My 2₵ on Fatine

OK so this may be a little late, but apparently even until now I can't let the topic slide.

I read an article somewhere on the internet where this supposedly conservative MP was backing Fatine up, urging her to return to Malaysia. He said something about Fatine being khunsa; of course many comments that followed the article protested greatly. Was Fatine/Fadzil really a khunsa? What IS a khunsa?

Back in school, especially when we were being thought about 'sembahyang jemaah', the definition of khunsa that was fed to our young minds was of a person with both male and female genitalia. A khunsa may be imam to women but not to men, and a khunsa may not marry unless to another khunsa (correct me if i'm wrong about the marriying part).

Now, after almost 5 years in Medical School, learning a brief stint of Embryology (the study of human development, from development of sperms/ovum to zygote, a mass of cells and eventually a fully-formed human being; and everything that can go wrong) as well as Paediatrics (especially with regard to genetic anomalies and congenital/birth defects) I can tell you that such condition does nit exist. No person has 2 external genitalia. However, what does happen is that a baby is born with Ambiguous Genitalia. To simplify, the clitoris may be large and looks like a penis, or the penis is small and that the scrotum is not formed properly and ends up looking like the labia. That, is just the genitals.

Usually it happens secondary to some form of hormonal irregularities, or abnormalities that occur during the reproductive development of the fetus. Some may physically appear like a normal female, but genetically they are XY and may have testes when further invastigated. Some may be XX, but due to an overactive adrenal gland they may look like men, with deep voices and a full beard, a penis-like clitoris, etc. Nowadays in the West, they call this group of people Intersex. I dont want to elaborate on the various different conditions, because i'm not planning to write a medcal textbook. Just google 'Intersex' and you'll get more than enough. or, read Jefferey Euginides' Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Middlesex. Available in Borders.

Anyway. Let me get to my point. For the transsexuals you see everywhere, like Fatine (I assume), most of them have none of the conditions I've mentioned above because otherwise they would definitely be treated either since birth or extremely-delayed puberty. These people believe they were born in the wrong body, assigned to the wrong gender. My question to you is : Are these people Intersex? can they be considered as Khunsa?

Before you answer, I want you to ponder for a moment. Do you believe in the soul? Do you believe in the mind? Do you ackhowledgne fields like Psychology and Psychiatry? If you answered YES, then you believe that the mind and the soul has its share of illness and troubles. Schizophrenic patients believe (among other things) that the government is tracking their every move. So severe is their belief that most of them (who hv not received treatment) live in fear, afraid to leave the house, never trusting people because anyone can be a government spy. These are their delusions; false and abnormal situations/events that they believe to be real. Now think about the transexual who looks at his own male body and think it is wrong, that they dont belong in this physique. He convinced that he is a woman, depite everything that points otherwise ; his family, his physique, his chromosomes, his hormones. In the West, this condition is known as Gender Dysphoric Disorder, and it is a psychiatric condition. After much extensive councelling, and if the psychological dilemma/trauma is still not lifted, only then Gender Reassignment is prescribed, starting with hormones and eventually surgery. No going back.

What happens in Malaysia is this : if you have the congenital abnormalities mentioned earlier, then gender 'altering' surgery is done; (female-male)the clitoris is shrunk n they'll be on hormones for life. Its not called gender reassignment. Gender reassignment per se such as for the trans community is illegal here. Psychiatric help, i'm not too sure but generally speaking there are waay too few psychiatrists around which is why not all hospitals have a psychiatry Department. So these trans individuals, what do they do? they take hormone pills which are most likely smuggled from Indonesia. they start dressing like women, talking like women, mixing around with women. Once the physical effects of the estrogen takes place, they start being marginalized because people aren't sure if they're men or women. Alpha-males, the "macho men' (whom I despise, for the record) will most definitely make them the butt of their jokes, or sodomize them as a show of 'power', because these people have 'castrated' themselves, by giving up their masculinity. From what i've read, these trans community have a hard time getting jobs due to discrimination (but i see them so ofther in Body Shop, trying to make me put on make-up) so they end up in the sex industry (think, Lorong Haji Taib).

Ok. Now that I've asked you to ponder on the definition on khunsa, intersex and gender dysphoria, i have another point to raise : if these people truly desire to become and live as a woman, meaning their sole concern is their gender itself, how come all of them behave as only 1 type of women, the so-called 'modern' 'chic' 'westernized' 'liberated' type? How come none of them live moderately, even conservatively/traditionally? If any of you watched the movie Transamerica, starring Felicity Huffman as a transsexual (her Oscar-nominated role), she lived her life quietly, goes to church, makes peace with her family, etc. In Malaysia, these bunch go clubbing, drink alcohol, engage in casual sex. Wanna know how to spot a transexual? look for the one with the fake eyelashes, ridiculous heels and the plunging neckline. Its as if once they decided they are women, they are no longer Malay nor Islam. So it begs the question : what IS their primary motivation? What is their problem? Is it that once you embrace an unconventional decision, you have to embrace the other non-conventional norms of your society?

whew, that's a long one. So these are my thoughts on the issue. Do share yours. Take care.