Cross about cross-dressing

Is it a wicked Western habit that should be stopped?....

CROSS-DRESSING is on the rise among young Qataris. The local press says that more tradition-minded locals are upset by the growing number of young women affecting a masculine style of dress,baggy trousers,short hair and deep voices. These women,who call themselves boyat,which translates as both tomboy and transsexual and is derived from the English word boy,are being seen in schools and on university campuses where some are said to harass their straiter-laced sisters.

In an episode of a talk show on Qatari television,called Lakom al Karar The Decision is Yours,a leading academic said that the 8220;manly women8221; phenomenon was part of a 8220;foreign trend8221; brought into Qatar and the Gulf by globalisation. Foreign teachers,the internet and satellite television have been blamed. So have foreign housemaids,for badly influencing children in their care.

The studio audience was divided over how to respond. Some called for the death penalty for cross-dressers,while others favoured medical treatment. A rehabilitation centre for Qatari boyat has been set up,but a local report says that as many as 70 of them refuse to give up their 8220;abnormal behaviour8221;.

It is not just Qataris who are rattled. A year ago the ministry of social affairs in the United Arab Emirates UAE launched a campaign against 8220;masculine women8221;. The project,entitled 8220;Excuse me,I8217;m a girl8221;,involved workshops,lectures and television programmes,stressing the virtues of femininity and raising awareness of the presumed dangers of women looking like men. An emirates8217; foundation is helping to fund a research project on 8220;gender identity disorder among Emirati youth8221;.

One official describes the 8220;deviant behaviour8221; of the boyat as a 8220;menace8221; to society. But others sound less fazed. An American university lecturer in the region says the short hair and gym shoes worn by these young women would look perfectly normal on an American campus. That is just what unnerves the traditionalists.

The Economist Newspaper Limited 2009