# Why are there eunuchs in Pakistan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 26, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-eunuchs-in-pakistan/540866 "2010-05-26T19:56:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-eunuchs-in-pakistan/540866/1 "2010-05-26T19:56:43Z")
According to [this](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8428819.stm) article, there are 300,000 eunuchs in Pakistan. From the article: _The eunuchs, known as “hijras” in Pakistan, are men castrated at an early age for medical or social reasons._ What baffles me is that a journalist\* can write something like that and not feel the need to inform the world why on earth there are 300,000 eunuchs in Pakistan? \*Since this is GD, I will refrain from stating my general opinion of journalists and reporters. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-eunuchs-in-pakistan/540866/2 "2010-05-26T20:08:47Z")
Extremely odd. I hadn’t heard about this before, and I’m certain it’s not common knowledge in the US. here’s the Wikipedia article on the topic. I’m gonna have to go back home and look this up in my Burton collection. > **[Hijra (South Asia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_%28South_Asia%29)** > > In the Indian subcontinent, hijra\[n 2\] is the generic term for trans women and may include eunuchs and intersex people who live in communities that follow a kinship system known as guru-chela system. Also known as aravani, aruvani, and jogappa, the hijra community in India prefer to call themselves "kinnar", referring to the mythological beings that excel at song and dance.\[citation needed\] In Pakistan, they are known as khawaja sira, the equivalent of transgender in the Urdu lang Hijras ar... ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-eunuchs-in-pakistan/540866/3 "2010-05-26T20:58:09Z")
There are about 175 million people in Pakistan, so 300 thousand hijras is a small fraction of the overall population. I wonder how this would compare to the number of tran-gender males in the United States. We might see similar numbers, but due to cultural phenomenon, hijras formed a social sub-class in the sub-continent, but not in the West. Hijras groups are found throughout the Indian subcontinent. Many of them live in all hijras communities and sustain the population by finding runaway boys to adopt into their community. They are not thought highly of in either Indian or Pakistani society. Apparently, in India many hijras make money by crashing weddings and making the couple bribe them to leave. From what I can find, there is surprisingly very little research done on the hijras. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-eunuchs-in-pakistan/540866/4 "2010-05-26T21:37:14Z")
**CalMeacham** said: > [@](#): > > Extremely odd. I hadn’t heard about this before, What?! How could you have missed > **[Why are Indian eunuchs warned about unsafe sex?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342199/why-are-indian-eunuchs-warned-about-unsafe-sex)**