss United Nations Ambassador title.

Later she also participated in Miss Republic international Beauty Contest Singapore and won Miss United Nations Ambassador again in 2017. She won the title of Miss World Diversity in 2017, again in 2018 in Dubai and then in 2019 in Mauritius. The same year, she also made a record of winning this prestigious title thrice in a row.

Miss World Diversity was conducted online this year, and Naaz won it again, against all the odds. The beautiful irony is that all the contests and titles won by Naaz were against cis-women. She became India’s First International Trans Beauty Queen and World’s First Trans Model to win a female pageant.

Life was treating her exactly like the queen that she always wanted to be. However, the men in her life failed in that. Generally, love gives people a chance, but Naaz gave love chances twice but only to get rejected by men because she was a transwoman and not a ciswoman!

Meet The Transwoman Who Became India’s First International Trans Queen!
The first transwoman to became India’s trans cover model

I wonder if a transwoman is not a real woman? Who are we to judge and decide that?

But as they say, nothing can stop a woman! Naaz adopted a baby girl in 2018 who turned two this year. She also adopted another girl child this year. The motherhood blessed Naaz with probably the best of what it could. “I am happy with my kids. I am staying with my father these days as he is diagnosed with liver cancer, stage four. It’s painful and really hurting to see him like this. My mother still hates me and abuses me verbally and physically often,” Naaz further says in an exclusive interview with Infano.

Even after taking our country to the international level, our janta still doesn’t leave a chance to insult her and spare her. She often faces discrimination in hospitals, hotels, public places, while looking for rented apartments. But she calls herself too strong to be shaken or broken by such ‘petty’ incidents. She tries to take lessons from every wrong decision that she made and strives to improve daily.

Naaz further wants to venture in acting. She has done small workshops with artists like Divya Dutta, Kalki Koechlin, Gaurav Alagh, Faraz Mariam Ansari, etc. She will soon be seen in director Shiraz Henry’s Beyond 2 as well. She also wishes to build an orphanage for girl children and teach them self defence.

She believes that every individual is different, and each of them looks at life differently. She encourages people to accept who they are — irrespective of their gender. To come out of the closet, to take life as a blessing and not a curse, to always look out for opportunities is what Naaz believes in. “Never give up! I never imagined myself as a beauty queen or a speaker in my 30s but see, anything and everything is possible. All you need to do is to spread your rainbow wings and fly high,” Naaz says while encouraging the LGBTI community.

transwoman
Naaz is World’s First transwoman to win a female pageant

Naaz is an ambassador of meditation. She found a mother in her deity, her God. “I have found a loving mother in my divine. She is my parent and takes good care of me in every walk of life. I am so thankful to my divine mother for protecting me and giving me all the love I wanted from my parents,” she says.

“Women, you are the creator; you are the nurturer; you are the first guru of your child. Empower yourself, know your rights, say NO to domestic violence, female foeticide, dowry and ugly relationships. You all are self-sufficient, you don’t need anyone to help you. Study well, give your kids the education they deserve and be independent, and you will see that the world is yours,” she signs off.

She believes that her community has fought and come a long way, but there is a lot more to achieve. She wishes the same-sex marriages to get legal in India soon. She also urges the government to consider reservations for a transwoman in the public and private sectors.

I see Naaz not as a transwoman but as a fighter, as a struggler and as a diva who rose to become a goddess and an inspiration. Her story is all fascinating and lovely when I write it but I bet, no one except Naaz would know the pain, the uneasiness and the feeling better. Cheers to her and her clan for being a ray of hope and a saga of bravery!

inspirationlgbtLGBTIreal storyTransgendertranswomantrasnwomenwomanwomen in indiawomen power

Sonali

A 'non-9-5 desk job' ambivert geek who chooses her own audience, Sonali loves sharing stories and finding the corners where humanity still exists! She believes that every individual's story is unique and special. She loves writing about the untouched and unspoken segments of society. When not writing, you can find her listening to someone's stories or playing with dogs. Sonali values mental health and encourages people to speak their heart out!

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Infano Care

Pride Month: Healthcare Is One Of The Biggest Barriers Towards A Gender-Inclusive Society!

Written By: Sonali
June 16, 2021 | 11:52 AM |
479

Highlights

  • How healthcare is becoming one of the biggest barriers towards a gender-inclusive society?
  • Sex Reassignment Surgery aka SRS is one of the most important yet most ignored topics.
  • Lack of proper knowledge and details about SRS among trans people.
  • A dire need to educate everyone — and support the community!
  • Quick Read
  • Full Read

Pride month is here!!

And while everyone is talking about how much inclusivity matters, something important is, unfortunately, going beyond the radar —‌ sex reassignment surgery —‌ SRS is one of the most important yet most ignored matters nowadays!

Lack of access to proper healthcare and privacy has become one of the major barriers for a lot of trans people. This era demands healthcare to be more inclusive, more accessible and more affordable for those who belong to the trans community.

Read what the author and some of the country’s best experts have got to say on this! #PrideMonth

Spread the love

Pride month is here!!

And while everyone is talking about how much inclusivity matters, something important is, unfortunately, going beyond the radar —‌ sex reassignment surgery!

Sex Reassignment Surgery aka SRS is one of the most important yet most ignored matters nowadays.

Lack of access to proper healthcare and privacy has become one of the major barriers for a lot of trans people. This era demands healthcare to be more inclusive, more accessible and more affordable for those who belong to the trans community.

Community to individual

“Nothing is harsher than pretending to be the person you are not,” says Neeti Wadhwa who was born as Nitish. “I had to change multiple schools because I was constantly bullied. I also suffered from dyslexia and was not able to perform well academically. I had sensed very early that I was not a man and my male organs did not make me one. I have always thought like a woman. I was living a claustrophobic life. I had to put in so much effort to pretend I am like one of them (men). Be it in school, or at family gatherings, my mother would never allow me to wear women’s clothes!”

Neeti always felt like her female identity was trapped inside a male body. And the feeling was constantly there until she got her sex reassignment surgery done. And since she belonged to an upper-class family, the cost of surgery was affordable for her, which she believed was not exactly for everyone else.

“Last year I attended my friend’s wedding and wore a lehenga-choli. I cannot explain how happy and proud I felt with my decision of having the surgery. It is the transformation of a soul and not just the body. It is about finally being who I am,” she said.

Well, Neeti Wadhwa is just one of those lucky humans who got exactly what she wanted. However, the scenario is not the same for everyone.

Compromise instead of acceptance

The cost of surgery, depending upon the transition, could easily go up to 4-8 lakhs. On the failed facility and the fact that many people cannot afford this amount, Amrita Sarkar, a trans woman and trans rights activist, shared, “It’s not easy for the community people. Sometimes they have to go for alternative options, like the castration process, which is not approved; this leads to a lot of other health problems. It’s a combination of problems — no acceptance of trans bodies because there is no knowledge of trans bodies, no education. Therefore, there is no infrastructure that supports transgender people. Acceptance can only come at a later stage when the health care service is there. But it’s not.”

“When trans people were walking around in the hospital, they would sit down in the [outpatient clinic] and other people used to ask us ‘how can we sit beside such people?’ or ‘how can you treat people like them, here?’ Now, doctors and nurses make sure those who object to transgender people’s presence know the clinic is trans-friendly, and if they have a problem, they will have to adjust,” Dr Sameera Jahagirdar, a trans, non-binary advocate and doctor shared.

The failed society

What Dr Jahagirdar said is somewhat right. We as a society failed — we failed our people and their expectations!

The problem starts from the point where we stop accepting people and their free will. And this leads to the failed system and failed facilities that are ‘ruled by the people who never accepted’ in the first place.

“All people, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, have rights that need to be respected and responsibilities that need to be exercised.”

Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Values Statement

“Because of the social stigma attached to the transgender community, there is a fear of not feeling comfortable in crowded places. Hence, it is not surprising that many of them prefer to go to clinics which provide privacy and prioritise their needs. This kind of environment is lacking in government hospitals,” Dr Aqsa Shaikh, a Community Medicine Specialist teaching at Jamia Hamdard and a transwoman shared.

And while some private hospitals and clinics, although at a very high price, manage to offer proper healthcare services (not just SRS) to trans people, public institutions and clinics fail.

And, at instances, when those private hospitals and clinics are not able to cater to patients’ needs, people start considering places like Thailand as an option!

Sex Reassignment Surgery: Below the priority level

“In any government hospital, the priority is first given to cases such as cancer, which are malignant. This is not to say that SRS is not an important procedure but usually the approach at government-run hospitals is to slate these surgeries for later as they cannot be termed emergency cases which are related to life and death. Hence, they often are treated as low priority,” Dr PS Bhandari, consultant plastic surgeon at LNJP hospital added. “This is no easy surgery. After undergoing SRS, the organs are replaced but proper sexual health may not be possible. Since the genitals are created unnaturally, there is no chance of conceiving. Hence, many individuals opt-out of!”

Many people from the trans community lack proper knowledge and details about SRS that leads to either unhappy transitions or cancellations at the last moment. And while there is a need to educate these folks, there is a dire need to educate everyone else as well — that how normal sex reassignment surgeries are.

Respect their decisions

“A trans person does not need to have had, or be planning, any medical gender reassignment treatment to be protected under the Equality Act: it is enough if they are undergoing a personal process of changing gender. In addition, good practice requires that clinical responses be patient-centred, respectful and flexible towards all transgender people whether they live continuously or temporarily in a gender role that does not conform to their natal sex,” NHS guidance states. “Non-binary individuals, who do not identify as being male or female, should also be asked discreetly about their preferences, and allocated to the male or female ward according to their choice.”

“You cannot know someone’s pronouns or gender identity just by looking at them. Rather than making assumptions that can be very traumatic for folks, start every conversation in an open and inclusive way,” Emmeline Gregoroff, human rights and inclusion associate at HHS adds.

Healthcare to the trans community is what the COVID-19 vaccine has become to the common janta — it claims to be readily available and accessible to everyone — but only a bunch of folks are able to experience it.

Support them

“The state is constantly policing my bread and butter, housing, clothing, education, employment, marriage, privacy and sexual performances. Who is the government to decide my identity for me?”

Akkai Padmashali, Trans rights activist

“Most of the patients come in before the surgery but they are supposed to be in regular touch with the psychiatrist. A few studies have suggested that not all who undergo the surgery are happy about it but most of them think these surgeries work a miracle,” said Dr Om Prakash, Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences. “Family acceptance is still low in India. Families do not readily accept that their child will undergo sex change and often come into the picture much later after the surgery is completed. But once it is done, all patients get a boost to their mental health,” he added.

All we are expected to do is to support our people — support them when they socialise. We need to accept them when they start accepting themselves. Probably, that’s the only way to lead to a truly inclusive and safe society.

“And while each of us may not know trans people who are directly impacted by all of these public health concerns, transgender communities are very broad and varied, and collectively we are impacted greatly by each of these.”

National Center for Transgender Equality

This #PrideMonth, what are the changes you are trying to bring in society? Share with us and our readers. Let’s work together for a happy and inclusive society!

inclusive clothinglgbtpride monthtransTransgendertranswomantrasnwomen

Sonali

A 'non-9-5 desk job' ambivert geek who chooses her own audience, Sonali loves sharing stories and finding the corners where humanity still exists! She believes that every individual's story is unique and special. She loves writing about the untouched and unspoken segments of society. When not writing, you can find her listening to someone's stories or playing with dogs. Sonali values mental health and encourages people to speak their heart out!

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