When I heard about this for the first time I was skeptical. But it turned out to be true. There is a large hidden society of transsexuals and people who are questioning their gender in the middle east. I remember seeing alot of that in Kuwait.

However homosexuality is still punishable by death. And not everyone has the financial means to simply undergo a sex change.

This is mind-boggling.

They kept using the male pronoun and talking about men. Do women get the chance to become men in Iran, or is that concept not even recognized?

I know that sexual orientation and gender are different. I've worked with a transgendered woman who was attracted only to women before her transtion and was still attracted only to women afterwards. But I wonder if any of the Iranian men going for transgender assignment are actually gay men using this as a partial solution for their quandry. It would be an extreme choice, but, in their eyes, better than forced heterosexuality or death.

In the video it says that women get the chance to become men.

You are right that some - but by no means a majority - gay men/women use this as a partial solution to the difficult situation they find themselves in.

So tell me this fair sifters:
Is this really the diversion the thriving, socially dynamic, and progressive rest of the world should indulge, in light of the clusterfuck of political and spiritual turmoil, the unfortunates who find themselves modern-day Iranians are facing??

The very fact that there are thousands looking to imams and clerics for guidance and answers(forget hope),should circumvent any concerns for the few individuals who decide to stand out, for whatever the reason, be it psychotic indulgence or identity change.
Christ Howard and Allah's Bad Farts, the leader of this country, of the mentally and spiritually enslaved, is a lunatic, and the little uni-browed ragheads, are the answer kiosks of the middle ages for the masses of cattle....

Fuck! Is there not anyone sane???


"Look mom, a Tidal wave!"
"That's nice dear, I've been meaning to talk to you about boys' and girls' pee-pees, let's go sit near the shore!"

Choggie - I agree with you that the Iranian president Ahmadinejad is an ill-informed bigot. But you are wrong about the Iranian imams. Sure some of them are very orthodox, some are extremists and some are lunatics. But there are also some gems in the rough. For example, it may suprise you to know that amongst the Ayatollah Khomeini's closest advisers - the supreme religious council - there were imams like Abdel Karim Soroush (عبدالکريم سروش) who advocated the separation of church and state. There are still many imams in Iran who support true democracy and freedom of expression and who oppose the tyranical rule of an intolerant few.

Also don't use terms like 'ragheads' - this term is just as offensive to Arabs and Muslims as the term 'nigger' is to blacks. Please refrain from using derogatory racial abuse when making your points.

Ok I'll do that if the refrain coming from the truly sensitive and wise, those that wish as I do, for the freedoms and rights entitled to all mankind, is a chorus of meaningful, and relevant issues with relation to a country, that has led its leaders, religious or otherwise, to the brink of a shitstorm.

Screw the transsexuals, the issue is the heart, mind, and soul of a peoples!

Oh and there are niggers of every race, creed and color-The biggest nigger of all in Iran, is, no-doubt Ahmadinejad, but there are a slew of little niggers, in the form of "Holy" men", who have a long tradition, of lamb-to-the-slaughter advice, for anyone who has had no opportunity to obtain information otherwise, for centuries!!

Semantics are a motherfucker, huh? Get all bent out of shape with a few expletives and contextually incite-full words, and miss the point.
That point being: Perception is the issue-with regards to any religion, that keeps people ignorant, controlled, and
static. The contribution of Islamic cultures to the rest of the planet is being stifled, by their IMAMS & CLERICS, and their collective leaders exploit ALLLAH, like his imaginary ass was a crack-whore!!!

Now, this knee-grown has lunch to eat. Think I'll have a smoked Sikh! They use better material for their head coverings....that better???

.....oh yeah, you spelled transsexual like a transexual would

...oh and, I was in a film in college, with a pre-op tranny, that looked better after he was she...That still does not change the FACT-that he was, and will always be, a MAN!

Whatever floats yer sinkin' boat, to each his/her/its own....but make your sexual choices, tendencies, or preferences politics or civil rights issues, and you need to be bitch-slapped all the way to therapy....

Choggie, me thinks thou doth protest too much.

Anyways google says 3M hits on "transexual" and 5M for "transsexual" so I wouldn't start a conspiracy about the secret incorrect usage of two S's.

choggie, quantumushroom - "nigger" is not a word to be used casually,
as much as you might want it to be.
Besides being utterly tactless, it's against the rules here.

Thank you.

Well said theo47!!!

..never been known for tact, hate that words are scape-goated, especially ones so maligned and abused, like "nigger", and for the record, and theo47, while the use of certain words may illicit the release of the hounds for those prone to action/reaction (myself guilty more often than suits), a point
with words used flippantly, has yet to be discussed....

Oh and theo47, you seem to see choggie as a carbon of sorts;
coming from the fun-poker of Christianity, I would think you would give equal time, to an equally anemic world view....one whose devotees, are kept in a more ruthless, more vicious from of slavery, than the Blacks in the United States, ever dreamed of. "God Bless Us, Everyone" and Goddamn the imams, the clerics, and Mohammed, if he had truly been a prophet, he would have let the women of his culture, lead.
Allah is not dead. How can a concept have life?
The world is being dosed with a healthy, "This is How", as we speak.

Apologies to anyone who has offended sensibilities, and was upset by my use of words located in the compendium of the English language, or a colloquialism, that, when used in context, is just another thing that brothers say.
Words DO get messages across, sometimes, and this sifter is apparently unskilled, in doing so.

choggie - when you say "Mohammed, if he had truly been a prophet, he would have let the women of his culture, lead" you are obviously rather ignorant of the world we live in.

Currently the largest Muslim country in population, Indonesia, has a woman head-of-state, Megawati Sukarnoputri. In Bangladesh both the Prime Minister's office and the role of the leader of the opposition have been alternating between two women - Khaleda Zia and Hasina Wajed. In Pakistan Benazir Bhutto has headed two governments and Turkey - a Muslim country with a secular state - has had a woman Prime Minister, Tansu Ciller.

Muslim countries have had female Heads of State or Heads of Government long before the United States, Italy, France and many other secular democracies.

Gwaan's reasoned arguments fill this cynic with a glimmer of hope.

Agreed. This one as well.
To all, a thanks for the regards. Thanks.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the freakshow!"
In other more, sensitive words, this post's subject, is not what the collective focus benefits from, other than to "Look at this bizarre and extraordinary example of ( ) behind the glass, and move along, thank you for coming." This is, in light of the people of Iran's current plight and, responsibility, not anything, but a counter-productive form of diversion.....not unlike this sift , for some.
Who gives a rat's ass, category! More importantly, why??!


And that fair sifters (and some not so fair), is, the context!

well said, gwaan

if the imams are sincere, they need to risk their lives, or speak out, and tell the rest of the planet, they hate the most twisted of their similars, ....or better yet, the Collective World Media needs to feed this to the world instead of , "War bad, Peace Good."

other wise the cheap seats will remain , ineffectual

"Whatever floats yer sinkin' boat, to each his/her/its own....but make your sexual choices, tendencies, or preferences politics or civil rights issues, and you need to be bitch-slapped all the way to therapy.... "

You are making the assumptions that there is any kind of choice involved and that transgenderism is necessarily sexual. Both of which are very flawed in my opinion.

Speaking as a male to female transsexual currently in transition I can assure you that this was not a "sexual choice". A deep inadequacy as a boy and a huge need to be a girl, have been feelings that I have experienced since my earliest memories. I can remember attending the birthday of a little girl who went to my preschool when I was 4 or so, and feeling so incredibly jealous that she got to wear a party dress and get presents like Barbie dolls and I did not. Then, of course I would feel ashamed at having felt such things because boys are not supposed to feel that way, and yet I still did. Transsexualism is not a matter of choosing to live out some sexual fantasy, its something that affects you from day one and makes every day a struggle. Had I had any "choice" in this matter I would have chosen to make all of this magically go away, been born a girl and have that thing that every other person in the world takes for granted: a sense of self that matches your body. Failing that magical solution, I would have been equally willing to settle for simply being a "normal" boy, finding comfort rather than anguish in masculinity, and never having to deal with anything transsexual. Of course I had no choice, and instead I have to struggle to find some way to live with being genetically male but only truly able to be myself as a woman. I suppose the only real choice I have in this is between a life of utter despair and unhappiness, and a life where I might be a little less sad all the time. Not much of a choice is it?

Thanks for sharing that with us, scottishmartialarts. It certainly made me understand this a bit better, maybe it will help some others here, too.

Yeah, well said.
Also, Gwaan, I admire your skills. You is well good with talking.

upvote because it's intresting, not because it describes something good.

i'm totally with maudlin who thinks they change gender only because otherwise they will be killed by the government.

it's nice that the operation is free, but it's still a very bad thing: change sex or die.

*dead

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