No matter how profligate such a book like One Thousand and One Nights (known in English as “Arabian Nights) may sound, everything points to the fact that MENA countries have not an unrestrained sexuality. In Islam, sexuality and pleasure are widely described in the Quran, especially in the Sourates 2 and 4, albeit Arabs are schizophrenic with the sex. For instance, in May 2010, in Egypt, “Lawyers without borders” had filed a complaint to the public prosecutor against the publication of the classic “One Thousand and One Nights,” because they said it was lewd.
Against all odds, the first sex shop of the MENA in Bahrain opened in 2008. But, Arab media are still very prudish about sex. During Ramadan, the Egyptian TV serie “Zahra and Her Five Husbands” sparked hostile reactions because the suit and the attitudes of the glamour actress Ghada Abdel Razzaq in the role of a nurse convey a bad image of the profession. In Alexandria, nurses protest against this TV serie.
Women Empowerment?
Women’s rights in the Middle East and North Africa gained clout. A study on Women’s Rights in the MENA (2010) says the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) (in 2005 for Kuwait) give to women the same political rights as men1. In Jordan, the Family Protection Law was enacted in 2008 to protect women from domestic violence or honor crimes and a special Court has been established to “specify the procedures that police, the courts, and medical authorities must follow when dealing with victims of domestic abuse, and to prescribe penalties for the perpetrators”. Education enables empowerment; nevertheless, on average, only a 28 percent of the adult female population in the Middle East is economically active, the lowest rate in the world.
Even if relevant strides have been made toward gender equity and female empowerment, significant challenges still face women throughout their lives. Despite the legal guarantees for women’s right for political and economic participation, stereotypical gender roles are deeply entrenched, limiting women’s employment and decision-making opportunities, which are still the lowest in the world. In Yemen, Salafist muftis said about gender parity that it will lead women out of their homes and mix with men will lead to sexual chaos 2. In Egypt, a former grand mufti issued a fatwa in 2005 that prohibited women from assuming the position of president.
A sociological paradigm shift
However, modifications and changes in society have led to a two-tiered sexuality: one visible and traditional, the other hidden and markedly virtual.
Seemingly, sociological factors such as the extension of the duration of studies, the changes in lifestyles, the urbanization/modernization, etc. led to delay average age of marriage. The average age in the MENA is 30 years for women and 33-34 years for men.
In Lebanon, 46% of 30-34 year olds are single.
Nevertheless, it is possible to have sexual activity. Henceforth, a good many women resort to plastic surgery for hymenoplasty, in order to regain their virginity at any cost and to comply with traditional and familial rules. Oddly enough this misogynist rule is often perpetuated by mothers themselves. Tradition is deeply rooted and intimacy is torn and traumatized by external influences (especially Western media). In Morocco, the controversial movie “Amours voilées” directed by Aziz Salmy evokes without any taboo this topic with the love of a mother whom “violate all the principles she has always claimed”.
Virtual sexuality
Sexuality is torn by poles apart influences. The appearance of the satellite dish in the 1990′s and of the Internet lose young people in a pornographic and virtual sexuality. An analysis of Internet users behavior on GoogleTrends tool sheds light on the queries concerning “sex” since 2004 (See the map below from Google). In the Top10 most sex-countries, there are Egypt (3rd), Morocco (5th) and Turkey (7th).
Google queries concerning “sex”
Few studies show the gap between rhetoric, traditional representations and reality. By and large, prostitution remains the most common mode of male initiation to sexuality and early sexual activity (although lack of reliable statistics) lead to the spread of STD among youth aged 15-30 years. Concerning AIDS, MENA is spared but not saved due to conservative cultural norms. But we observe some taboos and schizophrenic behaviors, as said Dr. Laith Abu Raddad (cf. interview on our blog), that may “entail a health and socioeconomic burden that the region, in large part, is unprepared for”.
In order to conclude, as noticed the Wall Street journal, let the Saudi poetess Hissa Hilal trigger a polemic about women rights. During the reality TV show, Million’s Poet, last May 2010, the spoilsport recited her controversial poem : The Chaos of Fatwas against women sexual segregations in the KSA.
Arab media like Jasad in Lebanon, leaded by the poetess Joumana Haddad, are the modern and smart way to normalize sexuality. But women empowerment and their rights remain essential to shatter the taboos concerning sex.
- This significant step forward for women’s rights led to the election of 4 women in Kuwait Parliament. [↩]
- Yemen continues to occupy the last place in the region as well as in the overall rankings of 134 countries. Yemen remains the only country in the world to have closed less than 50% of its gender gap, and it deteriorates rather this year relative to its own performance in 2008, stated the World Economic Forum Report 2009. [↩]
