Nandini Krishnan is, by her own admission, no stranger to controversy. Her recently published book, Invisible Men: Inside India’s Transmasculine Network s, has been criticised for its portrayal of the country’s transgender community, particularly in Manipur, where protesters alleged that the author has misrepresented their religious beliefs.
In response to a question from moderator and Australian feminist author Susan Hawthorne, Krishnan candidly admitted that the past week had been full of criticism. “I am discovering new controversies about the book,” she said.
“The main issue is that a cis woman wrote this story.” She was speaking at the session, ‘Sexual personae: Overcoming prejudice and misconceptions about sexuality,’ held on the final day of The Hindu Lit for Life.
Who owns the narrative of sexuality and gender? In debating this question, Krishnan was joined by academic and author Madhavi Menon, whose most recent book, Infinite Variety: A History of Desire in India , delves into the history of queer narratives in India.
“I am a bit allergic to drawing boundaries,” said Menon. “And desire becomes the thing that militates against boundaries. Every single day, we are drenched in desire, and we should not avert it.” The resistance to desire, the speakers agreed, is what prohibits the expression of sexual and gender-based freedom in India. Prompted by Hawthorne to speak about the decriminalisation of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (which prohibited ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’), the authors remarked that despite celebrating the success of the 2018 Supreme Court ruling, there is still a lot to be done to give sexual minorities more freedom of expression. Court-ruled medical checks to identify the gender of a person or to determine whether they are transgender, are, Menon said, ways of being in a world that is dictated by the bureaucracy.
In speaking about gender and sexuality, Menon suggested that queer institutions and initiatives from other countries (largely of the West), might not be as relevant to Indian culture (even if they are progressive and admirable efforts on their own merit).
She cited pride parades as an example. Shame — which is what pride marches defiantly counter — is not the overarching experience of just the queer community in India, she said. “In India, it is a sentiment associated with heteronormative culture,” where sexuality between a man and woman is often stigmatised.
sindhuri.n@thehindu.co.in
