Cape Town mom tells of sex change

2012-04-05 11:31

Cape Town - A Muslim mother from the Cape Flats is ready to undergo the final operation that will turn her into a man.

The Daily Voice told the heartbreaking story of the 34-year-old woman but didn’t identify her. Shafieka (not her real name) told how she had felt like a man trapped inside a woman’s body since she was a little girl.

Three years ago, she finally sought medical help and started on the long and painful journey of becoming a man. The final operation, to reconstruct her vagina into a penis, was due to be carried out this week.

She told of a difficult childhood in a conservative Muslim family, in which she always wore baggy clothes to hide her body.

She was sexually abused by friends and family since the age of 4 and went to live with relatives when she was 14. She was raped again when she was 16.

Although she was interested only in girls, she was married at the age of 22 and fell pregnant, despite problems in the bedroom.

She gave birth to a boy and when he was 6 years old, she told him that she was going to make a huge change to her life.

Soon afterwards she began hormone treatment, then she had her breasts and womb removed.

Reporters commented on how masculine she appeared, with a moustache and a deep voice – finding it hard to believe that she was technically still a woman.