Abstract
Stereotyping transgender people in media, all over the world, is more of a norm than an exception. Reviewing the Pakistani media archives, one gets the impression that, though over the past few decades
some progress has been made, still there are many challenges to cope with in order to bring about a fairer and
more balanced portrayal of the Pakistani transgender community. This paper investigates the media portrayals of the transgender people in Pakistan with reference to the Nation-one of the leading English newspapers.
The study is both qualitative and quantitative, and analyzes the data stretched over five years-from 2011 to
2015. The researchers have demonstrated that there exists a highly patterned and repetitive stereotyping of
transgender people verging on transphobic ostracization, misgendering and a thoroughgoing stigmatization.
It has been demonstrated empirically and quantifiably as to how transgender people are bracketed with such
criminal elements as prostitutes, drug addicts, human traffickers and pickpockets. Moreover, it has also been
shown how they are consistently objectified and how their sexuality and criminality is foregrounded in such
ways that it acquires the status of their only introduction. The paper emphasizes that in a country like Pakistan where the anti-transgender violence and stigmatization abound, it is important to get rid of clichd and
formulaic representations of transgender people.
Jamil Asghar, Khurram Shahzad. (2018) Media Portrayals of Transgender People in Pakistan - A Case of Misgendering and Marginalization, Journal of Education & Social Sciences, Volume 6, Issue 1.
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