An article about how some Afghani families, so pressured to have sons, make up ones by transforming one of their girls into a boy. It's as simple as a haircut and a pair of trousers! The "lucky" girl gets to ride a bike, play football, and get into fights with boys.
Then, when marriage beckons, the girl-boy is ruthlessly expelled from boy paradise and is asked to be a girl again: shy, confined, and good at cooking. Is it surprising that some of these girl-boys are disappointed and do not want to be girls again?
All of this is done not for the sake of the child, but for the sake of the parents' pride: they are too humiliated to have only girls and their social standing suffers. So they invent a son, at least for a while. As we say in Arabic, "el reeha wala el 3adam." (Translation: "better than nothing").
Of course when a girl chooses to be or become a boy, hell break loose. And when a boy chooses to be or become a girl, then civilization as we know it is threatened with annihilation. Religion, law, science, and love of country are deployed to put boys and girls in their so-called "natural" places.
And let us not romanticize this practice by using it to show how "queer" Afghanis can be. This is not about queerdom; it's about power and coercion.
Music: Beounce " I wish I were a boy"
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