Please join Network of Iranian American Society for
Gender, Sexuality & Culture:
A Screening of “Be Like Others”
a film by Tanaz Eshaghian
When: Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
Time: 7:00pm
Where: Caspian Restaurant
In the Islamic Republic of Iran, a country with strict social mores and traditional values, sex-change operations are legal. Yet homosexuality is still punishable by death. Highly feminine and attracted to members of the same sex, yet forced to live in secret for fear of retribution, a generation of young Iranian men are adopting an identity legally allowed to them—transsexual. In pursuit of what one man calls simply, “a decent life,” they flock to the country’s best-established gender reassignment surgeon, Dr. Bahram Mir Jalali, and are counseled by 24-year-old Vida, a post-op woman who claims to be “reborn” but warns of dangers that still await. Iranian-American filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian accompanies several young men as they contemplate and prepare for their transformation, then follows them into and out of surgery. Intimate and unflinching, BE LIKE OTHERS is a fascinating look at those on the fringes of Iranian life—those looking for acceptance through the most radical of means.
The screening of this film will be followed by a discussion facilitated by
Dr. Negar Shekarbi, Licensed Clinical Psychologist.
Bio: Dr. Shekarabi is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist. Dr. Shekarabi completed her graduate work at Pepperdine University where she obtained a Master’s degree in Psychology and a Doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology. Dr. Shekarabi has extensive training working with the college-aged and young adult populations on a variety of mental health concerns including, but not limited to: mild to severe mood disorders, anxiety disorders and stress management, developmental transitions, acculturation issues, gender identity and sexual orientation, self-esteem, and trauma. Dr. Shekarabi currently works as a staff psychologist in a counseling center at a prominent and highly diverse southern California university. She also teaches graduate students in psychology at Argosy University in Orange, CA.
