Interesting to say the least about another aspect of Islam, that seems to be in contradiction to the apparent world view of Islam today. It seems as moderate Muslims try to define what Islam is to the non Islamic world, and with stories like this coming out, it gets just as confusing as same sex marriages in the Christian world.
So the question in the suk is “What’s under your burka?”
That’s exactly what I was going to say. Thailand’s laws aren’t as strict as Britain’s or the US’ so a lot of Western doctors who do sex reassignment surgery (SRS) move to Thailand or live there part time because so many people flock to that country for the actual surgery, while receiving the hormones, years of therapy, etc. from their doctors at home. I imagine it also costs less.
i don’t believe there’s that many women that want to be men than the other way 'round.
but could Iran be an exeption 'cause of the strict Islamic laws for women?
When men become women, they usually still have a large forhead, wide shoulders, and a large build. There’s little surgery or hormones can do for these things. So people notice MtF (male to female) transsexuals.
However, when women become men, the hormones cause a growth spurt, and masculinisation of facial features, facial/body hair and broadening shoulders so quite often there’s little or NO visual aid that said man used to be a woman. FtM (female to male) transsexuals blend in much easier than MtF, as a generalisation. There are exceptions of course.
you’re right there Cranberry, i just found out it’s about 45% female to male:
http://www.tgworld.org/transemploy.php
quote:Why aren’t there female to male transsexual person?
There certainly are: about 45% of all transsexuals are female to male. Male to female transsexuals receive the largest amount of exposure thought the media of TV and print, apparently because they are considered more “newsworthy” in our traditionally male-oriented society.
i’m not that sort of a person, so i might not understand the whole issue, but if i had such a problem, i’m not sure if i’d turn to chemical hormons etc, nature has it’s own rhyms and reasons. we all have a soul, and i don’t think there’s much difference there. i’d stay natural above all.
Some would argue that since being transexual is a recognized psychiatric medical condition that remaining “natural” (i.e. without treatment) is akin to a person with clinical depression remaining “natural.” What’s natural may not always be good for the person and their condition.