ABSTRACT
This chapter is a comparative study of autobiographies by two Tamil transwomen writers and activists, A. Revathi’s The Truth about Me: A Hijra Life Story by A. Revathi, which was first published by Penguin India in English translation in 2010, and Tanuja Singam’s An Autobiography: Tanuja, an Eezham Tirunangai’s Journey and Struggle that was published in Tamil in 2020. Their experiences of stigma, discrimination, humiliation, violence, and social and political disenfranchisement constitute their female subjectivities and agency. Even their romantic disappointments only strengthen their desire to assert their femininity even if this means being estranged from their families and fellow tirunangais. They grapple with their own desire for validation but by the end it is their solidarity with the tirunangai community notwithstanding their internal differences that empowers them and gives them a sense of purpose. They both emerge as activists who are determined to eradicate stigma and ensure a life of equality and dignity for transgender people.
