Comments on: Tax Collection in Pakistan

By: Heina

Heina — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 04:15:16 +0000

I used the term “transphobia” to begin with, not transgender or transsexual. I don’t know what other term to use to describe the hatred of those who defy gender norms.

By: Jo Schmidt

Jo Schmidt — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 04:12:59 +0000

No, I don’t think it would be same – ‘transgender’ is a much broader term that, while contentious in definition, generally could include hijra. Though, admittedly many ‘transgender’ people in both the west and nonwestern cultures do reject the term ‘transgender’. That’s why it’s usually better, especially in nonwestern contexts, to just refer to the identity and the relevant population using the indigenous term – e.g. just call hijra ‘hijra’, or fa’afafine ‘fa’afafine’. Attempting to translate nonwestern terms assumes that the western ‘definition’ is somehow more ‘real’ or more scientificky (especially when using pseudo-medical terms like ‘transsexual’ or ‘transvestite’ than the indigenous term.

By: Heina

Heina — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 04:11:17 +0000

No, it’s not. Transgendered individuals can dress in the clothing reserved via social norms for the gender that is not expressed by their biological sex. That term, then, applies to hijras.

By: Basiorana

Basiorana — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 04:07:08 +0000

Sorry, the second part was also in reference to the above article and thread in general, and you can replace “transsexual” with “transgender” and my point is the same.

By: Bagelsan

Bagelsan — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 19:57:13 +0000

Yup. Everyone know that illegality and inhumanity have only existed in the world for a bit over 200 years. :D

By: Heina

Heina — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 03:22:49 +0000

I didn’t say they were transsexual. Where did you get that?

Transphobia is a term that applies to hatred/fear of people who are anything trans — transsexual, transgendered, or anything in between.

By: Jo Schmidt

Jo Schmidt — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 20:18:13 +0000

Sorry, but you can’t really say for sure what hijra would be if they were raised in US culture. As with all gendered identities (including men and women), the identities and their expressions are culturally specific.
It’s also impossible to make a statement like ‘they will elect to be eunuchs than have a vaginoplasty too’ – my understanding is that for the most poor people living in India – which is the SES of most hijra – vaginoplasty simply wouldn’t be an option. Having said that, I’m not suggesting that hijra necessarily WOULD have vaginoplasties if they could – just that context should be taken into account.
I would suggest using quite specifically western terms like ‘genderqueer’ is ill advised, unless the population/people you are talking about have adopted those terms/identities themselves. Which, in the case of hijra, seems unlikely, though I’m happy to be proven wrong.

By: Basiorana

Basiorana — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 17:54:02 +0000

Yeah, the hijra do this all the time.

However, technically they are not actually transsexual. Some are, but they also include large numbers of intersexuals (traditionally hijra took in intersexual children) and persons who are best defined as genderqueer. Hijra generally consider themselves– and lobby to be considered as– a third gender, somewhere between a man and a woman. However, raised in US culture, they would range from androgynous men, to genderqueer men, to MTF transgender persons, to intersexuals. It’s more common they will elect to be eunuchs than to have a vaginoplasty, too.

By: Heina

Heina — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 17:20:46 +0000

“Hijras,” as they are called in Pakistan, traditionally use that same transphobia to earn their living. They sing and dance at weddings and births and people pay them off to leave. This isn’t a stretch from that.

By: AO

AO — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 09:22:48 +0000

Wonder how much CIA drug money is being given to the Pakistan elite? You do not have to pay taxes with shady income, I suppose. But when it comes to the big picture this silly transgender thing is just a event in the not so silly farce called “war against terrorism” which is pestered with illegality and total disregard for human decency or rights. And in the end we all know that illegality and inhumanity or america will perish along with the statehood of USA, as it should.

By: EGhead

EGhead — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 00:02:48 +0000

I love that trans women are using these rich tax-evaders’ transphobia against them in the pursuit of social justice!

By: Bosola

Bosola — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 17:38:02 +0000

This is a shocking problem in Greece, as well, where business is done off the books, for cash, and tax collectors get their fee to look the other way.

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2010/10/greeks-bearing-bonds-201010

Most doctors, for instance, don’t declare enough income to owe anything in taxes at the end of the year. And it is well known that houses have two prices: the official one that is reported to the tax authority, and the actual sale price that is paid in cash.

I’m not about to call the Germans saints, but they are just about to the point of visible steam coming out their ears that they have to play by the rules and pay what they owe to support this giant black market economy on the Aegean.

I am reminded of the common observation that political society has to be built on a certain minimum level of trust. In the present downturn, we see that trust unraveling everywhere.

By: Nikhil Punnoose

Nikhil Punnoose — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:43:35 +0000

That might actually work quite well, so as…non-PC as it might be, I’d say it’s a pretty good solution.