Afghan Girls Are Choosing to Dress as Boys, and the Reason is Heartbreaking

[Xenguy]

Afghan Girls Are Choosing to Dress as Boys, and the Reason is Heartbreaking
Marcie Bianco - September 25, 2014

"From the Dari language, bacha posh translates as a female cross-dresser, a girl "dressed like a boy." It also represents a small community of girls who pass as boys in Afghanistan, a country "that the U.N. says is the worst in the world to be born a girl, and where the average life expectancy of a woman is 44 years."

"Don't ask, don't tell" is a daily reality for the young children, who dress as boys in order to try to live fulfilling — and safe — lives in a culture that has historically offered much fewer options to its daughters and mothers. "It's a widely accepted and shared deceit in Afghan society, where the girls who live as boys exist just under the surface," journalist Jenny Nordberg told Mic. "The point is for girls to be able to disappear into a crowd or to move around outside without being harassed. As long as they are children, society silently condones the practice, my research has shown. It's not controversial until they reach puberty." "

More: http://mic.com/articles/99690/afghan-girls-are-choosing-to-dress-as-boys-and-the-reason-is-heartbreaking

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Not a trans article per say, but hits quite close and says a lot about the conditions of women in Afghanistan.

[Deinewelt]

With the oppression against females present in this part of the world, I am not surprised.  I would not be surprised if some of the richer families do this when a girl is born when they prefer a son.  Because income inequality here is great and those who have money might have access to resources that would support transition, I am also not surprised that some woman may fully transition.  Yes it is absolutely for the wrong reason, but I think that even in the first world, we still have minorities that experience third world problems.  I have also heard of FTM who, at times, wish to be male for the power and privileged.  Is this any different?  Yes, it is far less extreme, but inequality among the sexes is still rampant in our world.  I think it is far different though because usually that is just one of many reasons a person may transition FTM.  In the case of this article, it is primarily the sole purpose, which really just tears me up thinking about what they have to deal with on such massive scales.

[Ms Grace]

I read an article where certain Afghan families without any male children would dress their eldest daughter as a boy and send them to school as a boy - for "the status". So the girl has to live and socialise as a boy until puberty at which time I guess it's time to get married and become used to being a second class human being.

[Deinewelt]

On a tangent, there are also a lot of eye opening documentaries on youtube about the life of woman in Afghanistan.  It is pretty clear that this is one of the absolute worst places in the world to be born female.  Reading articles is one thing, but a lot of the video documentaries these woman risk their lives to speak out, and they are worth watching if you can stomach the inhumanity.  In one documentary, a woman would walk without her cover while video taping herself.  A very typical scenario is that a group of boys/men will approach and begin to threaten their lives.  For starters, woman are not typically allowed to speak or to even attend a form of school.  The cover that they must wear does not even have an opening for their mouth so that they can be heard speaking

[Ms Grace]

Yes, terrible cultural problems in that country (and a fair few others)...

[Jess42]

OK so why do MTF want to be females? Why do I want to be female? I can't say especially when most of the whole holds males in such high regard? I mentioned this before in another thread, why would a natural born male in a paternal society crave so much to be female? I jus doesn't make sense unless there is something way deeper involved. Maybe deeply embedded deeply in our Psyches.