KATHMANDU, NEPAL – Kathmandu is abuzz at 6:30 p.m. with people returning home after the day’s work. But one 28-year-old says that her job as a commercial sex worker in Nepal’s capital starts only after it gets dark.
Although born male, she identifies as third gender, which describes people who categorize themselves as neither man nor woman. There is not yet a pronoun for people of the third gender, so the 28-year-old prefers “she.”
Because of the stigma against people of the third gender in Nepal, she requested anonymity. She even hides her real identity from the landlord of the room she rents in Kathmandu, telling him that she is a female who works in a dance bar.
“If they find out that I am a third gender, they will force me out of this house,” she says. “I have been living in this house for over six years. But no one knows my identity.”
She looks like a fashion model with her slim figure, carefully madeup face and large eyes accentuated by mascara.
“I have to attract my customers,” she says. “Every day, I have to worry which dress to wear and how to look beautiful.”
Her other third-gender friends also gather every night in Thamel, the tourist district of Kathmandu, for the same work. They negotiate a rate with their customers, who either take them to a hotel or insist on having sex on street corners.
“Whatever the place, we have to agree to the customer,” she says. “Otherwise, we will have to return home empty-handed.”
Her nightly routine pits her against cold winter nights, dusty and dirty streets, and the risks of being caught by the police or obtaining a sexually transmitted disease.
“I have been living on sex work since more than a decade,” she says.
Growing up in Kathmandu, she says she always had feminine habits. At age 14, she realized she had a male’s body but the inner desire of a female when she became attracted to one of her male school friends.
“I used to cry the whole night worrying if I was the only one with such feelings,” she says.
Her family pressured her to change her behavior and even hit her. The night before her grade-10 exams, she was studying in her room when one of her brothers attacked her. He called her “hijra” – a derogatory term commonly used for the third gender – and beat her.
She left her house and walked six miles to the rented room where her transgender friend Roshani lived. She missed the exam to obtain her School Leaving Certificate the next day. Instead, Roshani, who worked as a bar dancer, offered to find her similar work.
After putting on makeup and gowns, they went to a dance bar in Kathmandu’s business center. There, Roshani introduced her to an attractive man, who took her to a nice hotel.
“He did not ask if I was a man or a woman, and he did not show any concern over my sex organ,” she says. “He just complimented my beauty. Without knowing, I got sexually attracted to him.”
She willingly engaged in oral and anal sex with him. She says that it was not her first anal sex experience, but it was her first time having oral sex.
After, the man brought her back to the dance bar and paid Roshani 10,000 Nepalese rupees ($115). It was then that she realized that her body had been sold.
“I was like a flower bud,” she says. “I had a lot of dreams. But the realization that I was caught in this whirlpool was very painful. I couldn’t stop my tears. I cried very hard.”
But she soon realized that without her family’s support or a diploma, there was no alternative profession besides selling her body in order to survive.The next day, she went to a hotel with another customer arranged by Roshani. Roshani kept the money she earned for rent, she says.
“This time I didn’t enjoy the sexual act,” she says. “I endured everything thinking that I had sold my body for money, and it was my necessity.”
Last week, Nepal’s government ordered the enforcement of a five-year-old Supreme Court ruling that makes the third gender an option on citizenship certificates. Few Nepalese who identify as third gender were able to obtain certificates before because they did not want to register as male or female, but this has made it hard for them to obtain jobs outside commercial sex work. Although they are now gaining legal recognition, a strong social stigma still hinders their access to education and employment.
Nepal’s latest census doesn’t include the number of third-gender people, says Sunil Babu Pant, the first openly gay member of parliament in Nepal and the founder of Blue Diamond Society, a Kathmandu-based organization that defends the rights of sexual and gender minorities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
“Sexual minorities are estimated at 10 percent of the total population in the society,” Pant says.
Nepal’s population is about 26.6 million, according to the 2011 National Population and Housing Census.
On Jan. 22, 2013, Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs ordered all 75 district administration offices to provide a “third gender” option on citizenship certificates, Pant says. The Supreme Court of Nepal had ruled during December 2007 that citizen certificates should have this option to secure sexual and gender minorities’ rights.
Nepal’s Constitution prohibits all forms of discrimination for every citizen regarding gender, ethnicity, caste and religion.
“We are very happy that the decision of the Nepalese Supreme Court [of] five years ago is finally being enforced in practice,” Pant says.
Hari Phuyal, a lawyer who assists the Blue Diamond Society in its legal cases regarding gender and sexual minorities, says that political instability caused the Ministry of Home Affairs to take so long to enforce the Supreme Court decision.
But Pant attributes the delay to government apathy toward sexual and gender minorities.
Nepalese obtain citizenship certificates at age 17. They are crucial for exercising rights such as opening bank accounts, purchasing property, accessing employment and applying for passports.
Previously, people in Nepal automatically received their citizen certificates based on their birth gender, either male or female. Now, people can select their sexual identities on their citizenship certificates, with third gender as a new option.
“Those who have taken citizenship certificate under either male or female will henceforth get them amended to categorize themselves under others,” Pant says.
Bishal Khanal, the secretary of Nepal’s National Human Rights Commission, says that the state of human rights for people who identify as third gender has been “4-D”: discriminated, denied, deprived and destitute.
“Being a minority group, the voice of the third-gender people is not heard by the family, society and nation,” Khanal says.
Third-gender people used to refrain from attaining the documents because it did not allow them to choose their sexual identity. This prevented them from applying for jobs, Khanal says.
As most third-gender people have not obtained their citizen certificates, it has been difficult to find jobs outside sex work, Pant says.
Around 500 third-gender people in Nepal are commercial sex workers, he says. About 200 of them live in Kathmandu.
“They cannot get into government jobs, as they do not have their citizenship certificates,” Pant says.
Third-gender representation in the government is limited to one traffic police officer, Pant says.
“Even if they get jobs in the private sector, they will be fired if their identity is revealed,” he says. “They do not get proper education, as they have to face stigma in the schools. Therefore, they are forced into commercial sex work to make a living.”
The third-gender commercial sex worker who grew up in Kathmandu says that her work involves lots of risks. She says that police officers offer her bribes and sometimes ask for sexual favors in exchange for not arresting her for sex work.
“Police chase us, accusing us of spreading bad culture and cheating,” she says.
Arun Kumar B.C., deputy superintendent of police in Kathmandu, says that commercial sex work is illegal under Nepalese law.
“Police have to intervene,” he says, “not because they are third gender, but because commercial sex work is illegal.”
But he denies allegations of police blackmailing third-gender people for sex. There have been no cases reported to the police.
Sexually transmitted diseases pose another risk for sex workers.
Transgender people who engage in sex work are typically born male but identify as female, Pant says.
The third-gender commercial sex worker says that transgender or third-gender sex workers are preferred by men, who often demand to have sex without condoms.
“We do not have female sex organ,” she says. “Still, even if they have wives and female sex workers are available, we are preferred. Many customers give us extra money as tips, as they have sexual satisfaction with us.”
Pant says that this may be because men don’t think they need to wear condoms when having sex with the third-gender or transgender sex workers.
“As men prefer to have sex without condom, they do not have to face the risk of pregnancy with third-gender people,” Pant says, “and also they can do it cheaply or sometimes for free by threatening them. This may be the reason why they are more attracted to it.”
Blue Diamond Society organizes counseling for sex workers on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, Pant says. It also distributes free condoms and organizes free blood tests every three months.
But condom use is also not popular among third-gender sex workers, Pant says. If police find them with condoms, they may be arrest them under the suspicion that they are commercial sex workers.
The third-gender sex worker from Kathmandu says she tries to use condoms when customers allow. Roshan Mahato, the national program coordinator of the Federation of Sexual and Gender Minorities Nepal, says that third-gender people are forced to take up commercial sex work because of humiliation in their families, schools, workplaces and society.
Mahato advocates for equal respect and opportunities for third-gender people in all sectors so that they can obtain jobs outside sex work. He emphasizes education as especially important.
Most third-gender people face ridicule in their schools from their teachers and friends, forcing some to drop out, Pant says. Third-gender people face harsher treatment in society because they are easier to identify from their dress and behavior. Most gay men or lesbians, on the other hand, generally do not look, dress and behave differently from straight people.
A lack of education adds to their difficultly finding jobs.
The third-gender sex worker says that she used to dream of pursuing higher education and studying business.
“However, due to humiliation given by my elder brother on a night before my last exams,” she says, “my dreams got shattered.”
Now, she dreams of becoming financially secure and opening a boutique in Kathmandu. Without an education, she says her only hope for earning a living is the legalization of sex work.
“I spent half my life working as a sex worker,” she says. “My education is incomplete. We have to hide our actual identity for survival. Therefore, if commercial sex work is legalized in Nepal, we can lead a life without fear.”
B.C. says that a bill to legalize commercial sex was brought to Nepal’s Constituent Assembly in 2010. But debate on it is still pending because the assembly was dissolved in May 2012.
Blue Diamond Society educates the public on gender rights. It also provides skill-development trainings for sexual and gender minorities and job opportunities to 750 third-gender people. Trainings include cosmetology, public transportation operation, cooking, mechanics, security, computers and English.
But despite skills training, third-gender people report that they haven’t been able to find jobs because of social stigma and the lack of gender options on citizenship certificates.
Last week’s government order to include the third gender on citizenship certificates removes one obstacle. But social stigma still remains a barrier to education and employment outside of sex work.
