Bacha Posh: Discreet Gender Switching in Afghanistan

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/world/asia/21gender.html?pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1285437784-tq%20a8GIOaEYBbzV42uJ5Ug

I read this intriguing piece on gender in Afghanistan, and was very surprised to read how many families actually engage in the act of cross-dressing their children. Yet, as one Afghan woman succinctly (and wisely) sums it up, "[...] some things are happening in Afghanistan that are really not imaginable for you as a Western people.” These are the words of Mrs. Rafaat, whose six-year-old daughter, Manoush, dresses like a boy in Afghan society.

Citing economic and social reasons, Afghan families dress their girls as boys, and might have been doing so for at least a century. (One historian who specializes in Afghan history found a photograph of cross-dressed women dating from the early 1900s.). As boys, the disguised children can shop, help in small business matters, attend better schools, preclude their family's shame of failing to conceive a male child, and allow their 'male' children to generally engage in public Afghan life.

After reading about the inevitable transition back to girlhood, I felt sympathy for these girls who suddenly have to give up a modicum of social freedom and continue their lives as a second-class citizens. Others genuinely feel male. As one girl sadly observed, "Nothing in me feels like a girl." I also wondered about the transitioned women--how their husbands react to the somewhat cross-dressing histories of their wives; is the information ever disclosed to the future husbands and in-laws?; is it a source of shame?

The following slide show features images of various younger and older women who are either dressed as boys or are now living their lives as women:

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/09/20/world/asia/20100921_Gender_ss.html?ref=asia

And finally a report from Dan Rather about one family's experience with cross-dressing their young daughter:

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/09/20/world/asia/1248069063442/excerpt-from-dan-rather-reports.html?scp=1&sq=dan%20rather&st=cse