In parts of Afghanistan, some families without sons pick a daughter to dress and live as a boy - a practice known as bacha posh.
In the first half of this encore edition of River to River, investigative reporter Jenny Nordberg talks with Ben Kieffer about what is behind bacha posh, a practice she details in her book, The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan.
“Wherever there’s segregation, girls and women will use this; they will give up on their own gender and try to be something else in order to survive under that system,” Nordberg says. “You can certainly see it both as having an element of resistance to it and also confession to the ruling order."
And, in the second half, Kieffer hosts a discussion on Iowa's dangerously high radon risk. Iowa radon resources can be found here.
