Woman by Choice

FWD caught up with these strong women about choosing the life they wanted and finding footing in their identity

- Fwd media

Childhood shenanigans involving cross dressing in one’s mother’s heels, wearing lipstick and donning a dress garner indulgent laughs, but gender nonconformity in teens and adults elicit only disgust, anger and a demand to come to one’s senses. While ‘this is a man’s world’ rings around the globe, there is a section of the society, that was born as men, but chose to be women and weather all the storms that came with it. FWD Life caught up with these strong women who spoke about choosing the life they wanted and finding a footing in their identity.

APSARA REDDY 

The Indo-Australian journalist is India’s first transgender Editor and was the first transwoman to be invited by the late Dr.J.Jayalalitha to join her party, the AIADMK. She is a strong spokesperson on National TV debates and has worked with BBC World Service, The Hindu, and Commonwealth Secretariat in London, New Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle. She is currently the Editor of the lifestyle magazine Provoke.

How was life when you were growing up? 

I was born and raised in a very South Indian family with lots of relatives, customs and traditions. My mother was very progressive and always inspired me to follow my dreams. My father, an alcoholic, and a man who never enjoyed us being happy, was an impediment. I was stubborn, focused and a good student who chose to focus on the unparalleled parenting and mentoring my mother showered on me. As a child too, I used to wear plaits with towels or try on my mom's heels. I never once thought I was not normal or felt the need to suppress my innermost feelings.

How did you inform your family about your decision to become Apsara? While living and studying in Australia did you feel the difference between the two cultures?