Gaza City (CNN) -- Two Palestinian teenagers stroll amid the mounds of rubble left by last year's Israeli military offensive, listening to the tinny beat of a Turkish pop song playing on a cell phone.
Nadir Mohammed Saleh and Ahmed Fayiz Abed Rabo are cousins and next-door neighbors. With their gelled hair, buttoned-down shirts and jeans, they look much like any other 16-year-old Palestinian boy. But looks, Ahmed says, can be deceiving.
"Only my appearance, my haircut and clothing, makes me look like a boy," Ahmed says, gesturing with his hands across his face. "Inside, I am like a female. I am a girl."
Until last summer, both Nadir and Ahmed were -- for all intents and purposes -- girls. They wore female headscarves, attended girls' school and even answered to the female first names Navin and Ola.
Both Nadir and Ahmed were born with a rare birth defect called male pseudohermaphrodism.
Deficiency of the hormone 17-B-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17-B-HSD) during pregnancy left their male reproductive organs deformed and buried deep within their abdomens.
At birth, doctors identified Nadir and Ahmed as girls, because they appeared to have female genitalia.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. "The proof of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" Revelation 19:10
You're talking about people with XY chromosomes who, due to an identifiable hormonal defect, have undescended male genitalia.
Their personal identity is a complicated matter, but what makes you think that they're women.
Or that biological males who dress in male clothing are "cross-dressing?"
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. A wise and inspired person, fully worthy of emulation.
I'm glad that these kids are getting support from their families...even as they receive few medical help. Even in the US, children with this type of disorder will probably experience significant adjustment issues. At least the children in Gaza have other role models to look up to.
__________________ "If the human body's obscene, complain to the manufacturer, not me."
I'd be interested in knowing more about their personal senses of identity...
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. A wise and inspired person, fully worthy of emulation.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. If you accuse me of being a bot, please be aware that the views expressed are those of my programmer.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Linear Mode
