Understanding How Marginalized Hijra in Bangladesh Navigate Complex Social Media Ecosystem

Abstract

There is a growing scholarly recognition of the experiences and diversity of gender and sexual orientations beyond hetero-normative identities [4, 6] in research; however, they ultimately categorize gender and sexuality through a strictly Western lens [1, 4]. This paper tries to add to this conversation and understand overall online participation and self-presentation behaviors of queer populations from a non-Western perspective, like Hijra from Bangladesh, who are a severely stigmatized third gender community in South Asia, through the lens of personal social media ecosystem using focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews of n=61 participants. The initial results indicate that Hijra's social media participation and self-presentation are influenced by their distinct audience related concerns and perceived affordances, which intersect with the technical skill-set they require.