When Tashnuva Anan Shishir was growing up in a conservative Muslim family in Bangladesh, she was ridiculed for behavior called too effeminate.
She was often told she was mentally ill. The experience left her with one crucial question: “Who am I?” “I was born with a male body, but I was matching a woman’s mind with soul,” Ms.
Shishir said in a recent video interview from Dhaka, the capital. “I had to prove that I exist in society.” The journey took her to the internet, where she searched, “Is there anyone like me?” Even after answering the question and coming out as a transgender woman, Ms.
Shishir, 29, waged a decades-long quest for acceptance. The path has been paved with “immeasurable pain,” she said. She has endured harassment and verbal.