Cologne – A surgeon was ordered to pay 100,000 euros (141,500 dollars) in compensation on Wednesday for performing an operation converting a hermaphrodite into a man without consent more than 30 years ago.
Claimant Christiane V., who was born without defining gender characteristics, was 18 years old when her reproductive organs were surgically removed without prior information or consent.

The doctor had been found guilty of unlawful intervention at a previous trial in 2008, but a second trial was needed to set the level of compensation.

Christiane V. said she considered herself a woman, even though she was raised as a boy.

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Luders E, Sánchez FJ, Gaser C, Toga AW, Narr KL, Hamilton LS, Vilain E. Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology, UCLA School of Medicine

Gender identity-one’s sense of being a man or a woman-is a fundamental perception experienced by all individuals that extends beyond biological sex. Yet, what contributes to our sense of gender remains uncertain. Since individuals who identify as transsexual report strong feelings of being the opposite sex and a belief that their sexual characteristics do not reflect their true gender, they constitute an invaluable model to understand the biological underpinnings of gender identity. We analyzed MRI data of 24 male-to-female (MTF) transsexuals not yet treated with cross-sex hormones in order to determine whether gray matter volumes in MTF transsexuals more closely resemble people who share their biological sex (30 control men), or people who share their gender identity (30 control women). Results revealed that regional gray matter variation in MTF transsexuals is more similar to the pattern found in men than in women. However, MTF transsexuals show a significantly larger volume of regional gray matter in the right putamen compared to men. These findings provide new evidence that transsexualism is associated with distinct cerebral pattern, which supports the assumption that brain anatomy plays a role in gender identity.

Source: PubMed

By Daniel Williams

March 17 (Bloomberg) — To the Egyptian government, to her doctors, and especially to herself, Sally Mursi is a woman. To al-Azhar University, the most prestigious Islamic school in Egypt and the Middle East, she’s a man.

Twenty-one years ago, Mursi, 43, went through a sex-change operation as she was about to enter her fourth year at al-Azhar’s medical school, where classes are segregated by gender under Muslim traditions of piety. Al-Azhar officials expelled her, saying she couldn’t go to the men’s classes because she was impersonating a woman — or to the women’s classes because she was actually a man.

Since then, al-Azhar has refused to abide by repeated court orders to readmit Mursi, filing appeals. The contest has become a battle between civil law and religious fiat, reflecting conflicting attitudes about sexuality in an increasingly pious country.

For Mursi, the struggle is a singular and lonely quest for self-worth as she challenges a major Islamic institution and copes with public curiosity.

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The Egyptian Medical Syndicate (EMS) organized a new oversight committee, which it mentioned to be constituted of “Top Doctors and Consultants” for the control of “sex change operations”.

Dr. Ahmad Imam, General Manager of the Medical Association, said that the association decided organizing the committee so that it could be consented before “sex change operations” take place.
Imam warned the doctors not to conduct such operations without first consulting with the committee that the association formed, so that the violating doctors not be subjected to legal proceedings. He explained that the committee includes a fine selection of professors and consultants in the specialties of genetics, “masculinity diseases”, psychology, neurology, general surgery and a member of the Egyptian Islamic Legislation Authority.

Dr. Saeed Sayyed, Rapporteur of the Media Committee of the Medical Association, said that the doctor violating the association’s decision in this matter will be transfered to a “disciplinary committee” to be investigated, and this committee will determine his punishment according to the magnitude of the problem.
Sayyed points that the association saw violations occurring due to “scientific reasons”, such as not determining the chromosomes of the patient and whether they were “compatible” with his external appearance, explaining that “it might be the psychological state that is in control of the patient to change his sex”.

By: Mohamed Abdul-Khaleq Musahel
Source (Arabic): Al-Masry Al-Youm Newspaper

It’s worth noting that the Egyptian Medical Association has long banned the sex reassignment (or gender confirmation) surgery for transsexuals, especially after the infamous case of Dr. Ezzat Ashamallah’s operation on Sally Mursi more than 20 years ago, with allegations such as it being a “crime against nature and God’s will to change his creation”.

As a result, we have written a lengthy petition (on 1st of February) aimed mainly at the EMS and a few other local NGOs including the National Council for Human Rights, and still await any official response from the EMS.

The transcript of our letter (in Arabic) can be found on the Arabic version of our site.

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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By Liau Y-Sing

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – When Khartini Slamah first came out as a transsexual, he was a dutiful Muslim son by day and a prostitute by night, working on the streets of the Malaysian capital.

The option of sex change surgery was out of the question in this moderate Muslim country where Muslim transsexuals are banned from changing their gender and same sex relationships are a criminal offence.

“I tried to find a job but because of my sexuality I was turned down,” said the 44-year-old former prostitute who now works as an activist and counselor to other transsexuals.

Twenty years later, sex change surgery may be routine in some countries but it’s still banned by law in Malaysia — at least for Muslims. The ruling doesn’t apply to non-Muslims who make up about half of the estimated 30,000 transsexuals in Malaysia.

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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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