We Want Back Our Respect, Identity and Place in Society, Says Mx Dhananjay

MANSI GUPTA

I am not a woman, I am a super woman. Thats what Mx Dhananjay Chauhan, who is the first ever transgender to get admission in Panjab University, Chandigarh, said while delivering a lecture in the campus.

Mx is a term used before the name of people who dont want to specify their gender. She talked about her difficult journey after turning into a transgender. She is pursuing PhD from Panjab University and is university topper as well as a researcher. She has been working with different NGOs for transgender welfare.

She said she was just 4 to 5 years old when she found out she wasnt living in her own body. It was just her soul that was trapped in a wrong body. She was 7 years old when she confessed to her parents that she needs to get her gender changed. Her parents got a shock and tried to talk her out. People started calling her mad and believed that she was possessed by some evil spirit.

There came a phase in her life when Dhananjay was even sexually abused not only by her friends, but even by her own cousins after which she developed suicidal tendencies and even attempted suicide twice. There also came a point when she got confused whether she was attracted more towards girls or boys but finally showed her attraction towards boys.

She said when everyone started avoiding her after she got converted into a transgender that she felt alive. With the help of books, she herself indulged in reading and made books her best friend, because they never laughed back at her as everyone else.

She pointed out that the transgenders had got no identity till 2014. She said: When we were given equal importance and identity in the society during ancient time, why is it not happening now? Rather transgenders have been reduced to begging. We want back our respect, identity and place, she added. The talk ended well with Dhananjays classical song performance.