“I Was Always The Woman I Am”: Transgender Instagram Star Fights Bigotry – NDTV.com

Doctor Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju says the fear-mongering has to stop.Mumbai: Transgender activist, surgeon in training and Instagram influencer: at just 24, doctor Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju has worn many hats. But one thing has remained constant.”I was always the woman I am,” she said.But few saw her as she wanted to be seen. Instead, from the age of four, Gummaraju was bullied and shamed every time she tried on her mother’s sarees or high heels or did anything deemed feminine.”My parents saw me as a deficient male,” said Gummaraju, who is interning at KMC Manipal in Karnataka, one of India’s top teaching hospitals.Older boys molested her, schoolteachers humiliated her and a psychiatrist advised her family to expose her to “more masculine influences”.No one considered the possibility that she was transgender. Especially not Gummaraju.”I didn’t even let myself question my gender identity because transgender people have such a negative image in this country — they are seen as scary, abusive, dangerous.”Despite the fact that the vast majority of Indians worship Hindu gods who routinely shape-shift from male to female, the transgender community is largely exiled to the margins of society, with many forced to take up begging or sex work.”Be myself online”By…
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