AEGiS-14IAC: The Morphology and ritual classifications of transgenderered persons in Mumbai.

14th International AIDS Conference


Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

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The Morphology and ritual classifications of transgenderered persons in Mumbai.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. TuOrE1156)

Shetty V
Transgender, Mumbai, India

BACKGROUND: The physical and ritual statuses of transgender persons in India have a huge impact on HIV prevention efforts in the MSM sector in India. An effort has been made here to classify the hijra community into various ritual categories based on their castrated and non-castrated status and how many of them are in sex work or sex for ritual purposes. This has a direct impact on HIV prevention work and how to engage issue concerning this much reviled and derided community in India.

METHOD: Over 70 hijra workers were questioned over a period of six months to determine their various ritual and physical morphology. They were also asked qualitative open-ended questions about receptive and penetrative anal sex. This questioning procured important data of direct relevance to HIV prevention work. RESULT: The breakdown of the ritual positioning of hijras has led large numbers of them into urban areas and to get into sex work to earn their live hood which shows increase in STI/HIV prevalence amongst them.

CONCLUSION: The Humsafar Trust is studying the trend so that HIV/AIDS prevention can be better fine-tuned in the MSM Community.

Keywords: AEGIS, Sex Behavior, Prevalence, HIV Infections, HIV Seropositivity, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Coitus, India, Diagnosis, classificationKWDaegis,sexbehavior,prevalence,hivinfections,hivseropositivity,acquiredimmunodeficiencysyndrome,coitus,india,diagnosis,classification

020707
TuOrE1156

Copyright © 2002 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.