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Welcome to the world of the Trans Gender

Globally, approximately  1-3% of the population are considered intersex and by those estimates, there could be as many as 1.4 million intersex people in Kenya, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. 

Jesicca Lauren is just one of them. Seated at her apartment in Juja she applies a red lipstick while staring at herself in the mirror. She is about to head out to meet a client who came across her online profile at Exotic Africa, one of the pioneers in opening up the Kenyan sex industry.

Say what! A trans

What is odd about an otherwise fresh look is that in the eyes of a layman she is a man. A full grown man applying makeup like a woman but not Jesicca. 

“I have had an attraction to guys ever since I can remember. As early as my primary school years I loved boys.”

In her pretty black eyes she is a woman and should have been a woman from birth but not in the eyes of society. 

“I was raised in a family of 5, raised as a normal boy but there was something unique about me, people took me as mama’s boy and my mum’s attention was always on me because I could wear my sister’s clothes, do feminine chores and many more.” Jessica told Batoto.

Which is which, female or male?

Some people think that determining who is male or female at birth is a simple matter of checking the baby’s external anatomy, but there’s actually a lot more to it. Every year, an estimated one in 2,000 babies are born with a set of characteristics that can’t easily be classified as “male” or “female.” 

People whose bodies fall into this vast space between “male” and “female” are often known as intersex people. A transgender person is usually born with a body and genes that match a typical male or female, but they know their gender identity to be different something Jessica knows too well.

“We have two categories, there are those who identify as Trans women and those who identify as Trans men. I identify as a trans woman” says Jessica.

Trans People are still deeply misunderstood in many parts of the world and in many societies in Africa intersex people are even considered a curse. Jessica hopes that in their lifetime they will be able to live in a society free from stigma, violence and ignorance.

Tune in next week to hear Jessica’s full confession on Explode Podcast.

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