Gender Identity Crisis-A Sociological Analysis of Transgenders in Kerala

Gender identity is one of the most fundamental problems faced by people in all societies. Gender discrimination and gender determination are two aspects of this problem. Usually society recognizes ones gender by his/her birth. However, there are communities that reject this traditional gender determination practice and consider their gender at birth as false or incomplete. Those people who adopt the behavioral patterns, dressing style and expressions of the opposite gender is termed as transgender and those who change their sex through sexual re-assignment surgeries (SRS) and other medical treatments This paper explores the problems and dilemmas of creating and crossing gender identity boundaries. For the purpose of the study the researcher had used exploratory cum descriptive research design. The non-probability purposive sampling including the snowball technique was adopted, to collect data from transgenders in Kerala having given their oral consent for the interview. A multi-tool approach for data collection based on the objectives consisted of a Structured Interview Schedule with closed and open ended questions, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and key informant interview with famous personality hailed from transgender community. The paper is the description of major areas of identity crisis among transgenders in Kerala