The researchers focused on three genes
Australian researchers have identified a significant link between a gene involved in testosterone action and male-to-female transsexualism.
DNA analysis from 112 male-to-female transsexual volunteers showed they were more likely to have a longer version of the androgen receptor gene.
The genetic difference may cause weaker testosterone signals, the team reported in Biological Psychiatry.
However, other genes are also likely to play a part, they stressed.
Increasingly, biological factors are being implicated in gender identity.
There is a social stigma that transsexualism is simply a lifestyle choice, however our findings support a biological basis of how gender identity develops.
– Professor Vincent Harley, researcher
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Ali Askar had a sex change operation and is now called Negar
Be Like Others (also known as Transsexual in Iran) is a 2008 documentary film written and directed by Tanaz Eshaghian about transsexuals in Iran. It explores issues of gender and sexuality while following the personal stories of some of the patients at a Tehran clinic.
In 2008, Be Like Others was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize and the Berlin International Film Festival where it won three Teddy Awards; the Amnesty International Film Prize - Special Mention, Reader Jury of the Siegessäule and the Jury Award. The film was shown on BBC television as Transsexual in Iran in February 2008. It is due to be screened at the Seattle International Film Festival in June 2008. Writing for Variety, Robert Koehler called Be Like Others “a powerful window into a once-hidden side of the country” and “a model of non-dogmatic filmmaking on a highly charged topic.”
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Sally Mursi
The case of a married woman called Sally Mursi is by far the most famous among Egyptians who have undergone a sex change. She was operated on 19 years ago. She and many other transsexuals feel humiliated, and think their human rights are being abused in Egypt. On their behalf, Sally has been engaged in an unprecedented decades-old legal battle against Al-Azhar University, which banned her from pursuing her studies at its Medical School for Girls. Wearing lots of make-up and a headscarf, Sally, a former student in Al-Azhar’s Medical School for Boys, defiantly refuses to give into the outrageous stance of Al-Azhar’s officials. Many transsexuals have asked Sally for advice before they too go under the knife.
Male transsexuals, who change their sex for different reasons, are confident that society would adopt a different attitude if girls changed their sex to become boys. Dr Samia Khedr, a professor of sociology, regretfully describes Egyptian society as male-dominated, with males being more pampered than females. According to deep-rooted traditions, prompted by agricultural and economic considerations, Egyptian families in rural areas favour their sons over their daughters; these families traditionally hold a special ceremony to mark the birth of a baby boy.
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Bahrani Lawyer Faouzia Janahi
February 12, 2008
Bahrani lawyer revealed receiving several calls from gulf and arab countries from people asking her to adopt their sex-change cases in their home countries’ courtss. The Lawyer, Faouzia Janahi, said that she is currently handling a case in Bahrain’s courts to reach granting of sex/identity change for a Bahrani girl named Zainab Rabei (33 year old) transitioned to male and named Hussein Rabei. Janahi had received another call from a Saudi girl (38 year old) asking her to take their case to prove she is male, and has refused to reveal about 2 more cases in two other gulf countries.
The Bahrani lawyer asserted that she had previously won a similar case for a girl who transitioned to a man in 2005. However, she requires medical reports from accredited hospitals before getting into the procedures of the case, and refuses to take requests from homosexuals of either gender.
Janahi (who’s been in the career for 9 years) takes pride in the fact that she in the first lawyer in the Arab world to win a case of this type, but she is not the first to take up such a case in court. She was preceded by her Kuwaiti colleague Adel Yehya who introduced 13 sex change cases for his clients, but the Kuwaiti courts denied all the cases after looking into it.
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Reuters - November 5, 2007 - 2:33PM
Hussein Rabei shows a photo of himself in traditional women’s wear sitting on a car with his brother before his sex change. Photo: Reuters
With his wrestler’s build and deep voice, it is hard to believe that Hussein Rabei could ever be mistaken for a woman, but in the Middle East cultural norms can blind people to the glaringly obvious.
Formerly known as Zaineb, 33-year-old Rabei was raised as a girl after being born with genitalia that more closely resembled a vagina than a penis. Arab culture and its rigid views on gender meant doctors ignored growing signs that Rabei may in fact be male, he said.
“When I married, my husband used to say, ‘It’s funny, but when I’m with you it feels like I’m with one of the guys, not my wife,”‘ said Rabei, who is now divorced.
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ANKARA (AFP) Jan 20, 2008
Turkish transsexual Sera Can puts make up on
A unique play in an Ankara theatre ended with a standing ovation this week as the little-known actors — transsexuals and gays raising their voice against discrimination — fought back their tears on stage.
Their play, “Pink And Grey,” put the spotlight on the plight of transsexuals in mainly Muslim Turkey, in the latest initiative of a fledgling but increasingly vocal movement for rights by a community long ostracized and often harassed.
Beaming with pride and excitement, the amateur stars, male-to-female transsexuals Derya Tunc and Sera Can, received congratulations in the boisterous backstage, taking a welcome respite from their actual jobs as sex workers.
“Despite all the discrimination we face, I have no regrets for what I am,” Can cheerfully told AFP. “My only regret is having ended up in the prostitution sector.”
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