(no subject)

[sophiaserpentia]

In 1983, Iranian transwoman Maryam Molkara paid a visit to the house of Ayatollah Khomeini, to plead her case. Here is an account of that meeting, as reported by the Guardian UK (and posted here in transnews). What stands out about this is the obvious difference between Iranian and western culture in their underlying conceptions of gender, as illuminated by their respective responses to transsexuality.

As Kate Bornstein points out in Gender Outlaw, not all cultures have a completely invariant conception of gender assignment. In their orthodox forms, religions like Islam and Judaism prescribe gender-based restrictions on women and men, but they do not necessarily presume that "once a man, always a man, or once a woman, always a woman." Under the perspective that it is possible to change, and under the perspective that transsexualism is a medical and not a moral issue, one could remain faithful to the tenets of their orthodox faith while transitioning. An Orthodox Jewish perspective, for example, might have this response to transsexualism in regard to restrictions in the Torah on men's behavior.

As she approached the compound, armed security guards pounced and began beating her. They stopped only when Khomeini's brother, Hassan Pasandide, witnessing the scene, intervened and took Molkara into his house.

There, Molkara - then bearded, tall and powerfully built - hysterically tried to explain her predicament. "I was screaming, 'I'm a woman, I'm a woman'," she says. The security guards, fearing Molkara was carrying explosives, were anxious about the band wrapped around her chest. She removed it to reveal the female breasts underneath. The women in the room rushed to cover her with a chador.

By then, Khomeini's son, Ahmad, had arrived and was moved to tears by Molkara's story. Amidst the emotion, it was decided to take Molkara to the supreme leader himself. On meeting the near-mythic figure in whom she had invested such hope, Molkara fainted.

"I was taken into a corridor," Molkara says. "I could hear Khomeini raising his voice. He was blaming those around him, asking how they could mistreat someone who had come for shelter. He was saying, 'This person is God's servant.' He had three of his trusted doctors in the room and he asked what the difference was between hermaphrodites and transsexuals. What are these 'difficult-neutrals', he was saying. Khomeini didn't know about the condition until then. From that moment on, everything changed for me."

Molkara left the Khomeini compound with a letter addressed to the chief prosecutor and the head of medical ethics giving religious authorisation for her - and, by implication, others like her - to surgically change their gender. It was the fatwa she had sought.

Comments

Remarkable.

[kwarizmi.livejournal.com]

This is a point in favor of religions which place much cannonical power in its living clergy, as Islam does. They aren't totally bound by outmoded sexual mores rooted in days long gone by.

I've learned something today. Thank you.

Re: Remarkable.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

It also demonstrates the power of listening when it occurs in the absence of ideology... something about which I've been learning a lot this week.

Re: Remarkable.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Do you have a link to the yahoogroup itself? I would like to join. Thanks!

[gun-sho.livejournal.com]

That's a very interesting story. Islam is a complex religion. If you haven't checked this book
out before, I recommend it http://www.citylights.com/pub/catalog/BCsacreddrift.html

[aethyrflux.livejournal.com]

some related writings by Hakim Bey/Peter Lamborn Wilson can be found at hermetic.com

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

That looks like an interesting book. Thank you for the recommendation!

[mon462.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. I knew that conservative Islam accepted transsexuality. But I didn't know the story of Khomeini and Molkara. Thank you for posting this.

[touchyphiliac.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[jmurton626.livejournal.com]

Slightly off-topic, but I friended you today after discovering you through ubiquity's friends. *waves* Hi! Your posts are fascinating, although I won't be able to comment much, because your knowledge far exceeds my own in these topics. ;P

/Runs off to lurk on your LJ.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

::waves hello!::

[aethyrflux.livejournal.com]

i would guess that you are already familiar with "When Gravity Fails" by George Alec Effinger?

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

I'm not, but it looks interesting. Thank you!