Jinsiangu–my Gender- a Documentary on Transgender Persons in Kenya

Abstract

This film Documentary was born out of a desire to learn more about transgender, the interest triggered by a Television footage on what appeared to be a very daring gay person openly giving testimony about their gender identity ‘as if gender was debatable’. From my perspective, you were either man or woman and when you chose to behave differently like preferring same sex partners, you became a homosexual, a shoga– and society, including the Kenya government, criminalized and disparaged you. Will the ‘daredevil’ be in trouble? But wait a minute…this person said they were not gay! Curiosity turned into eagerness to find out more about transgender as it soon became evident other Kenyans misconstrued transgender. The Documentary aims at depicting and demystifying transgender. It's based on the experiences and testimonies of three selected Transgender persons living amongst Jinsiangu community in Nairobi. The first two chapters comprise an introduction, theoretical and methodological issues while the last two chapters cover the film script, interpretation of the respondents' testimonies and the conclusions. Our respondents are emphatic transgender is inborn and not a put-on act. So, no matter what we assume to be transgender, our respondents have shown it isn't about surgery, or how they dress but it's how they feel inside, a situation Kenyan society finds difficult to understand but would with more transgender awareness and much more publicity.