“hijrah" is a term for the third gender in india and bangladesh, kind of the equivalent of "transgender" in the english language
however, i’ve been told that it is a slur in urdu, the language of pakistan, in pakistan, when it applies to pakistani people, and that pakistanis prefer the term “khawaja sira”. so
- ask a person what word they prefer. this applies to everything ever
- pakistani =/= the entire south asian continent
- if you think india and pakistan and bangladesh are all the same countries you’re very, very wrong
- we’re all part of the peoples that are desi/south asian but we all have different cultures and histories
- (also bc of the partition and also the civil war that made bangladesh a separate country from pakistan, to say all three are the same is Bad and gross)
i’m not sure what connotations the term “hijrah” carries in when applied to trans folk in the rest of south asia, like in afghanistan, nepal, bhutan, the maldives, sri lanka, and myanmar. so don’t quote me on anything related to that.
tl:dr; don’t take words away from people who identify as it, and don’t apply words to people when it is a slur to them. lastly, india, pakistan, and bangladesh are not the same goddamn place.
