The discussion on Sexuality Intersects: Searching for Tongues, at the opening day of the sixth edition of the annual Indian languages Festival, sought a language that is inclusive. By Saritha Saraswathy Balan
language is non-verbal for Abhina Aher, a transgender who works for sexual minorities. She clapped her hands loudly while starting her speech. Her voice was loud, the words were very clear and self-assured that had the power to shake out the stigma attached to the society.
She declared that she is ahijada and clapping is a language of the transgender. “I thought I was a girl, then my mother told me that I was not. The family, the society and even the teachers were trying to impose their view point on me and kept on telling me that I was wrong. After a while I thought I should break it and I did,” Aher said.
The discussion on Sexuality Intersects: Searching for Tongues at the opening day of the sixth edition of the annual Indian languages Festival, sought a language that is inclusive. Aher said that there was a time when the other people didn’t understand the language she spoke. “The language they spoke was gender specific and they asked me to follow it where as mine was different. language is non-verbal as well which is the most destructive. There is violence in both verbal and non-verbal language. At the present time what we need is an inclusive language, of respect and humanity,” Aher asserted.
Aher has been engaged in the transgender and HIV advocacy for the last two decades in India and globally. She has been the chairperson of the Asia Pacific Transgender Network.
An academic, researcher and activist, Gautam Bhan spoke on the connection that can be made between language and sexuality. “ There are no connotative words for different sexualities in Hindi. There is need for an alignment of thinking in both the languages, Hindi and English. It has also to be noted that when you are speaking in English you are thinking in it as well,” he said. Bhan disagreed with the idea that the behaviour of a person reveals his identity. “Behaviour is not identity. You are not what you do. language has a geography and it has a specialty too”, he said. He works on the politics of poverty, inequality and development in Indian cities. Bhan teaches at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bangalore.
Pramada Menon, a queer feminist with diverse interests and multiple identities, spoke about language as a tool of occupation. “We are just focused on lGBT when talk about sexuality as if we have addressed the problems of others. Identity of a person is not expressed when he or she is introduced as a lesbian or a gay and language is limited in revealing identity. There are hundreds of other identities for a person. It’s is the same as using the word ‘man’ as a larger term of humanity. When we use the term homosexual in English we should understand that there are people who have no idea about it”, she said. She wondered why the academic papers on these issues are not published in various languages of the country. We, now, have to rethink about sexuality and have to find out a way for explaining it better. Our reference points have been always outside”, she observed.
Menon has been working in the women’s rights and social justice field for more than two decades. She is co-founder of CREA, a feminist human rights organisation based in New Delhi.
Dhrubo Jyoti, who writes from the intersection of caste, gender and sexuality, noted that there is a ‘not caring’ attitude towards the Dalit and same is the attitude towards sexuality. “Not that we all have not heard of it, but we neglected it”, he added.
He also said that non-verbal language is also powerful and violent. “People who don’t have the power of violence become invisible and it’s applicable for caste as well as for sexuality. The privilege for experimentation in language also brings the crimes and violence in it. It’s only with privilege that comes the power to disregard. People who don’t have that kind of power are erased from everywhere”, he said.
A three day cultural confluence, the festival includes sessions, workshops and components from languages such as art and music. It concludes today.