Bodily Autonomy and Gender Expression

Sor Juana's choice of the veil, her control over her dress and intellectual presentation, and her resistance to pressure to renounce writing represent claims to bodily and intellectual self-determination. For hijra and kothi, bodily autonomy encompasses the right to adopt feminine dress, adornment, and presentation; to undergo castration (for those who choose it) without medical scrutiny; and to refuse coercive medical transition or psychiatric intervention. This concept rejects frameworks that treat gender-diverse bodies as problems requiring expert management or normalization. Instead, it asserts that hijra and kothi have the right to shape their bodies and presentations according to their own understanding of self, community norms, and spiritual/social roles. Sor Juana's refusal of compulsory marriage and childbearing parallels this assertion: that one's body belongs to oneself, not to institutions, families, or states. This framework centers hijra and kothi self-knowledge over medical authority.