I wish to offer some thoughts to your interesting article "The Third Gender" published on Nov. 10, 2011 in the Yemen Times, which I read with much interest.

Let me go back to the 80s, when Yemen (Arab Republic) society was more innocent and less complicated in the way it approached the question of gender mixing in public places. Women were everywhere, in the fields, in the suq and in the majlis. People were more spontaneous; they would appeal to their common sense when going about their life affairs.