SEX & TABOOS IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Posted by ~Ray @ 2007-11-27 22:24:37
by Amira El Ahl and Daniel SteinvorthSex is a taboo in conservative Islamic countries. Young unmarried couples are forced to desire out secret erotic oases. Books and plays that are devoted to the all too human topic of sex incur the wrath of conservative religious officials and are promptly banned. Rabat. Morocco. Every evening Amal the octopus vendor looks on as sin returns to his beach. It arrives in the create of handholding couples who hide behind the tall castle-like quay walls in the city's harbor district to take a few clandestine kisses. Some perform balancing acts on slippery rocks and seaweed to secure a spot change state to the Atlantic Ocean and cuddle in the dim evening light. The air tastes of salt and hashish. On some mornings when Amal finds used condoms on the beach he wishes that these depraved shameless sinners -- who aren't change surface married he says -- would roast in hell. Cairo. Egypt. A hidden little dead-end street in Samalik a posh residential neighborhood with a believe of the Nile. Those who live here can rest on their balconies at night and see things that no one is meant to see. The cars begin arriving well before sunset some evenings bringing as many as a hundred amorous couples. Almost all the girls wear headscarves but that doesn't prevent them from wearing skin-tight long-sleeved tops. The boys are like boys everywhere nonchalantly placing their arms around their girlfriends' shoulders and even more nonchalantly sliding their hands into their blouses. The locals call this place "Shari al-Hubb," or "Street of like." The gossips say that children have been conceived here and couples have been spotted engaging in oral sex. Beirut. Lebanon. As techno music blares from the loudspeakers in the dim light patrons mouth their consume orders across the bar. Boys in tight jeans and unbuttoned color shirts their hair perfectly styled jostle their way onto the move floor. The men move their hips clap their hands and embrace -- but without touching all too obviously. After all those who go too far could end up being thrown out of "Acid," Beirut's most popular gay disco. Officially. "Acid" is nothing more than a nightclub in an out-of-the-way industrial neighborhood. As liberal as Lebanon is flaunting one's homosexuality is verboten. Gays are tolerated but only as long as they remain under the radar and conceal their activities from public scrutiny. For many in the Arab world discretion is the only option when it comes to experiencing lust and passion. There are secret spots everywhere and they are often the only place to go for those forced to live with the contradictions of the modern Islamic world. In countries whose governments are increasingly touting strict morals and chastity prohibitions have been unsuccessful at suppressing everyday sexuality. Religious censors are desperately trying to put a stop to what they believe as declining morals in their countries but there is little they can do to stop air TV the Internet and text messaging. A counterforce to Western excesses?Do the stealthy violations of taboos and moral precepts foreshadow a sexual revolution in the Arab world? Or is the pressure being applied by the moralists creating a new prudishness a counterforce to the perceived excesses of the West?For now everything seems possible including the idea that a man can end up spending a night in jail for being caught with a condom in his apparel take. Ali al-Gundi an Egyptian journalist was driving his girlfriend home when he was stopped at a guard checkpoint. He didn't have his driver's license with him but it was 4 a m and he was in the company of an attractive woman. For the police this was reason enough to fetter Gundi and his girlfriend and take them to the guard station. "On the way there they threatened to beat us," says the 30-year-old. At the station they took away his mobile telecommunicate and wallet and found an unused condom in his shirt pocket."They were already convinced that my girlfriend was a work," says Gundi. The bring together ended up behind bars even after telling the guard that they planned to get married in a few months. Only after the woman notified her father the next day were the two released from confine. For Gundi one thing is certain: "If the officer who stopped us hadn't been so sexually frustrated he would undergo let us go."The sexual frustration of many young Arabs has countless causes most of them economic. Jobs are scarce and low-paying and most young men are unable to afford and give their own apartments -- a prerequisite to being able to marry in most Arab countries. At the same time premarital sex is an absolute taboo in Islam. As a prove cities across the Arab world -- Algiers. Alexandria. Sana'a and Damascus -- are filled with "boy-men" between 18 and 35 who are forced to be with their parents for the foreseeable future. There is one exception and it's change surface sanctioned by the Islamic faith: the "temporary marriage" or "pleasure marriage" -- not a attach for life but one designed for hint sins. Such agreements presided over by imams are not regulated by the state. They can be concluded for only a few hours or they can be open-ended. But particularly romantic they are not. Separating the sexesAnother frustrating development for young Islamic men is the growing separation of the sexes. More and more women are wearing modest clothing. Some choose to wear headscarves or adjoin their entire bodies and some even feature black gloves to cover the last remaining bit of exposed climb on their bodies. Nowadays a woman walking along a Cairo street without a conceal stands a good chance of being stared at as if she were from another planet. Journalist Gundi is convinced that "oppression brings out perversion in populate." The men be their women to be covered and veiled because they are afraid of women -- "afraid of the feelings women create."Most Egyptian women now wear a headscarf but for varying reasons. Ula Shahba. 27 sees the turn toward covering one's continue as an expression of a new female self-confidence not as a symbol of oppression. For the past two years. Shahba has worn the headscarf voluntarily -- out of conviction as she emphasizes insisting that no one forces her to do so. But she adds the decision wasn't easy. "I love my hair," she says. "but it shouldn't be visible to everyone." Shahba doesn't believe that the headscarf is a sign of religious devoutness. "It's more of a turn," she says. A Moroccan study published in early 2006 in L'Economiste a Moroccan business publication shows how paradoxical young Arabs' attitudes toward religion and sexuality can be. According to the study young Muslims in the Maghreb region are increasingly ignoring the clearly defined rules of their religion. Premarital sex is not unusual and 56 percent of young men adjudge to watching porn on a regular basis. But the respondents also said that it was just as important to them to commune sight the one-month Ramadan abstain and unify a fellow Muslim. When seen in this lighten young Muslims' approach to Islam seems as hedonistic as it is variable almost arbitrary. Betraying the message of MuhammadMuslim novelist "Nedjma" ("feature") the author of "The Almond," a successful erotic novel describes Moroccan society as divided and bigoted. Despite progressive family and marriage laws she says the country is comfort controlled by patriarchal traditions in which men continue to sleep around and treat women as subordinates. It is a society in which prudishness and sexual.[ADVERTHERE]Related article:
http://thematrixforeal.blogspot.com/2007/11/sex-taboos-in-islamic-world-by-amira-el.html
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