Institutionalizing an Ambiguous Category: “Khwaja Sira” Activism, the State, and Sex/Gender Regulation in Pakistan

Khan, Faris A.

doi:10.1353/anq.2019.0064

Cited by 25 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…For the khwaja sira community in Swat, there are additional challenges related to its location in a rural setting, relatively near the Afghanistan border. Ethnic and communal tensions may exacerbate experiences of marginalization and further unequal resource distribution (Khan, 2019 ), particularly as Afghan refugees have migrated en masse to the Swat region. As of Oct. 3, 2023, the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR, 2023 ) reported that 3.25 million people are currently internally displaced by the Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent social policy changes have directly impacted how sexual and gender minority groups are addressed in the Pakistani context (Khan, 2019 ). In 2011, the Pakistani Supreme Court passed the National Data Base Registration Act, permitting khwaja sira and other gender-nonbinary people from legally registering as a third gender on their National Identity Cards, voting registration cards, and passports (Azhar et al, 2023 ).…”

Section: Social Policy and Practice Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“I would prefer to be dead than to live this way”: Lived experiences of stigma and discrimination against khwaja sira in Swat, Pakistan

Azhar,

Ahmad,

Guzman Herrera

et al. 2024

Camb. prisms Glob. ment. health

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Due to their identification as third gender people, khwaja sira have historically been subjected to experiences of social marginalization. However, the extant literature has not fully explored the lived experiences of stigma and discrimination against khwaja sira in the Swat Valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. To address this gap, we conducted 45 interviews with khwaja sira in Mingora, Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to better understand their experiences of gender-nonconformity stigma and discrimination in various social contexts, including within their families, in accessing health care, and within education and work contexts. Applying Minority Stress Theory and utilizing thematic content analysis, the present study identified three dimensions of gender-nonconformity stigma: (1) internalized stigma, namely feelings of shame and embarrassment; (2) perceived stigma, namely opinions others had of khwaja sira regarding lack of employability or engagement in sex work; and (3) enacted stigma, namely exclusion from families, in educational settings, in religious spaces, and in healthcare settings. Findings should inform future social intervention and community practice engagements with khwaja sira communities in Pakistan. Impact statementGiven recent social policy developments in Pakistan, the findings from this study can help inform future social intervention and community practice engagements with khwaja sira (third gender) communities. In 2011, the Pakistani Supreme Court passed the National Data Base Registration Act, permitting khwaja sira and other gender-nonbinary people from legally registering as a third gender on their National Identity Cards, voting registration cards, and passports. In 2018, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act of 2018 explicitly listed inheritance, education, and the right to vote as rights, prohibited discrimination against gender-nonbinary people, and ensured khwaja sira access to public spaces and private property. However, in 2023, the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan declared the Transgender Persons Act 2018 inconsistent with Islamic principles, striking down the self-identification of gender identity and the provision of inheritance rights as violating the tenets of the Qur'an. The Khunsa Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill was introduced with the aim of attaining "consistency with the injunctions of Islam" by denying those rights. Given the recent proposed retraction of legal rights for third gender people in Pakistan, our study findings have relevance for educators, healthcare providers, and communitybased practitioners who engage with khwaja sira communities. Third gender identities in South AsiaKhwaja sira is the term most commonly used to identify third gender people in Pakistan (Khan, 2016), a community who are estimated to number approximately 1.5 million people (Pamment, 2010). Like the term hijra (Nanda, 1990;Reddy, 2006), khwaja sira is an umbrella term used in South Asia to identify people who have been assigned male sex at birth, but currently identify as nei...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social Policy and Practice Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“I would prefer to be dead than to live this way”: Lived experiences of stigma and discrimination against khwaja sira in Swat, Pakistan

Azhar,

Ahmad,

Guzman Herrera

et al. 2024

Camb. prisms Glob. ment. health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The interview duration ranged between one to two hours. The community was characterised by a homogenous class background: lowincome working-class families, deeply entrenched in conservative socio-religious gender and sexual norms (Khan, 2019;Pamment, 2010). The participants varied in age though, ranging from 18 to 68 years old.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, Money, and Sexuality: An Exploration into the Relational Work of Pakistani Khwajasiras

Ashraf,

Pianezzi

2023

Work, Employment and Society

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This study explores how khwajasiras, a community of gender-variant persons in Pakistan, engage in relational work to gain recognition in a heteronormative world. We highlight how these workers negotiate the meanings of their intimate relationships with different forms, frequencies, amounts, and payment media of financial exchanges. We have identified four such relations i.e. romantic relations, spousal relations, taboo relations, and professional relations. Our analysis shows how these relations and associated financial exchanges allow khwajasiras to navigate gender norms and negotiate recognition by alternatively and creatively playing the role of the khwajasira lover, the khwajasira wife, the khwajasira survival prostitute, and the khwajasira professional sex worker. In enacting these roles, they simultaneously reaffirm, redefine, and challenge dominant gender norms while resisting stable and fixed definitions of transgender sex work(ers). These findings unpack the contingent and situated relationship between gender, sexuality, and sex work and the critical role of financial exchange(s) therein.

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“…Khwaja sira in Pakistan are also verbally and sexually harassed by the police (F. A. Khan, 2019) and assaulted in public parks, markets, buses, and trains (Hussain & Azhar, 2022). In the Swat valley, khwaja sira have also repeatedly been the target of brutal homicides (Ullah et al, 2019).…”

Section: Sexual Violence Against Khwaja Siramentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies documented how khwaja sira have experienced heightened discrimination and social marginalization (Alizai et al, 2017; Ullah et al, 2020). Khwaja sira in Pakistan are also verbally and sexually harassed by the police (F. A. Khan, 2019) and assaulted in public parks, markets, buses, and trains (Hussain & Azhar, 2022).…”

Section: Sexual Violence Against Khwaja Siramentioning

confidence: 99%

“One by one, they raped me”: Sexual violence against khwaja sira in Swat, Pakistan.

Azhar,

Ahmad,

Tariq

2024

Psychology of Violence

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Objective: The objective of the present study was to explore themes related to sexual violence against khwaja sira in Mingora, Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Method: We conducted 45 in-depth interviews with khwaja sira in Mingora, Swat on their lived experiences with sexual violence. Interviews were digitally audio recorded in Pashto, then translated into English for coding, interpretation, and thematic content analysis of the transcripts. Results: We identified the following themes regarding sexual violence against khwaja sira: (1) childhood experiences of sexual violence are highly prevalent, (2) adult experiences with rape increase in violence, and (3) social norms harm or ignore khwaja sira. For the first theme, we identified the following subthemes: (a) experiencing sexual abuse at school, (b) the bathroom as a site for sexual violence, and (c) youth experiences in sex work. For the second theme, we identified the following subthemes: (a) kidnapping, robbery, and physical violence and (b) negative perceptions of sex workers. And finally, for the third theme, we identified the following subthemes: (a) experiencing repeated gang rape, (b) cutting hair as punishment, and (c) police complicity with violence. Conclusions: Study findings highlighted an important unmet need regarding sexual violence against khwaja sira in Swat, Pakistan. Many participants experienced intersectional stigma as their experiences with sexual violence were also connected to negative community perceptions about their identities as sex workers and third gender people. Social interventions and policies should more fully address these issues to help ensure the safety of khwaja sira communities.

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Institutionalizing an Ambiguous Category: “Khwaja Sira” Activism, the State, and Sex/Gender Regulation in Pakistan

Cited by 25 publications

References 42 publications

“I would prefer to be dead than to live this way”: Lived experiences of stigma and discrimination against khwaja sira in Swat, Pakistan

“I would prefer to be dead than to live this way”: Lived experiences of stigma and discrimination against khwaja sira in Swat, Pakistan

Gender, Money, and Sexuality: An Exploration into the Relational Work of Pakistani Khwajasiras

“One by one, they raped me”: Sexual violence against khwaja sira in Swat, Pakistan.

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