Since 1970s Tamil movies have repeatedly portrayed the LGBTQI (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, queer and intersex) community in a poor light. The saddening part is that film directors use the poor and abandoned transwoman to act in these movies, said Kalki Subramaniam, a gender rights activist and founder of Sahodari Foundation.
She was speaking during a panel discussion on ‘Stereotypes on LGBTQI community in Indian media,’ which was part of the two-day State-level conference on ‘Indian media beyond gender and sexuality,’ which commenced on Thursday.
The conference, organised by the Department of Social Work of American College and the Transgender Resource Center (TRC), saw scholars, gender rights activists and students from across the State participating in the event.
“Last time, I went to watch a Tamil movie with my family, I couldn't watch the movie completely as I was ashamed about the portrayal of transwoman in the movie,” said Ms. Subramaniam. She requested the media to be well informed and start focussing on the mental, physical and social issues faced by the community.
Priya Babu, head of TRC, said that many media organisations were dominated by men and do not provide space to reflect the issues faced by the community.
Lack of representation from the LGBTQI community in media houses, has led to the insensitive portrayal of the community, said J. Balasubramaniyam, assistant professor of Journalism at Madurai Kamaraj University.
Mahalakshmi Raghavan, assistant professor of English at GRT Arts College, Dindigul, said that the conference must pave the way in breaking stereotypes plaguing the community. She also insisted that the media must emphasise that the LGBTQI community needs ‘empathy’ and not ‘acceptance’ from family members and the society.
“Transwomen were posted as brigadiers and Commander-in-Chief during the Chola dynasty period. These aspects have to be highlighted,” said Ms. Raghavan.
Over 100 testimonies of transwomen were stuck on a wall to highlight the sexual violence and mental trauma faced by the transgender community.
MKU Vice-Chancellor M. Krishnan, in his inaugural address, said that this conference must help in bringing new policies and resolutions to help the community.
American College principal M. Davamani Christober said that he was hopeful that more number of academic seminars discussing the social inclusivity of the community will be conducted across the city.