The Underground Girls Of Kabul: Surviving the gender wars

Girls to boys: Mehran Rafaat (left), 7, stands next to her 11-year-old twin sisters, Benafsha and Behishta, outside their family home in Qala-e-Naw, Badghis Province, Afghanistan. When she was five, Mehrans identity was changed by her parents to male because of societal pressure to have a boy in the family. Her previous name was Manush, a girls name. When Mehran reaches puberty she will likely resume the identity of a female so she can marry. Photo: Adam Ferguson

Girls to boys: Mehran Rafaat (left), 7, stands next to her 11-year-old twin sisters, Benafsha and Behishta, outside their family home in Qala-e-Naw, Badghis Province, Afghanistan. When she was five, Mehran's female identity was changed by her parents to male because of societal pressure to have a boy in the family. Her previous name was Manush, a girl's name. When Mehran reaches puberty, she will likely resume the identity of a female so she can marry. Photo: Adam Ferguson

The Underground Girls Of Kabul: In Search Of A Hidden Resistance In Afghanistan