With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India

New. <i>With Respect to Sex</i> is an intimate ethnography that offers a provocative account of sexual and social difference in India. The subjects of this study are <i>hijras</i> or the "third sex" of India—individuals who occupy a unique, liminal space between male and female, sacred and profane.<br /><br /><i>Hijras</i> are men who sacrifice their genitalia to a goddess in return for the power to confer fertility on newlyweds and newborn children, a ritual role they are respected for, at the same time as they are stigmatized for their ambiguous sexuality. By focusing on the <i>hijra</i> community, Gayatri Reddy sheds new light on Indian society and the intricate negotiations of identity across various domains of everyday life. Further, by reframing <i>hijra</i> identity through the local economy of respect, this ethnography highlights the complex relationships among local and global, sexual and moral, economies.<br /><br />This book will be regarded as the definitive work on <i>hijras</i>, one that will be of enormous interest to anthropologists, students of South Asian culture, and specialists in the study of gender and sexuality.