Waria: intimate portraits

Indonesian transgender are known as waria, a term which is a combination of two Indonesian words: “wanita,” which means woman, and “pria,” which means man. Many warias have also no families and no legal identities. Their families don’t know who they really are. Some of them play waria at night and man during the day. Others can count on their own families and run a fairly normal life as women. Even thought waria assume the identity of women, they usually retain their male reproductive organs, because operations are far too expensive. The few who can afford an operation have their breasts done, all the others face an horrible an unhealthy practice where the silicone is forced straight under the skin. Since many are prostitutes they also face HIV and sexual diseases.