Seeking the Right to Be Female in Malaysia

[Shana A]

Seeking the Right to Be Female in Malaysia
October 5, 2012 1:04 pm
By LIZ GOOCH / The New York Times

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/world/seeking-the-right-to-be-female-in-malaysia-656328/

SEREMBAN, MALAYSIA -- The feminine figure dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, makeup carefully applied, drew little attention from other customers at the fast-food restaurant in Seremban, a city about an hour's drive south of Kuala Lumpur.

The 26-year-old began wearing women's clothing at age 13. Thanks to plastic surgery in neighboring Thailand, a daily dose of hormones and a feminine nickname, she is able to present herself as female to the outside world.

But her official identification card -- which Malaysians must produce in dealings like job interviews -- declares that her name is Adam Shazrul Bin Mohammad Yusoff and that she is male.

The discrepancy between her appearance and her officially recognized gender presents much more than just awkward moments in Malaysia, where Shariah, or Islamic law, bans Muslim men from dressing or posing as women.

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