you wouldn't want to be a child of either sex in Afghanistan

[ensho]

GIRLS

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/world/asia/21gender.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all

Afghan Boys Are Prized, So Girls Live the Part

-snip-

But when their mother, Azita Rafaat, a member of Parliament, dresses the children for school in the morning, there is one important difference. Mehran’s sisters put on black dresses and head scarves, tied tightly over their ponytails. For Mehran, it’s green pants, a white shirt and a necktie, then a pat from her mother over her spiky, short black hair. After that, her daughter is out the door — as an Afghan boy.

-snip-

To those who know, these children are often referred to as neither “daughter” nor “son” in conversation, but as “bacha posh,” which literally means “dressed up as a boy” in Dari.

-snip-

Afghan families have many reasons for pretending their girls are boys, including economic need, social pressure to have sons, and in some cases, a superstition that doing so can lead to the birth of a real boy. Lacking a son, the parents decide to make one up, usually by cutting the hair of a daughter and dressing her in typical Afghan men’s clothing. There are no specific legal or religious proscriptions against the practice. In most cases, a return to womanhood takes place when the child enters puberty. The parents almost always make that decision.

("in most cases"?)

-a very, very long snip full of history and how women deal with this)
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BOYS

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/11780


Are a Significant Number of Afghan Men Raping Young Afghan Boys?

-snip-

Over the past several years the Catholic Church, both in the U.S. and Europe, has been confronted with, and forced to respond to, allegations of sexual molestation and other inappropriate behavior towards children by Priests. The behavior of some of the Church's Priests was horrific, and the cover-up by Catholic Church hierarchy has proven to be even more widespread than originally thought, reaching as far as the Vatican. It appears, however, that the Catholic Church has not cornered the market on pedophilia. The rape of young boys by older men appears to be an acceptable way of life in parts of Afghanistan.

Before the October 2001 U.S. bombing of Afghanistan began, most Americans probably knew very little about the country. Although we now know much more, nevertheless, a recent report from the Human Terrain Team (HTT) AF-6 about rampant pedophilia in Afghanistan caught me by surprise. The unclassified report is titled "Pashtun Sexuality" .

-snip-

Enayatullah, a 42-year-old in Baghlan province -- located in the northeast part of the country - told a Reuters reporter that "Having a boy has become a custom for us. Whoever wants to show off should have a boy."

As Brinkley pointed out "Afghans say pedophilia is most prevalent among Pashtun men in the south." According to Brinkley, in Kandahar, a city with a population of 500,000, "dance parties are a popular, often weekly, pastime. Young boys dress up as girls, wearing makeup and bells on their feet, and dance for a dozen or more leering middle-age men who throw money at them and then take them home." Brinkley reported that "a recent State Department report called 'dancing boys' a widespread culturally sanctioned form of male rape."

-snip-

According to the State Department's "2009 Human Rights report: Afghanistan," "Sexual abuse of children remained pervasive. NGOs noted that most child victims were abused by extended family members. A UNHCR report noted tribal leaders also abused boys. During the year the MOI recorded 17 cases of child rape; the unreported number was believed to be much higher. In January and February, the ANP arrested men in three separate cases of the rape of boys in Jowzjan province. According to the AIHRC, most child sexual abusers were not arrested. Numerous reports alleged that harems of young boys were cloistered for 'bacha baazi' (boy-play) for sexual and social entertainment; although credible statistics were difficult to acquire, as the subject was a source of shame and 'dancing boys' was a widespread culturally sanctioned form of male rape.
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its as if Afghan men think of children as sex toys

on a scale of one to ten, Afghan men are a zero