[Badgirlz-list] As Repression Lifts, More Iranians Change Th…

Il giorno 2-08-2004 12:59, Errata, errata_0@??? ha scritto:

> FRom NextGenderation-list:
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> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/02/international/middleeast/02iran.html?ex=10
> 92438848&ei=1&en=d0cb02abc3a74e77
>
>
> As Repression Lifts, More Iranians Change Their Sex
>
> August 2, 2004
> By NAZILA FATHI
>
>
> TEHRAN, Aug. 1 - Everything about Amir appears
> masculine:
> his broad chest, muscled arms, the dark full beard and
> deep
> voice. But, in fact, Amir was a woman until four years
> ago,
> when, at the age of 25, he underwent the first of a
> series
> of operations that would change his life.
>
> Since then he has had 20 surgical procedures and
> expects
> another 4. And Amir, who as a woman was married twice
> to
> men - his second husband helped with the transition
> and
> remains a good friend - is now engaged to marry a
> woman.
>
> "I love my life and I'm happy, as long as no one knows
> about my past identity," said Amir, who asked that his
> full
> name not be published. "No one has been more helpful
> than
> the judge, who was a cleric and issued the permit for
> my
> operation."
>
> After decades of repression, the Islamic government is
> recognizing that some people want to change their sex,
> and
> allowing them to have operations and obtain new birth
> certificates.
>
> Before the Islamic Revolution in 1979, there was no
> particular policy regarding transsexuals. Iranians
> with the
> inclination, means and connections could obtain the
> necessary medical treatment and new identity
> documents. The
> new religious government, however, classed
> transsexuals and
> transvestites with gays and lesbians, who were
> condemned by
> Islam and faced the punishment of lashing under Iran's
> penal code.
>
> But these days, Iran's Muslim clerics, who dominate
> the
> judiciary, are considerably better informed about
> transsexuality. Some clerics now even recommend
> sex-change
> operations to those who are troubled about their
> gender.
> The issue was discussed at a conference in Tehran in
> June
> that drew officials from other Persian Gulf countries.
>
> One cleric, Muhammad Mehdi Kariminia, is writing his
> thesis
> on transsexuality at the religious seminary of Qum.
>
> "All the clerics and researchers at the seminary
> encouraged
> me to work on the subject," he said in an interview.
> "They
> said that my research can help change the social
> stigma
> attached to these people and clarify religious decrees
> on
> the matter."
>
> One early campaigner for transsexual rights is Maryam
> Hatoon Molkara, who was formerly a man known as
> Fereydoon.
> Before the revolution, under the shah, he had longed
> to
> become a woman but could not afford surgery.
> Furthermore,
> he wanted religious guidance. In 1978, he wrote to
> Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was to become the
> leader
> of the revolution but was still in exile, explaining
> his
> situation.
>
> The ayatollah replied that his case was different from
> that
> of a homosexual and therefore he had his blessing.
>
> However, the revolution intervened and men like
> himself or
> those who had already changed their sex were harassed,
> even
> jailed and tortured. "They made me stop wearing
> women's
> clothes, which I had worn for many years and was used
> to,"
> Ms. Molkara recalled. "It was like torture for me.
> They
> even made me take hormones to look like a man.''
>
> It took him eight years after the revolution, in 1986,
> to
> get government permission to proceed with surgery. But
> he
> could not afford the surgery and did not have it until
> 1997, when he underwent a sex-change operation in
> Bangkok.
> The Iranian government covered the expenses. Four
> years
> ago, Ms. Molkara established an organization to help
> those
> with gender-identity problems. Co-founders include Ali
> Razini, head of the Special Court of Clergy, a branch
> of
> the judiciary that only deals with clerics, and Zahra
> Shojai, Iran's vice president for women's affairs. An
> Islamic philanthropic group known as the Imam Khomeini
> Charity Foundation has agreed to provide loans
> equivalent
> to about $1,200 to help pay for sex-change surgery.
>
> To obtain legal permission for sex-change operations
> and
> new birth certificates, applicants must provide
> medical
> proof of gender-identity disorder. The process can
> take
> years.
>
> It also involves considerable expense. In Tehran, the
> initial male-to-female surgery runs about $4,000. So
> far,
> Amir has spent $12,000 on medical procedures.
>
> The people who pursue this route come from many
> different
> backgrounds.
>
> Dr. Bahram Mir-djalali, one of Tehran's few
> sex-reassignment surgeons, said one of his patients
> had
> been a member of the Revolutionary Guards who served
> five
> years in the war with Iraq. His operation was paid for
> by a
> Muslim cleric he had worked for as a secretary. After
> the
> surgery, the man-turned-woman divorced, and then
> married
> the cleric.
>
> "When she came to see me years later, she was wearing
> a
> chador," the doctor recalled, referring to the black
> head-to-toe garb worn by religious women. "She took
> off the
> chador, and there was no sign of the bearded man I had
> operated on."
>
> But many who cannot deal with the legal and financial
> obstacles to a surgical solution have to deal with
> humiliation in their daily lives.
>
> One 27-year-old man said he ran away from home at the
> age
> of 14 because he did not dare tell his family of his
> urge
> to become a woman. He wants to be known as Susan and
> wears
> women's clothes at home but only emerges dressed that
> way
> at night. He says the constant need for secrecy has
> left
> him severely depressed, and he has attempted suicide
> several times.
>
> "I have suffered all my life,'' he said, constantly
> adjusting his long curly hair to cover his sideburns.
> "People treat me as though I have come from Mars.
> Women
> pull my hair and laugh at me on the street. Most men I
> am
> attracted to reject me."
>
> In a society where men enjoy a higher status than
> women,
> the stigma against any man who wants to be a woman is
> especially strong.
>
> "They compliment a girl who behaves and dresses like a
> man
> as a strong person, but they look down at us and
> despise
> us," said Assal, who was disowned by her father for
> having
> surgery to become a woman.
>
> Dr. Mir-djalali said he had to fight on many fronts to
> help
> more than 200 patients who had consulted him in the 12
> years he had performed sex-change operations. Even if
> Iran's Muslim clerics are more understanding now of
> transsexuals' needs, others lag behind.
>
> "We have a problem even deciding at which hospital to
> do
> the surgery because society considers these people
> deviant," he said. "Hospital officials have reacted
> negatively because they say other patients do not like
> the
> looks of my patients."
>
> He said one patient's father pulled a knife on him in
> his
> office, and threatened to kill him if he touched his
> son.
> "What we really need to help these people,'' Dr.
> Mir-djalali said, "is a serious cultural campaign."
>
>
>
>
>
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