RELEASE: American College students receiving the first copy of documentary film on transgenders titled ‘Agrinaigal' in the presence of Principal T.Chinnaraj Joseph Jaikumar (middle).
Staff Reporter
Photo: G. Moorthy
MADURAI: Contemporary culture is marked by contestations on the questions of identity and gender as a categorical reference. Transgender (TG) identities in fact transcend physical sex and are seen as a social construct.
In the 1990s, the postmodern understandings of sex, gender and sexuality permitted the creation of a distinctly ‘Transgender identity' in which gender identity is marked by mind, rather than physical characteristics. Of late the issues that gender identity raises on “other spaces” like bathroom use, identification cards and dress code have been discussed.
A documentary film, ‘Agrinaigal' (Non Living Things or Creatures) screened at The American College here on Saturday exemplified the crude treatment meted out by the society at large. This film produced by Geetha Elangovan and Directed by Elangovan is one of the attempts to eliminate discrimination, and raise consciousness about the nature of gender identity.
The film talks about the travails of the transgendered identity of two TGs, Living Smile Vidya, a renowned writer and theatre artiste and Angel Glady, a Post Graduate student of journalism to lead a dignified life and it features the transitional phases of being a “male” to that of “female” and the inhibitions about cross-dressing, the effects of prejudice in the everyday life.
T.Chinnaraj Joseph Jaikumar, Principal, American College, in his address said that The College for long had always provided the much needed space to discuss and debate issues affecting Dalits, women and other marginalised sections including the transgender.
The College has been at the forefront to mainstream people who are on the margins of the society and it's not about patronising the cause but to see it as a matter of rights discourse. Talking about the film, he said that the film not only evoked sympathy but featured the real struggles of the transgender on the ‘question of agency.'
Sharing her experiences about the film and being a transgender, Vidya said that sympathies have been pouring on a large scale about the conditions of TGs but it and never transcends to the next level. Most of the filmmakers come out with certain preconceived notions and a will to do something for the TGs by making a film and end up providing a romanticised version of their sufferings and humiliation.
She thanked the American College for making her autobiography ‘Naan Vidya' as part of the syllabus for Final Year BA Tamil and also made a request to the State and other private agencies to provide employment to TGs. The compact discs of the film were released by a group of transgenders and the first copies were received by students of the college. The event was organised by Sathya Venkat, Sudar, a voluntary organisation, and Babu Charles, Lecturer, Department of Social Work, American College.
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'நான் Book authored by LIVING SMILE VIDYA |
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