This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Centers for East Asian Studies and Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Here in Las Salinas, a remote village in the southwest of the Dominican Republic, the onset of puberty brings more than the usual physical changes for a small group of people known as guevedoces. Although they appear to be completely female at birth and are brought up as little girls, when puberty hits, they start to look like boys – muscles sprout and previously hidden male sex organs suddenly appear. While some guevedoces, which translates as “testicles at 12,” keep their female names and identity, most welcome the transformation and live out their lives as fully functional males. This phenomenon has been traced to an enzyme deficiency during fetal development and it is hereditary and extremely rare. Even rarer, is the community’s widespread acceptance of this naturally occurring trans-gendering transition: Mija? Mijo? No problema!

With thanks to Danika Swanson for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.