‘The Underground Girls of Kabul’ sheds light on the various facets, effects and outcomes of the practice Bacha Posh in Afghanistan, where girls are brought up as boys in families that have no male members. (Credit: ArmyAmber, Pixabay)

Sex is, by definition, illegal in Afghanistan: The marriage contract is what finally turns it into a permissible act between husband and wife. Many a time, Afghan women joke about the unfortunate “chore” of being in bed with their husbands. But this “chore” becomes unbearable for women who have spent their entire childhood thinking they were boys. Bacha posh, or girls raised and presented to the world as boys, is a ‘hidden’ Afghan custom.