An investigative journalist uncovers a hidden custom in Afghanistan that will transform your understanding of what it means to grow up as a girl. “An astonishingly clear picture of this resourceful, if imperfect, solution to the problem of girlhood in a society where women have few rights and overwhelming restrictions.”—The Boston Globe In Afghanistan, a culture ruled almost entirely by men, the … culture ruled almost entirely by men, the birth of a son is cause for celebration and the arrival of a daughter is often mourned as misfortune. A bacha posh (literally translated from Dari as “dressed up like a boy”) is a third kind of child—a girl temporarily raised as a boy and presented as such to the outside world. Jenny Nordberg, the reporter who broke the story of this phenomenon for the New York Times, constructs a powerful and moving account of those secretly living on the other side of a deeply segregated society where women have almost no rights and little freedom.
The Underground Girls of Kabul is anchored by vivid characters who bring this remarkable story to life: Azita, a female parliamentarian who sees no other choice but to turn her fourth daughter Mehran into a boy; Zahra, the tomboy teenager who struggles with puberty and refuses her parents’ attempts to turn her back into a girl; Shukria, now a married mother of three after living for twenty years as a man; and Nader, who prays with Shahed, the undercover female police officer, as they both remain in male disguise as adults.
At the heart of this emotional narrative is a new perspective on the extreme sacrifices of Afghan women and girls against the violent backdrop of America’s longest war. Divided into four parts, the book follows those born as the unwanted sex in Afghanistan, but who live as the socially favored gender through childhood and puberty, only to later be forced into marriage and childbirth. The Underground Girls of Kabul charts their dramatic life cycles, while examining our own history and the parallels to subversive actions of people who live under oppression everywhere.
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The Underground Girls of Kabul is a fantastically informative, provocative, and depressing look at the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan. Author Jenny Nordberg begins with a quest to unravel the mysteries of those girls who are raised as honorary sons in boy-happy Afghanistan. The practice, which she traces across much of the former Zoroastrian empire, is hundreds (thousands?) of years old, and practiced by families from every ethnicity and income bracket. In fact, Nordberg first considers the issue when she learns that one of the female Parliamentarians has an honorary son – and was once one herself.
Nordberg approaches to her subject matter thoughtfully, delving into the historic, religious, and cultural origins of the practice, as well as the present day norms. Nordberg is also careful to consider how such fluid gender designations – accompanied by rigid gender roles – impact the identities of those who experience life as girl-boy-woman. (Perhaps not surprisingly, little if any attention has been paid to this issue in Afghanistan.)
Through this lens, Nordberg also provides a glimpse of daily life in Afghanistan – and, boy, is it depressing. Although, as long time Kabul resident and expat Carol le Duc observes to Nordberg, “This can be an awful place to be a woman. But it’s not particularly good for a man, either.” No matter: however rich, intelligent, or ambitious, the lot of an Afghan woman’s life is unquestionably bleak; it’s certainly a study in contrasts to those women profiled in All the Single Ladies. Such notions of independence are clearly many generations are away for All the Afghan Ladies.
(This review was originally published at https://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2018/11/the-underground-girls-of-kabul-in.html)
Jenny Nordberg has given us a fascinating look into a hidden phenomenon of extreme patriarchal societies: a form of gender-bending far riskier and more rewarding than Western academia’s trendy, abstract gender categories. Nordberg’s reporting is thorough and sensitive, her writing vivid and insightful. You will not forget this book; it will haunt you.
The Underground Girls of Kabul is a riveting, firsthand account of what life as a girl is like in Afghanistan and how it often means becoming a boy. Jenny Nordberg has written a compelling and important work that exposes the profound gender prejudice that exists, in different forms, all over the world.
Hard to really get into the book. It took me a while to follow the story.
Very intriguing, illuminates such a different culture.
So much that is not well known about the conflicts in Afghanistan is revealed in this book. Everyone needs this eye-opener.
Excellent read, interesting story and appealing to humanitarians.
Another eye opening documentary of the limited rights of women
I enjoyed the information and learning about Afghanistan. It was very interesting.
This is a very good book that elucidates an interesting occurrence and explores traditions which still have a great deal of influence on current culture in Afghanistan
I do not want these books please do not send them
This book offered eye-opening insight into an aspect of the Afghan culture. I found it fascinating how patriarchy taken to an extreme can so warp a culture that the only solution in response to it is just as bizarre.
Fascinating insight into a different set of cultural norms
We all need to know more about this culture and why we are fighting this was.
Not what I expected. Turned out to be result of research into girl children raised as boys for the families convenience and then reverting them back to girls at puberty. Basically the girls have considerable freedom that they lose at puberty. Sad.
The subject matter and characters are most interesting. I would have given it a better rating if it had been better edited. The book was too repetitious. It would have a greater impact without all the repeats. Still I would recommend this book.
This book is a real eye-opener. I was not fully aware of what societal rules Afghan women and girls had to cope with until I read this book.
Couldn’t put it down. A very compelling, well-written, eye-opening book.
Expected to learn about there culture , heartbreaking & hopeless
This was a fascinating book about what it means to be either female, male, or a bacha posh in Afghanistan. I was riveted.