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I’ll admit, I’m one of those weird people who like gender bending. It’s something that fascinates me, because one would think that gender would be something that’s black and white, but even with gender there are some apparent gray areas. For some people it’s fascinating for others, it just freaks them out. Then you have people who are just indifferent to whole thing. I want to discuss people who are known as hijras.
The Hijras of South Asia are an interesting group. They are defined as a “third sex.” An article from the magazine titled Chay Magazine gives a well written explanation of the hijras.
In India, hijras are viewed as an institutionalized “third sex” that has always existed. They are particularly associated with the worship of Bahuchara Mata, a version of the Mother Goddess, for whose sake they undergo emasculation. In return, the Goddess gives them the power to bless people with fertility (Nanda ix).
With, the article also points out:
Although hijras are mainly associated with Hinduism, they are also accepted within Islam. During Mughal times, kwaja saras, or eunuchs, guarded the ladies of the harem (Jaffrey 31). In her fieldwork among the hijras of Hyderabad, Zia Jaffrey discovered that during the era when Hyderabad was a princely state, hijras were employed as servants in the homes of the nobility (Jaffrey 116).
I hadn’t known this, but at the same time I heard of a term called mukhannathun. Which essentially seems like a transgender person in the Islamic sense. But also the term refers to “men who resemble” women . or “effeminate ones.” This makes me wonder if there is an equivalent term for “women who resemble men” or a female version of hijras, and I would be very happy if someone could offer more information about that. In the Western sense of these issues the hijras or mukhannathun would probably fall under the LGBT umbrella. And not a different gender.
Also this discussion can tie to beliefs about homosexuality in different cultures, but that’s going to be a different discussion for another time. Simply because in a lot of cases, gender identity doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with sexual orientation. I will also post on this issue as well.
Here is a book that may be of interest. 
Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India by Serena Nanda.
And a link that may be of interest as well.
Eunuchs. Which is what a hijra is basically.
>This is interesting and I also saw the Nat Geo video. Hijras are avoided by those who have no prejudices against them also – because a lot of people are afraid of being embarrassed or harassed on the roads by them. Little boys are warned to stay away in case hijras kidnap them and make them hijras too (forcibly). I remember reading a news article about this long ago. As kids we always wondered what the difference was and what organs they did or did not have. And most of all how could their parents just give them away. But all this would not have happened if they were not discriminated against, and forced to sing and dance (basically beg) to make a living. Today I know of some well known people who have refused to accept such discrimination, and Bobby Darling is one of them – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Darling
>Thanks for sharing your input. Yeah, I'm not surprised that they would be discriminated against. Especially when you're not used seeing people like hijras. We live in a world of gender binaries.