Mystery 'sex change' has curious flocking to Myanmar monk-to-beThursday July 14, 2005 (0039 PST)Thin Sandar, a chicken seller in Myanmar, had always dreamed of being a man. When she inexplicably grew a male organ last month, the 21-year-old treated it as an awe-inspiring omen as have the thousands of stunned villagers who have travelled to a pagoda to see him.
"On the morning of the full moon day of June 21, I noticed my thing (sex organ) was not the same as before," Thin Sandar, who now goes by the male name Than Sein, told AFP in an interview at his home. "And my breasts disappeared," Than Sein added. "So I called out and showed it all to my mom and dad. It was very strange." Strange enough that he has attracted significant attention in this deeply superstitious country, where the unexplained can quickly be exalted to hold powerful spiritual significance.
People privately concede Than Sein is genderless. Several medical experts have examined him, and he awaits test results from the central women's hospital. But few have come forward with a medical explanation of the transformation as they await an official report by the health ministry, whose experts have also examined Than Sein. "We can not say right now if she has really undergone a sudden gender change," said a township official that declined to be named, adding that Than Sein's birth certificate shows that he was born a girl.
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