In pictures: Indonesia's waria

Attitude

It is lunchtime in one of Yogyakarta's bustling street markets. And Vera and her friends are starting work.

They wriggle their way through the stalls, rattling home-made instruments and singing songs. The essentials for turning a healthy profit: skimpy clothes, lots of lipstick and a big dollop of attitude.

Vera is the tallest among them. She says she knew she was female long before she started wearing make-up, despite being – biologically – a man.

Fear and curiosity

Vera and her friends are part of a group known in Indonesia as waria – the word comes from the Indonesian word "wanita" meaning woman, and "pria" meaning man. They make a living by playing off the reactions of their customers: fear, curiosity, liberation.

Some stall-holders dance along with them; others turn away in disgust. One young boy watches them pass, open-mouthed, his meal dropping unnoticed into his lap.

Religious quandary

Many waria are Muslim, but there aren't many mosques or prayer schools where they feel comfortable praying as women. And so they attend a Koran school specially set up for waria.

Maryani, pictured, is the school's founder. She's transgender herself, and said she wanted a place where people like her could gather and pray freely. "Our immediate neighbours have been very accepting but there are those in the wider Muslim community here who think we're sinful."

'Human or animal?'

Vera (right) is a regular. She comes to the tiny house with her friends to pray and learn the Koran, but also just to hang out, gossip, watch television and eat the snacks Maryani cooks up.

She likes it because there's no pressure to be something they are not. "I've had people say 'Is that a human or an animal?'" she says. "And I've run into people who - in the name of God - are violent." Waria might be accepted as street musicians, but in any other context, discrimination remains rife.

Mixed feelings

But at more traditional Koran schools, feelings about waria range from acceptance to outright rejection.

At this nearby school, boys and girls are strictly segregated - the way it should be, the imam tells me.

"In Islam, there are separate rules for men and women, so they can't be mixed. There are only two gender identities in Islam – men and women – that's non-negotiable." The special classes for waria are a good thing, he says, only if they force them to comply with Islamic teaching and return to their original gender.

Stigma

For some of the worshippers at the waria school, the night will end here – with prayers and Koran-reading late into the night. Others will leave in the early hours to start work in Yogyakarta's red light district.

Jobs aren't easy to come by in Indonesia if you are living as a woman in a man's body. The school may have made it easier for the waria to learn about Islam’s teachings, but outside the stigma makes it much harder to live by them.

Text/Images: Lucy Williamson

Posted in: Hisetory