Understanding Transgender as a Category

A Webinar on “Understanding Transgender as a Category” was organised on 13th December, 2021 by the Department of Sociology. Invited speaker for the event was Dr. Sebanti Chatterjee. Dr Chatterjee specialises in the anthropology of Sound Studies with special interest in the fields of Gender, Religion as well as Culture. 

Dr. Chatterjee very lucidly explained the various categories related to Gender and Sex. She used Sara Ahmed’s an affinity of hammers, Gayle Rubin’s thinking sex: notes for a radical theory of the politics of sexuality, Vaibhav saria-Begging for change: Hijras, law and nationalism and other such literary works that made the participants remain intrigued with the Talk. She talked about how sex is different from gender and how gender referred to a matter of culture and a social categorization of people as masculine or feminine. She also analysed various feminist ideologies that evaluated subjugation of lesbians in terms of oppression of women as well as labelling them as queer and perverts. Dr. Chatterjee expounded sexuality as political and how it is ordered into systems of power, which reward and encourage certain individuals while suppressing and punishing others. She elucidated how trans activism is pitted against critical feminist activism.

Her talk was followed by a very energetic question answer session in which almost all students participated in great fervour. It could be concluded that the entire session was rather fascinating as well as informative.