Male Bodies, Women's Souls: Personal Narratives of Beauty Salons Workers in Pakistan

The current study is conducted in Lahore, Pakistan. Through this study, an effort has been made for analyzing the relationship between embodiment, subjectivity, and labour activity involving beauty salons workers. To comprehend the objective of the study, researchers have selected thirteen respondents through purposive and networking sampling technique, and informal interview/ discussion method has been used as a tool for the collection of data. It observed that bodies have a role to play in the power relations and in the various discourses producing the abnormal and normal bodies in the society, leading to establishing the intelligibility of the body by the gender categories. For producing one's subjectivity, the body also has an active role to play. The intelligibility of the binary gender matrix considers transgender people abnormal, making them prone to be discriminated against, socially excluded and stigmatized. Considering the labour opportunities, the observation is that the physical bodies of these people (working in beauty salons) create obstacles for attaining any formal jobs and position in the family and society. Therefore, for their survival, they choose such professions which provide the space for the subjective interpretation of their body.