#asians are human

[parrdonatesinizvarmi]

5 Ekim: Bugün var edildim. Buradayım. Varım. Müthiş bir duygu bu. Var olduğumu henüz annem ve babam bilmiyor.

Bir elma çekirdeğinden bile küçüğüm. Ama ne de olsa, ben benim. Varım ya! Bu bana yetiyor. Henüz bedenim belli belirsiz, yüzüm yok ama, varlığımı ve benliğimi hissedebiliyorum. Bir kız olacağım ve baharda çiçekleri seveceğim.

19 Ekim:

Biraz büyüdüm. Kımıldamam mümkün değil. Annem henüz farkında değil ama onun kanıyla besleniyorum. Kalbini dolaşıp gelen sımsıcak kan bana geliyor. Beni sevecek bir kalbin kıpırtılarını şimdiden hissediyorum. Annem beni çok sevecek. Annem için güzel birsürpriz olacağım.

23 Ekim:

Hiç göremediğim bir el ağzımı biçimlendirmeye başladı. Dudaklarımda onun dokunuşunu hissediyorum. Bu "el"in dokunduğu yerler dudağım damağım oluyor. Düşünün bir yıl sonra bu elin dokunduğu yerde tebessümler açacak, güleceğim. Dudağımdan ve dilimden sözler dökülecek. Herhalde önce "Anne!" diyeceğim. Anne duyuyor musun beni? Seninle konuşacağım. Sana güleceğim. Kimilerine göre hâlâ daha var değilmişim… Nasıl olur? Varım ve gülücükler sunacak dudaklarım da olmak üzere ya… Hem sonra bir ekmek kırıntısı ne kadar küçük olursa olsun yine ekmektir. Öyle değil mi anneciğim? Ah bir konuşabilsem!

27 Ekim:

Bugün pek mutluyum. İçimde tatlı bir kıpırtı başladı. Artık bir kalbim var. Kalbim atmaya başladı. Hayatım boyunca böyle atıp duracak. Sevgilerle dolduracağım kalbimi. Tıpkı anneminki gibi... Annem bedeninde iki kalbin birden atmaya başladığını bilseydi ne kadar sevinirdi! Duyuyor musun anne?

2 Kasım:

Her gün biraz daha büyüyorum. Kollarım ve bacaklarım da biçimlenmeye başladı. Hele bir büyüsün kollarım bak nasıl kucaklayacağım seni anneciğim. Şu ayaklarım da tamamlansın da, beraber çiçekli bahçemizde yürürüz. Belki birlikte okula gideriz.

12 Kasım:

Ah evet… Bunlar, bunlar ne kadar sevimli ve küçük şeyler. Aman Allah'ım parmaklarım da çıkmaya başladı. Bunlarla çiçek toplayacağım, annemin elini tutacağım, kalem tutacağım. Belki de güzel bir şiir yazacağım. Anneciğim, orada mısın? Ellerimi ellerinin arasına koymak için sabırsızlanıyorum.

20 Kasım:

Oh, nihayet.. Annem doktora gitti. Burada olduğumu öğrendi.. Yaşasın! Doktor teyze özel bir cihazla gördü beni. Ultrason diyorlarmış. Resmimi bile çekti. Sevinmiyor musun anneciğim? Seneye kalmaz kollarının arasında olacağım…

25 Kasım:

Artık babam da burada olduğumu biliyor. Fakat henüz kız olduğumun farkında değiller. Onlara sürpriz yapacağım..

10 Aralık:

Bugün yüzüm tamamlandı. Artık iki güzel gözüm, bir küçük burnum, dudaklarım ve yanağım var… Anneme benziyorum galiba…

13 Aralık:

Artık çevreme bakabiliyorum. Etrafım çok karanlık ama olsun. Yine de mutluyum. Yaşıyorum ve varım. Kısa bir süre sonra gün ışığını görebileceğim, renkleri ve çiçekleri tanıyacağım. Rüyamda gördüm. Dünyada gökkuşağı diye bir şey varmış.. Onu çok merak ediyorum.. Anneciğim, babacığım sizin yüzünüzü de göreceğim. Tanışacağız…. Mutlu olacağız. Gülüşeceğiz..

24 Aralık:

Kulaklarım daha iyi duyuyor artık. Anneciğim, senin kalbinin seslerini duyuyorum. Benim kalbimin atışlarını da sen duyabiliyor musun? Hatta sesini bile tanıyabiliyorum. Sesin ne kadar tatlı… Hiç duymadığım bir şey bu… Güzel ve sağlıklı bir kız olacağım. Kollarında uyuyacağım, yüzüne bakacağım, o tatlı sesini dinleyeceğim. Benim için ninni de söyleyecek misin anneciğim? Sen de beni özlüyorsundur mutlaka… Beni koklayacaksın.. Çok seveceksin, değil mi?

28 Aralık:

Anne burada bir şeyler oluyor. Doktor abla neden mutsuz bakıyor böyle... Sen acı çekiyor gibisin. Kalp seslerin değişti... Sustun. Benimle niye konuşmuyorsun anne? Anne… Anne… Anneciğim… Yüzümde soğuk bir şey hissediyorum. Anne, yüzümü parçalıyorlar... Anne bir şeyler yap… Anne… Kolumu çekiyorlar anne… Canım yanıyor anne... Anne… Ayaklarımı parçalıyor bu şey anne... Beni sana bağlayan damarı kopardılar anne… Anne kalbimi parçalıyorlar… Anneciğim… Anne… Anne… An…

Ah! Kürtajınız ta-mamlandı hanımefendi. Geçmiş olsun

[dumbheartache]

[milkcos]

lemonade mouth/band au! more notes under the cut

lemonade as in like the disney movie! so there are a couple like clear comparisons but mostly it's the bad kids get stuck in detention together except they form a band instead of an adventuring party

fabian > no equivalent (olivia vibes)

the most popular kid at school who is both in dance and on the football team. somehow gets decent grades as well. no close friends, but a lot of people who know him and want to get on his good side. kind of depressed, and his dad's currently in prison. he started playing the guitar as a way to show off and then genuinely started enjoying it

adaine > mo

she's a concert violist (playing the viola) always an accompaniment for her sister and is striking it out on her own for the first time. her family is very upset about this, and consistently puts her down so she'll go along with they want her to do. also she recently transitioned to going to public school for the first time, making her the new girl.

kristen > no equivalent

she's recently ex mormon, got out of her parents house (currently living in her car) and without all of her former friends stuck in a student president position that she got when she was still with the religion. questioning her sexuality after one too many encounters with the soccer team captain, tracker. used to be on the church choir, was a bit too enthusiastic about it.

gorgug > no equivalent (charlie vibes)

he's got like one or two kinda friends (mainly fig). extremely busy with his classes and with marching band and self isolating as a result. he's stressed out about living up to his parent's name (they run a very successful electric engineering company). signed up to work as a sound tech for the theatre department bc one of the female stage managers is very cute (zelda) and then discovered that he rlly like it.

riz > no equivalent

no friends! (other than maybe the AV club + penny) too used to burying himself in work at both his part time gig and with his insane amount of extracurriculars. started playing the piano bc he heard it helps with memory retention and overall cognitive ability.

fig > stella/wen

she's the cool loner skater kid who is the floater friend mostly? she's got a maybe relationship with ayda, who she loves to annoy at the school library. very interested in making her own music not very interested in school. freaking out over her parents getting remarried. her mom enrolled her in music lessons when she was younger, and it's one of the only things she can talk about with her mom these days.

[always-a-joyful-note]

Enstars sure is an experience. Did I miss anything?

[moth-into-flames]

snoopy and charlie read asian lit

[rrcraft-and-lore]

In addition to my Monkey Man post from earlier, the always kind & sweet Aparna Verma (author of The Phoenix King, check it out) asked that I do a thread on Hijras, & more of the history around them, South Asia, mythology (because that's my thing), & the positive inclusion of them in Monkey Man which I brought up in my gushing review.

Hijra: They are the transgender, eunuch, or intersex people in India who are officially recognized as the third sex throughout most countries in the Indian subcontinent. The trans community and history in India goes back a long way as being documented and officially recognized - far back as 12th century under the Delhi Sultanate in government records, and further back in our stories in Hinduism. The word itself is a Hindi word that's been roughly translated into English as "eunuch" commonly but it's not exactly accurate.

Hijras have been considered the third sex back in our ancient stories, and by 2014 got official recognition to identify as the third gender (neither male or female) legally. Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and India have accepted: eunuch, trans, intersex people & granted them the proper identification options on passports and other government official documents.

But let's get into some of the history surrounding the Hijra community (which for the longest time has been nomadic, and a part of India's long, rich, and sometimes, sadly, troubled history of nomadic tribes/people who have suffered a lot over the ages. Hijras and intersex people are mentioned as far back as in the Kama Sutra, as well as in the early writings of Manu Smriti in the 1st century CE (Common Era), specifically said that a third sex can exist if possessing equal male and female seed.

This concept of balancing male/female energies, seed, and halves is seen in two places in South Asian mythos/culture and connected to the Hijra history.

First, we have Aravan/Iravan (romanized) - who is also the patron deity of the transgender community. He is most commonly seen as a minor/village deity and is depicted in the Indian epic Mahabharata. Aravan is portrayed as having a heroic in the story and his self-sacrifice to the goddess Kali earns him a boon.

He requests to be married before his death. But because he is doomed to die so shortly after marriage, no one wants to marry him.

No one except Krishna, who adopts his female form Mohini (one of the legendary temptresses in mythology I've written about before) and marries him. It is through this union of male, and male presenting as female in the female form of Mohini that the seed of the Hijras is said to begun, and why the transgender community often worships Aravan and, another name for the community is Aravani - of/from Aravan.

But that's not the only place where a gender non conforming divine representation can be seen. Ardhanarishvara is the half female form of lord Shiva, the destroyer god.

Shiva combines with his consort Parvarti and creates a form that represents the balancing/union between male/female energies and physically as a perfectly split down the middle half-male half-female being. This duality in nature has long been part of South Asian culture, spiritual and philosophical beliefs, and it must be noted the sexuality/gender has often been displayed as fluid in South Asian epics and the stories. It's nothing new.

Many celestial or cosmic level beings have expressed this, and defied modern western limiting beliefs on the ideas of these themes/possibilities/forms of existence.

Ardhanarishvara signifies "totality that lies beyond duality", "bi-unity of male and female in God" and "the bisexuality and therefore the non-duality" of the Supreme Being.

Back to the Hijra community.

They have a complex and long history. Throughout time, and as commented on in the movie, Monkey Man, the Hijra community has faced ostracization, but also been incorporated into mainstream society there. During the time of the Dehli Sultanate and then later the Mughal Empire, Hijras actually served in the military and as military commanders in some records, they were also servants for wealthy households, manual laborers, political guardians, and it was seen as wise to put women under the protection of Hijras -- they often specifically served as the bodyguards and overseers of harems. A princess might be appointed a Hijra warrior to guard her.

But by the time of British colonialism, anti-Hijra laws began to come in place folded into laws against the many nomadic tribes of India (also shown in part in Monkey Man with Kid (portrayed by Dev Patel) and his family, who are possibly

one of those nomadic tribes that participated in early theater - sadly by caste often treated horribly and relegated to only the performing arts to make money (this is a guess based on the village play they were performing as no other details were given about his family).

Hijras were criminalized in 1861 by the Indian Penal Code enforced by the British and were labeled specifically as "The Hijra Problem" -- leading to an anti-Hijra campaign across the subcontinent with following laws being enacted: punishing the practices of the Hijra community, and outlawing castration (something many Hijra did to themselves). Though, it should be noted many of the laws were rarely enforced by local Indian officials/officers. But, the British made a point to further the laws against them by later adding the Criminal Tribes Act in 1871, which targeted the Hijra community along with the other nomadic Indian tribes - it subjected them to registration, tracking/monitoring, stripping them of children, and their ability to sequester themselves in their nomadic lifestyle away from the British Colonial Rule.

Today, things have changed and Hijras are being seen once again in a more positive light (though not always and this is something Monkey Man balances by what's happened to the community in a few scenes, and the heroic return/scene with Dev and his warriors). All-hijra communities exist and sort of mirror the western concept of "found families" where they are safe haven/welcoming place trans folks and those identifying as intersex.

These communities also have their own secret language known as Hijra Farsi, which is loosely based on Hindi, but consists of a unique vocabulary of at least 1,000 words.

As noted above, in 2014, the trans community received more legal rights.

Specifically: In April 2014, Justice K. S. Radhakrishnan declared transgender to be the third gender in Indian law in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India.

Hijras, Eunuchs, apart from binary gender, be treated as "third gender" for the purpose of safeguarding their rights under Part III of our Constitution and the laws made by the Parliament and the State Legislature. Transgender persons' right to decide their self-identified gender is also upheld and the Centre and State Governments are directed to grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as third gender.

I've included some screenshots of (some, not all, and certainly not the only/definitive reads) books people can check out about SOME of the history. Not all again. This goes back ages and even our celestial beings/creatures have/do display gender non conforming ways.

There are also films that touch on Hijra history and life. But in regards to Monkey Man, which is what started this thread particularly and being asked to comment - it is a film that positively portrayed India's third sex and normalized it in its depiction. Kid the protagonist encounters a found family of Hijras at one point in the story (no spoilers for plot) and his interactions/acceptance, living with them is just normal. There's no explaining, justifying, anything to/for the audience. It simply is. And, it's a beautiful arc of the story of Kid finding himself in their care/company.

[equiteesorg]

Silence is betrayal.

[cinnamonsikwate]

"why couldn't shuro have just been honest about what he felt with laios and falin it's not that hard" are you. are you White

[keikakudom]

more of this guy

[little-pup-max]

Who's getting pinned under this pup 🤼

[parrdonatesinizvarmi]

Bak burdayım ölmedim hala

[picory]

this is who this motherfucker is to me

[blucoded]

frisk&chara redesigns + kfc :3

[chalkeater]

guys can you please stop drawing the UTDR Humans as YELLOW. (Kris and frisk)

it normalizes it for the fandom and people WILL copy you. IVE SEEN PEOPLE COPY PEOPLE. Especially seeing Frisk look like a walking asian stereotype is CRAZY . on my dash??

[florencziya-blog]

[asiansinboots]

Red Queen takes Black Pawn!