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Transgender in India – an interesting twist

2009 March 3
by Shikha

I came across an interesting article on sex change operations in India. With reputed hospitals not willing to conduct them, they’re usually done in underground clinics by quacks. However, the surprise isn’t that this surgery is rising in frequency, it is one of the reasons why it’s increasing.

India has a skewed sex ratio because of the preference for boys. The government has made sex determination illegal to prevent female foeticide, but if a female child is born, many families practice female infanticide. This isn’t restricted to the rural uneducated masses, it is prevalent in educated high class families living in the big cities. Now, parents have thought of another way out: they are forcing their daughters to undergo transgender surgeries.

I was disappointed that the article just stated the issue, gave a few examples of doctors being approached by parents, and then left it and went on to interview individuals who had undergone a sex change. It would have been interesting to read more about it.

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20051212&fname=Sex+change+(F)&sid=1&pn=1

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