Dec 2nd 2012 – Tehran based “Asr Iran” interviewed Mehdi Saber, a forensic psychologist, after the movie Facing Mirrors had premiered in Tehran theatres three months earlier; because the movie “probably brought the issue of transsexualism into the Iranian public attention for the first time. A Tehran University graduate, Saber described transsexualism and “the issues facing those suffering from it.”
“Unlike hermaphrodites, transsexuals are completely men or completely women… so they don’t have any physical or seeming problems. They don’t have any biological problems either.” Saber added “the disorder in transsexuals is in their emotions, tendencies… meaning a physical, biological female has male emotions, tendencies and behaviors. She believes she should have been a man. Her male emotions and tendencies are trapped in a female body.”
When asked about the differences between homosexuals and transsexuals, Saber explains: “A male homosexual knows that he is a male, yet has tendencies towards other men… a homosexual never wants to undergo sex change operations.” He explains that being a transsexual is a mental disorder, but “we should not forget that ‘mental disorder’ doesn’t necessarily mean a serious mental disorder like people who are abnormal with unnatural behaviors… the parents might gradually realize that the behavior of their child is different from other members of their gender.”
Dr. Mehdi Saber explained how Iranian parents deal with this problem. “Some parents might even encourage the different behavior of their ill child in early years of childhood, because those behaviors might come off as interesting and funny… but [as the child grows] those behaviors worry the parents.”
He says that children like this are “obviously blamed, belittled and are sometimes given insulting titles. Parents get worried after the child reaches the college years, since these behaviors become more visible and they are frightened that their child has a sexual deviation (perversion)… Most families blame these children, reject (disown) and confront them… We don’t see many families understanding the disorder in their children and visiting psychologists for consultation… It is the children who visit psychologists after contentions with families and being disowned.” He points out that while the families resist acceptance of the “disorder”, personal studies and visiting [sources] on the net allows children to realize that there is a disorder in them that needs to be addressed. According to Saber, this “resistance” from the family’s side is “natural” because “this is not a problem that can be easily accepted. Families fall into contention and a sense of guilt. Parents sometimes accuse each other for causing this problem in their child’s behavior. As a result of these quarrels, children suffering from the sexual disorder leave home.”
On the religious side, Saber notes that a person called Fereydoun Pourmalek Ara was the first person to visit Ayatollah Khomeini in Paris (where he lived in exile prior to the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran) and explained the issue. After the revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini gave him the permission to undergo the operation. “The late Imam [Khomeini] released a Fatwa stating that sex change operations are not problematic from a religious standpoint, if they are approved by skilled specialists.” He explains that the permission for the operation must be issued by the “Iranian Legal Medicine Organization”, after the case being approved by numerous “psychology experts” and other experts in the organization including surgeons and OB/GYNs.
According to him, there are 750 – 1500 transsexual individuals in Iran’s 75 million population. “The number of people visiting the organization is much higher than this, but realization of the people who really suffer from this very disorder” is up to the experts to decree.
He believes that the “Facing Mirrors” movie was produced “based on detailed and correct research and it portrays the person suffering from the disorder in an expressive way.”
“The movie has functioned very well in enlightening the public as to the challenging issue, considering the existing limitations for discussing this subject. Generally it was an instance of cinema’s service to the society” Saber concludes.