Indian professor Dr. Rajith Kumar
Dr. Rajith Kumar, a botany professor at Kalady’s Sree Sankara College in India, believes that women who wear jeans ultimately end up giving birth to ‘transgenders’ and autistic children.
Recently, on a live television show, Kumar said ‘…a woman who dresses up like a man, what will be the character of the child she gives birth to? These children are called “transgenders” or “napumsakam.” Hijra.’
The words ‘napumsakam’ and ‘hijra’ are South Asian terms for intersex and transgender people.
This is not the first time Kumar has come up with ludicrous sexist and homophobic theories.
Kumar stressed that ‘good’ children are only born to men who dress and act like men, and women who dress and act like women.
‘When a woman degrades her womanhood and a man degrades his manhood, the girl born to them is man-like. The child this girl later gives birth to will be a transgender,’ he stated.
He defended his views by claiming they were ‘based on science and years of experience.’
Reaction
In response to Kumar’s remarks, State Minister for Health and Social Welfare, KK Shylaja, banned him from participating in government programs.
‘Rajith Kumar has been consistently propagating superstitious and sexist ideas. We are mulling legal action against him for making such derogatory comments,’ the minister said.
Previous instances
Other Indian professors have come under fire in the past for sexist and homophobic comments.
Last month, Professor Jouhar Munavvir of India’s Farook College said women who fail to wear a hijab properly were deliberately exposing their chests like ‘slices of watermelons on display.’ This comment led to droves of female students protesting in what they called the ‘Watermelon March.’
In 2017, a Mumbai college principal claimed that women who dress like men develop reproductive disorders.
‘I have heard theories on why girls suffer from PCOD (Poly Cystic Ovarian Disease) at an early age,’ the principal said. ‘When they dress like men, they start thinking or behaving like them. There is a gender role reversal in their head. Due to this, the natural urge to reproduce diminishes right from a young age and therefore they suffer from problems like PCODs.’
Scientists confirmed that this claim was false.
‘Girls do not suffer from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) because of clothes. It is caused by hormonal imbalance,’ said psychiatrist Anjali Chhabria.
