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Stepping out of the shadows: The story of Noori

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Subido el 26 de junio de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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Most of us are defined as male or female at birth. But there are people in all corners of the globe who defy such categorization. Referred to as trans-genders, they are often on the edges of society, where they struggle against stigma, violence and increasingly, the devastation brought on by HIV/AIDS. Now the story of one transgender in India, whose life has been shaped by rejection and her courageous battle for acceptance.

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Most of us are defined as male or female at birth, 00:00:00
but there are people in all corners of the globe who defy such categorization. 00:00:04
They're referred to as transgenders, and they often live on the edges of society, 00:00:09
where they struggle against stigma, violence, and increasingly, 00:00:13
the devastation brought on by HIV and AIDS. 00:00:18
Now the story of one transgender in India, 00:00:22
whose life has been shaped by rejection and her courageous battle for acceptance. 00:00:25
She is known as Aunt Nuri, a loving woman to these AIDS orphans. 00:00:34
But Nuri's life has been marked by years of pain. 00:00:39
In my mind, I know that I'm a woman. 00:00:44
But as a transgendered person, I have suffered a lot in society. 00:00:46
Like other transgenders, Nuri considers herself female, 00:00:59
even though she was born with a male body. 00:01:03
In southern India, people like her are called Aravannis. 00:01:05
Nuri's search for her identity is a struggle to overcome unimaginable suffering 00:01:10
and a triumph of extraordinary courage and resilience. 00:01:16
Born in a village in southern India, 00:01:22
Nuri started to display a feminine behavior at the age of 10. 00:01:24
My neighbors made fun of me, telling my father, 00:01:30
Your son is like a girl. He used to beat me badly. 00:01:34
When Nuri was 13 years old, her parents, upset by her behavior, stripped her, 00:01:39
then poured sugar syrup on her and left her tied to a tree with an army of ants on her body. 00:01:44
A neighbor took pity on her, gave her clothes, and told her to leave the village. 00:01:51
That was the last time she saw her family. 00:01:58
Like many Aravannis, Nuri was forced to leave home, 00:02:02
eventually settling in Chennai, the capital of India's southern state of Tamil Nadu. 00:02:06
Life was not easy. 00:02:12
They called me names. They treated me worse than a dog, and that really hurt my heart. 00:02:17
Aravannis were revered in India. 00:02:27
They claimed to be descendants of Lord Krishna. 00:02:29
In an Indian myth, a warrior named Aravann wanted to get married on the eve of his fatal battle. 00:02:32
But as no woman would agree to marry him, 00:02:39
Lord Krishna transformed himself into a woman to fulfill his wish. 00:02:42
At one time, transgenders were accepted by society, 00:02:48
says Asha Bharati, a leading activist for Aravanni rights. 00:02:52
In the ancient days, there were transgenders. 00:02:56
I can give very good proof from the literature, from the history, 00:02:59
that we were treated equally in the society. 00:03:03
Because of our transgender and sexuality, we were not discriminated. 00:03:05
The discrimination started only after the British rule. 00:03:09
Under colonial rule, Indian leaders passed a law prohibiting homosexuality. 00:03:14
The law is still in effect in India today. 00:03:20
Aravannis are often subjected to harassment and discrimination. 00:03:23
Asha started the first Aravanni association in Tamil Nadu, 00:03:29
demanding the rights to gender change and equal treatment. 00:03:33
Why we be discriminated? 00:03:38
And we are punished for the fault of nature, but none. 00:03:41
We should be penalized. 00:03:46
We are not a special creature come to the earth from any other planet. 00:03:49
Do we have two hands? We are like you. 00:03:54
The number of transgenders in India is estimated at between 500,000 to over 1 million. 00:03:59
Some conceal their identities and lead a double life. 00:04:05
Others live openly. 00:04:11
Others live openly. 00:04:14
Some Aravannis choose castration as a definitive way to become a woman. 00:04:16
There is an intuition, always having an inner voice in the heart. 00:04:22
I want to be a female, I want to be a female. 00:04:26
And they go to any extent to establish their femininity. 00:04:29
Living as outcasts on the edge of society, Aravannis created their own world, 00:04:32
family networks of adopted mothers and daughters in tight-knit communities. 00:04:38
Asha is the adopted mother of Anitha, and Anitha adopted Ashwini as her daughter. 00:04:43
Their house is also a short stay home for Aravannis in need. 00:04:49
They share a strong commitment to each other. 00:04:54
This is my family. I have a daughter, a mother and sisters. 00:05:00
If anything happens to them, I will be anxious. 00:05:05
But if my real parents get sick, I won't. 00:05:08
Stigmatized by society, jobs are hard to come by. 00:05:14
Many make their living by dancing and begging from shops. 00:05:20
Each day, Ashwini and her friends walk about five kilometers going to at least a hundred shops. 00:05:27
If they are lucky, they make a hundred rupees, about two U.S. dollars. 00:05:33
To survive, many turn to commercial sex work. 00:05:41
Nori was one of them. 00:05:45
In 1987, she became infected with HIV. 00:05:47
When she publicly disclosed her health status to a newspaper, she was rejected once again, 00:05:51
this time by her fellow Aravannis. 00:05:57
They said, why did you go to the media? You're hurting our profession. 00:06:04
They tried to pour gasoline on me and burn me alive. 00:06:09
That was the turning point in Nori's life. 00:06:13
Ostracized by other Aravannis, she abandoned sex work to become a peer worker 00:06:16
to help those afflicted with HIV AIDS. 00:06:21
Again, she faced discrimination. 00:06:24
Several NGOs refused to hire me. 00:06:27
They said, you're an Aravani, you'll not work properly. 00:06:31
These transgender groups, they have come and told me 00:06:35
that they were beaten up by police earlier, several years back. 00:06:38
Supriya Sahu is project director of the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society. 00:06:44
Because whenever they used to go and talk to the community about condom usage, 00:06:51
or about safe sex practices, you know, people never used to understand 00:06:55
what are these people doing in the community. 00:07:00
India, with a booming economy, is undergoing rapid modernization. 00:07:04
But tradition still holds sway. 00:07:08
Social attitudes towards sex and morality remain largely conservative. 00:07:11
With a population of a billion people, 00:07:17
the country now has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world, 00:07:20
an estimated 5.7 million cases. 00:07:25
To halt the spread of the AIDS epidemic, 00:07:29
the government is making efforts to reach out to the communities most affected by HIV. 00:07:32
Nori is a key ally in this fight. 00:07:39
By standing up for the rights of people living with HIV 00:07:42
at conferences both at home and abroad, 00:07:45
Nori has called attention to the situation of Aravannis, 00:07:48
fighting for their recognition and for their equal rights. 00:07:51
We need to bring them out together, build their capacity, 00:07:56
make them get trained in some kind of a vocational trade, 00:08:00
so that they are economically independent, 00:08:04
they are standing on their own feet, 00:08:06
they don't have to go for begging or to get involved in sex work. 00:08:08
In 2001, with support from UNAIDS, 00:08:12
Nori founded her own organization to provide care, 00:08:15
not only to Aravannis, but to anyone struggling with HIV. 00:08:19
I live as part of the general community. 00:08:26
No one discriminates against me. 00:08:29
My friends and neighbors do not look at me differently as an Aravanni. 00:08:32
And when they call me mommy or auntie, 00:08:36
that makes me happy. 00:08:39
Nori has been on antiretroviral therapy for the last three years. 00:08:46
Her organization, the South India Positive Network, 00:08:50
now provides care to over 1,700 people living with HIV. 00:08:53
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Idioma/s:
en
Niveles educativos:
▼ Mostrar / ocultar niveles
      • Nivel Intermedio
Autor/es:
United Nations (Naciones Unidas)
Subido por:
EducaMadrid
Licencia:
Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
Visualizaciones:
1269
Fecha:
26 de junio de 2007 - 17:01
Visibilidad:
Público
Enlace Relacionado:
21st Century Television Series
Duración:
09′ 03″
Relación de aspecto:
4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
Resolución:
320x240 píxeles
Tamaño:
55.66 MBytes

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