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New Women in Iran, Depaul University, Chicago (May 20, 08) A Glance of Transgender Life in Iran
It is my pleasure to be here, in the University of Depaul today and I should thank Ezzat Goushegir for inviting me and let me talk about Iranian transgender people. Let me read a short report about transgender’s situation in Iran. Iranian transgenders are not immune from torture and persecution. Like their gay and lesbian friends, they are always in danger of getting beaten and arrested by Basiji forces. Basiji forces are not required to show their IDs, and cannot be held accountable for their actions. Transgenders are also the targets of special police forces. Even when special police forces do not have specific orders to arrest transgenders, they can easily fake a reason and form a criminal file for them. Once they create a criminal file for a person, they can take him/her to Mafased (the organization responsible for dealing with moral “corruption”), imprison him/her for days, and subject him/her to physical and psychological torture. Then, they can prolong his/her arrest and torture by sending them to court. At that point, it is the judge who arbitrarily decides whether to set the person free or not. The court process is by itself a horrifying and tormenting process as one needs to bear with the judges’ and officers’ sexist, brutal and demoralizing words and deeds. · Sayeh is one of the many Iranian transgenders who have experienced such governmental acts of arrest and torture first hand. He was arrested three times by Basiji forces and experienced humiliation and abuse at their hands. Basiji forces pushed him into a black car, bombarded him with demoralizing and dehumanizing words, threw paper on his face, and took him to a detention center. At the detention center, he was repeatedly humiliated and mocked at by the detainees and guards. After two days of psychological torture, he was forced to sign papers, guaranteeing not to appear in public anymore with the attire and appearance he had at the time of his arrest. These all happened even though he was just wearing a simple shirt and pants at the time of his arrest. Iranian transsexuals experience humiliation, assault, and abuse, if not outright death, not only from government agents but also from friends, neighbours and family members as well. - In February 2007, a 40-year-old transgender man from the neighbourhood of "Sheikhtappeh" in the city of Orumieh, Azerbaijan was found murdered. The transgender man, who was known as "Giz Naser" (meaning Naser the girl) in his neighbourhood, was attacked and murdered by three men. The three men broke into Naser's house, attempted to strangle him with a telephone wire first and stabbed him to death after. IRQO has been unable so far to acquire more information about this incident. Most transgender individuals cannot get jobs in Iran until they go through the sex-change operation and receive a new identification card. This, however, means that most transgenders lack the financial means necessary for paying for a sex-change operation. As a result, many of them turn toward prostitution in order to collect the money required for the operation. Prostitution brings with it, however, all types of risks and dangers from sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infection to abuse, rape, and murder. The actual process of sex-change operations is not without problem either. Doctors perform these operations with utter carelessness, ignoring the distinct emotional, psychological and physical conditions of each particular individual. They often perform such operations improperly and incomplete, leaving a majority of post-operation transsexuals unhealthy and sick as a result. Often times, individuals do not receive proper, if any, counselling sessions before and after the operation. As a result, many experience depression and suicidal thoughts after their operation. A significant number of individuals go through the operation, coming to realize afterward that they may not even be transsexual. The pressure upon homosexuals and all others who do not conform to the rigid bipolar gender norms of the society is so high that some of these people decide, out of desperation, to go through the surgery, coming to realize only after that their situation has become even worse that it was before. Those individuals who receive psychotherapy are sometimes assaulted and abused by their therapists. There have been incidents where therapists tell their patients to have sex with them if they want to prove that they have feminine emotions. There have been other incidents where transsexuals have been raped by their surgeons. Surgeons are aware that their transsexual patients do not often have financial and/or family support. They, therefore, advance their sexual acts without fear. Victims cannot often file a complaint with the police as police themselves commit the same sort of acts all the time.
This is just a short report of new women’s situation in Iran and I would be delighted to answer your questions if you have any!
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