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.

Transsexuals in Egypt are victims of their own decision, being disowned by men and women alike. “We have decided to leave the male community forever,” says a transsexual named Mayy. “But we are also disowned by the female community.” Meanwhile, the decision of Sally to undergo sex change surgery while ‘he’ was studying at Al-Azhar’s Medical School for Boys angered Al-Azhar’s officials. Having been forced to leave ‘his’ medical studies, Sally worked as a bellydancer in a number of nightclubs. The fact that she was once a man made her a source of bizarre fascination for clubbers.

Sally, who’s been busted twice by the Vice Squad for her offensive costumes and seductive performances in nightclubs, says she had to do a bit of bellydancing to support herself after everybody abandoned her. Apparently, a Coptic psychologist and a surgeon were behind Sally’s decision to abandon the male community forever. It remains unclear whether Al-Azhar would have changed their mind, had Sally consulted Muslim doctors over ‘his’ sexual identity crisis, known as hermaphroditism (Correction: GID – Gender Identity Disorder), to use the scientific term.

Sally was apparently born with underdeveloped sexual organs and her family decided the baby was a boy. Her surgeon was criticised for performing the operation, although he says the patient had no womb or female sexual organs. The surgeon was also condemned for mutilating his patient’s sexual organs. Meanwhile, Sally has had to sadly accept that she is barren. She’s been married twice and has no children. During surgery, the patient’s sex organ was removed, while a new urinal orifice and an artificial vagina were created. Sally’s surgeon, Dr Ezzat Ashmalla, has disclosed that such operations have been performed in Egypt since 1920.

According, to the weekly magazine, Akher Saa, the number of Egyptians who want a sex change is increasing, estimating it at 1,500. Dr Ashamalla defiantly says that his most famous patient was suffering from a sexual identity crisis and that sex change surgery in this case was unavoidable and in the patient’s best interests.

Despite the emotional distress their patients suffer, Dr Hamdi el-Sayyed, head of the Egyptian Medical Association (EMA), stresses that the EMA will not tolerate surgeons who perform sex change ops, describing such operations as unethical and blasphemous, the deliberate mutilation and deforming of God’s creation. “Anyone wanting a sex change operation should be examined by a high-level medical team from the EMA to see whether he/she has hidden sexual organs,” Dr el-Sayyed adds bluntly, stressing that any surgeon who performs such an operation would be held in violation of his profession’s Code of Ethics. “Egyptian doctors who perform sex changes operations on homosexuals go against society’s deep-rooted ethical and religious values,” he stresses, in condemning Dr Ashamalla and others.

Dr el-Sayyed’s angry comments about homosexuals are rejected by Mayy, who says that surgery has released her from prison (the male community). She is the eldest of four children. Her, or rather his, three younger siblings were all girls and he never felt he was a boy. “Although everybody around me treated me as a boy, I was suffering inwardly. I felt out of place in the company of boys and only liked playing with girls,” Mayy told Akher Saa. “But my nightmare really started when my three sisters got married. My parents pressed me to get married, but I refused. I then told my mother the secret I’d hidden for many years. My mother refused to listen to my ‘hallucinatory talk’. “She thought I was possessed by evil spirits and reciting the Holy Qura’n and prayers would help expel them,” added Mayy, who eventually managed to contact Sally. She advised her to see a psychiatrist. Mayy complained that psychiatrists at Qasr al-Aini Hospital in Cairo misdiagnosed her. “A female doctor and her colleague accused me of being a homosexual,” the transsexual said. “They refused to understand that I was suffering from a sexual identity crisis.” The transsexual paid regular visits to a private psychiatrist for three years before deciding to undergo a sex change. “It was very expensive (LE 30,000), but that wasn’t a problem,” Mayy continued. “I’d managed to save the money years before that, because I was pretty sure that one day I’d have to break out from my prison.”

Mayy’s problems were by no means over after the surgery. She could only dress up as a woman when she was at home on her own. “My mother knew what had happened, but she appealed to me to keep everything secret. I still had to go to work dressed as a man. I didn’t tell any one of my colleagues about my new identity,” the transsexual said sadly. She has also taken a fancy to one of her male colleagues, but so far hasn’t had the courage to tell him of her feelings. Mayy said she had more freedom when she was a boy. “Men in Egypt have more freedom,” she explained. “Society is more tolerant of the mistakes made by men and restricts girls’ freedom.”

Dr Said Abdel-Azeem, a professor of psychology at Qasr al-Aini Hospital, says that sexual identity crisis could be caused by the hormones of the foetus being disturbed in its mother’s womb. He also suggests that problems in the relationship between a couple may also disturb the sexual identity of their child.

The allegedly callous remarks made by the head of the EMA are also rejected by Dr Mohamed Shaalan, a professor of psychology and psychotherapy. “People with this kind of identity crisis suffer bouts of depression, especially when they are faced by an alien society,” he comments. Apparently supporting Sally’s surgeon, Dr Shaalan says that sex change surgery can help reduce the emotional sufferings of these people. He calls upon clergymen to keep away and stop coming out with mistaken comments and fatwas (religious edicts) on this issue, insisting that psychiatrists and surgeons are the one who should decide.

Mohssen Arishie staff reporter
Egyptian Gazette (Aug, 2007)

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Arabic Translation (الترجمة العربية)

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