Pondan?! It’s Maknyah to you! (Part 1)

October is quite the eventful month for women. There’s Pink October, Oktofest, Deepavali, Halloween and Wanita Hari Ini then decided to tag along and make history. Who? WHI? What history?

History of the frivolous, scandalous and hatefulness, of course!

On 4^th Oct 2011, there was a massive eruption of absurdity in Bolehland coming from Media Prima where TV3 is. WHI “discussed” a topic titled ‘Pondan Ancaman Wanita’. The term ‘Pondan’ is locally understood as a derogatory term to describe effeminate men or transgender women. 

Link to video (Blogger unable to load my video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8xM5_4zhMBg

First and foremost, TV3 & WHI have shown that they are not a credible lot, just merely viewer rating hunters. You can judge by : 

1)    Gossips / hearsays dressed up as “research facts” on Transgender Women

2)    Uninformed or under informed hostesses reading from a list to further confuse others and discredit Transgender Women

3)    The list of speakers / representatives :

      a.    Fatin Sarjat, a young, modern Malay Muslim woman who hides behind religion citations to mask her Trans phobic statements; coincidentally did not cover her ‘aurat’, with her dyed hair and modern fitting clothes.

     b.    Dr. Edward Chan, a middle age “psychology specialist” from Malaysia Psychology Center who needs input from the hostesses due to his lack of comprehensible Bahasa Malaysia.

Reference to his “credibility” :

1. http://www.thepsychologist.org.uk/archive/archive_home.cfm/volumeID_19-editionID_140-ArticleID_1097-getfile_getPDF/thepsychologist%5C1006soci.pdf

2. http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/18407645/55865851/name/edwardchan_BPS05.pdf

3. http://groups.google.com/group/healinghands/browse_thread/thread/48bc0f57f129a800?pli=1

    c.    Azwan Ali, a Malay middle age “celebrity, writer cum cross dresser” who is quite the misogynist and seemed more interested to market his new book than really discussing in-depth on the issue at hand.

    d.    A transgender woman who is blurred out and deserves my heartfelt condolences as it was very clear she was placed there to be the (mis)representation of a “shameful” minority group.

Secondly, Maknyahs do not pretend to be women or seek to be better than women. THEY ARE WOMEN! They are, unfortunately born in “biologically” male bodies and had to bear the brunt of society who never bother nor seek to understand them better and are subjected to humiliation, being sidelined, ignored, chastised, being treated lesser than human, etc.

Thirdly, where I grow up, Maknyahs DO NOT LIVE BEHIND THE FACES OF SOCIETY as the hostesses suggested. In fact, they are out and about, minding their own business. I grow up being aware that there are Women, Men & Transgender Women (which, btw, I was taught to call Pondan since I am young. Forgive me, now I know better.)

I feel if 1 chose to be ignorant, then yes; you might not have thought others existed, just like me not knowing there are actually gay men who are masculine (I blame the misrepresentation of LGBTs in media, esp. television or movies). I mean, how could you understand while growing up when you are presented with a bunch of actors/actresses acting as effeminate men, ugly & undesirable cross dressers, tomboy turned feminine, villainous or half the time being the king/queen of Clownland?

Fourthly, any relationship takes 2 (maybe more?) to tango. There’s always 1 who gives, another who receives. What is the nonsense that these people are talking about transgender women stealing boyfriends or husbands of other women?

Btw, cheater takes all form ya? A woman can cheat as much as a man do. However, we, being in a patriarchal society always and will forever emphasis the importance of men over women. Plus, if anyone wants to cheat and there’s something out there that catches his/her eyes, surely the only person who can stop the cheater is the cheater themselves. Also, have you question the reason why we’ve never said “Must be the men/women who is DOM (dirty old men or young)/hamsap/gatal” vs. the overused “Must be the mistress/yi lai/jalang’s fault”.

Last but not least, as a “biologically” born woman, I have never felt threatened by any Transgender Woman in terms of career choice nor relationship. It is not because I feel that I am better than them nor are they incompetent in any way. In fact, many are more able bodied, competent, passionate and contributors to the betterment of society than me.

To label them a “threat” is really absurd because TV3, WHI & WHI’s hostesses are definitely more threatening with their uninformed, dated, dangerous gossips/hearsays dressed as “facts” spewing hatred, confusion and resentment towards the Transgender Women.

Women out there, do you really, seriously, for 1 second, feel threatened because others tells you so?