starwarsgeek8 t1_ir4qe4t wrote on October 5, 2022 at 9:56 AM

It's often said that Pakistan is one of only a small handful of nations (South Africa being the only other one I can think of at the moment) where legal protections for transgender people are significantly more progressive than societal attitudes at large. More often, of course, we see things happen the other way around in North America and Europe. Do you think that legal protections can be leveraged to change social attitudes in Pakistan similarly to how social attitudes have changed legal protections in North America and Europe?

Also, what would you say has been and/or will be the primary path for progress on acceptance of transgender people in Pakistani society? Lollywood representation, political representation, increased medical care/insurance coverage, a critical mass of individual coming out/openness, etc.?

Luigi_Conte OP t1_ir50tk5 wrote on October 5, 2022 at 11:57 AM

I'm actually carrying out this project in the Indian side of Kashmir...so I feel I cannot t express any thought about transgender people's condition there. Regarding India I'm not sure in general that identity politics have been successful. The aim is progressive but to certain extent they have often produced some social envy when it's about quotas and subsidies. As many complex issues also here I find it hard to point out a simple solution. Also media visibility for sure doesn't harm, but I find even in the west it's quite different when we relate the LGBTQI+ discourse to some famous singer, actor or whatever and when it's about a family member. I always feel that progressive changes in the moral sphere are happening slowly, often on a microscopic scale far away from the highlights, and sometimes it's even hard to realize they are going on.