Gender and sexuality
Gay Girl in Damascus was an arrogant fantasy
Comment Is Free, 13 Jun 2011
Tom MacMaster's hoax blog undermines, rather than illuminates, awareness of the realities of being gay in the Middle East
Pride and prejudice: The targeting of gay men in Iraq
Near East Quarterly, December 2010
From discrimination to death – being gay in Iran
Comment Is Free, 15 Dec 2010
Ahmadinejad caused hilarity when he said gay people don't exist in Iran. But his regime's treatment of them is no joke
Pride and prejudice: The targeting of gay men in Iraq
Near East Quarterly, December 2010
Saudi fatwa on female cashiers is an own goal
Comment Is Free, 10 November 2010
In signing a fatwa about female cashiers, Saudi scholars have defied government policy and misjudged the public mood
Saudi Arabia's juggling act on homosexuality
Comment Is Free, 13 Sep 2010
As a gay diplomat seeks US asylum, Saudi Arabia seems torn between wanting a civilised image and appeasing traditionalists
Why Elton John is considered a danger to Egypt
Comment Is Free, 4 May 2010
A move to ban Elton's gig is about fear of social discord. Yet in other ways the Arab world fails to address 'the public good'
Are Saudis being served?
Comment Is Free, 22 Feb 2010
The kingdom has got its knickers in a twist over the delicate question of who should
be allowed to sell underwear to women
A tale of two parties
Comment Is Free, 25 Jun 2009
While 69 revelling Filipinos face prison and flogging in Saudi Arabia, wealthy British expatriates are left to party in peace
A night out in Riyadh
Comment Is Free, 22 Jun 2009
More than 70 men have been arrested in the Saudi capital for being in an 'unnatural state' and wearing women's clothing
Interview
with Abdellah Taia
15 April 2009
The Moroccan writer talks about his book, Salvation Army
What in the World?
Gay Times, April 2009
Though things may seem peachy for gay people in the UK, what is the state of play in the rest of the world?
Ousted by a gay sheikh
Comment Is Free, 16 Feb 2009
An author whose book touched on the sexual hangups of the local establishment has been disinvited from a Dubai literary festival
Beirut breakthrough
Gay Times, December 2008
A report on Helem, the Lebanese LGBT organisation.
Morocco bound
Gay Times, March 2008
Two sides of gay life in Morocco
Boys
will be boys - or else
Comment Is Free, January 23, 2008
Kuwaitis who defy very narrowly defined
gender stereotypes now face prison or a hefty fine
The
long drip of change
Comment Is Free, January 14, 2008
Human Rights Watch published practical recommendations for dealing with 'honour' killings in 2004. What has happened since?
Rights
in practice
Comment Is Free, January 7, 2008
Considering how to deal with 'honour' killings may provide
a model for human rights activism in other situations
Rights
and wrongs
Comment Is Free, January 5, 2008
The view that support for human rights
around the world is tantamount to imperialism is based on a series of
misconceptions
A
king's kindness?
Comment Is Free, December 17, 2007
A rape victim sentenced to 200 lashes has
been pardoned, but the case highlights the need for wholesale reform of the
Saudi justice system
Party
time
Comment Is Free, December 14, 2007
Revellers at a get-together in Morocco
have ended up in jail after a wave of moral panic and accusations of staging a
gay wedding
'No homosexuality here'
Comment Is Free, September 25, 2007
The Iranian president's claims are difficult to sustain, faced with a
centuries-old tradition of homoerotic themes in Persian and Arabic literature.
Dressed
to kill
Comment Is Free, August 23, 2007
The Taliban government in Afghanistan
banned images of the human form, but a collection of photos show a less
familiar side of the regime.
Pink
Planet
New Statesman, July 19, 2007
Brian Whitaker reports on the new
global upsurge in pink politics, from China and Iraq
to South America.
Family
values
Comment Is Free, June 13, 2007
An 'honour' killing caused shockwaves in Britain but it is part of a wider
social tyranny that has blighted the Middle East.
Distorting
desire
Review of 'Desiring Arabs' by Joseph Massad (University of Chicago Press, 2007).
Is
there a doctor in the mosque?
Comment Is Free, May 11, 2007
The dubious medical advice of Dr
Majid Katme, a respected figure in the British Muslim
community, is placing lives at risk.
Tentative
steps
Comment Is Free, May 1, 2007
The Muslim Council of Britain has begun to
move towards accepting homosexuality, but it's a slow journey.
Cape
of Good Hope
Every Thursday evening Muhsin Hendricks gets together
with a dozen or so companions to study the Quran.
Muhsin is an Islamic scholar but also a very unusual
one. He’s gay, and so are the other members of his
study circle ...
(GT magazine, May 2007.)
Signs
of progress
Comment Is Free, March 30, 2007
An encouraging comment on my blog
yesterday pointed towards a positive change in Muslim
attitudes to gay rights.
Righting
wrongs
Comment Is Free, March 29, 2007
The Yogyakarta Principles are a victory
for gay rights. The question now is what the UN will do about the document.
Coming
out in Arabic: Islam, human rights, and gay rights
University of East London,
21 March 2007
Talk given at the Centre on Human
Rights and Conflict.
Axis of Evil
Haider Jaber thought life as a gay man was harsh under Saddam Hussein. Then came the invasion. And the aftermath.
(GT magazine, March 2007.)
Hijab
for men
Comment Is Free, February 20, 2007
Cover up, grow a beard, and avoid red: why
is there more concern over a man who is 'improperly' dressed than one who
beats his wife?
A
woman's place
Comment Is Free, December 20, 2006
A woman was beaten for sitting in the
wrong seat on a sex segregated bus - you might be surprised to learn who the
culprits were.
In
Arabian nights
New Statesman, November 20 2006
Review of the book, 'Sexuality in
the Arab World'.
The
view from Egypt
Comment Is Free, October 12, 2006
It's
not just Britain where the Great Niqab Debate is
taking place.
Victory
for the Riyadh girls
Comment Is Free, October 9, 2006
The hottest novel ever to hit Saudi Arabia has survived a legal attempt to ban it.
Coming
out in Arabic
Guardian Unlimited,
October 2 2006
Brian Whitaker reports on a lesbian group's struggle for acceptance
in the Middle East.
Mecca
is for men
Comment Is Free, September 11, 2006
After
1,400 years of mingling with men in the Grand Mosque,
an (all-male) committee is trying to push women out.
Dubai's
big pink taxis
Comment Is Free, August 17, 2006
Are women-only taxicabs really the
solution to gender discrimination?
A
glimpse behind the screen
Comment Is Free, July 8, 2006
A novel about a gay newspaper editor was a
hit in Egypt - but its movie release has caused a stir.
Call
to censor 'immoral' Egyptian film
The Guardian, July 6, 2006
The Yacoubian Building has broken box office records but
many oppose its portrayal of modern Egypt.
Unspeakable
love
Jewish Quarterly 202, Summer 2006
Homosexuality in the Middle
East and the gay Palestinians who have taken
refuge in Israel.
Behind
the veil: Lesbian lives in the Middle East
Diva magazine, July 2006
Lesbians in the Middle East
lead a dangerous existence. (Alternative version
here.)
Arms
and the women
Comment Is Free, June 20, 2006
What do quotas and armed conflicts have in
common? Both can improve the gender balance in parliaments, a survey reveals.
Let's
talk about sex, habibi
Comment Is Free, June 14, 2006
A Guardian debate explores
the shifting boundaries of freedom of expression in the Middle East.
Sex
and violence: the history
Comment Is Free, June 13, 2006
Is free expression just a matter of time,
place and context? The Guardian and the British Museum aim to find out.
'People
think it's a mental illness'
Guardian, June 13, 2006
In the Middle East, coming out as a homosexual is often unthinkable. Brian
Whitaker talks to young gay and lesbian Arabs about their secret private lives
Sickness
or sin? Attitudes towards homosexuality in the
Middle East
Lebanese Psychological Association, Beirut,
26 May 2006
Text of a talk by Brian
Whitaker.
What's
wrong with being gay and Muslim?
Comment Is Free, May 5, 2006
The
Qur'anic verses usually cited as condemning
homosexuality are by no means as clear or unequivocal
as people imagine.
Sex
crimes
New Humanist magazine, May 2006
The evolution of Middle
Eastern homophobia. Also PDF
version.
Beauty
is only spin deep
Comment Is Free, April 20, 2006
Miss Iraq 2006 sounds like a psyops effort
to persuade Americans that life in Iraq is carrying on as normal.
Sex
and shopping in Israel and Saudi Arabia
Comment Is Free, April 19, 2006
Some interesting light has been cast on
the similarities between Wahhabi Muslims and Haredi Jews.
Those
sexy Arabs
Comment Is Free, March 23 2006
The current portrayals of an "Arab
threat" are increasing the popularity of
"desert sheikh" novels.
Brokeback
desert
Comment Is Free, March 21 2006
It is a pity
Brokeback Mountain isn't showing in the Arab world,
because it resembles current reality there.
Disgrace in the desert
The Guardian, February 28, 2006
Libyan rape victims face arranged marriages or staying locked up in 'rehabilitation'
centres.
'Gay
party' guests face hormone treatment
The Guardian, November 30 2005
More than two dozen men arrested at an allegedly
gay party could face compulsory hormone treatment,
officials in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab
Emirates, said yesterday.
Fundamental
union
The Guardian,
January 25 2005
Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi is a controversial
Islamic scholar who approves of wife-beating and believes in traditional family
values. The Mormon church, having abandoned polygamy more than a century ago,
believes in traditional families too.
Seminal
questions
The Guardian, January 17 2006
A curious religious debate is
raging in Egypt. The question is: should you keep your
clothes on when having sex?
Legally
brutalised
The Guardian,
November 30 2004
Brutal husbands can be a problem anywhere in the
world, but in some countries domestic violence is so common that it's almost an
institution.
Saudi ban on female doll imports
The Guardian,
December 18 2003
Saudi Arabia has banned imports of female dolls
and teddy bears, and shopkeepers have been given three months to dispose of any
stock. The ban also applies to non-Islamic religious symbols, such as crosses
and statues of the Buddha.
Highway to hell
The Guardian,
June 02 2003
There's no accounting for taste, but if you want
to wear a black t-shirt and listen to heavy metal music, is it the government's
business to stop you? If you get a piercing or a tattoo, or dance like Michael
Jackson, is the fabric of society going to be ...
Government disorientation
The Guardian,
April 29 2003
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is
probably the most important document ever issued by the United Nations. It
spells out in clear and uncompromising language "the equal and inalienable
rights of all members of the human family".
Homosexuality on trial in Egypt
The Guardian,
November 19 2001
In 1800, a European traveller to Egypt wrote: "The inconceivable inclination
which has dishonoured the Greeks and Persians of antiquity constitutes the
delight, or, more properly speaking the infamy of the Egyptians ... the
contagion has seized the poor as well as the rich."
An
Arab aesthetic
The Guardian,
November 13 2001
A photo in a Brazilian fashion magazine shows a Muslim woman's face veiled in
black with only her eyes visible. It's an advertisement for lipstick, and the
slogan says: "You who can show it, take advantage of it." Meanwhile, the
chequered keffiyeh - an ordinary, everyday head covering for millions of Arab
men - has become the hottest fashion accessory in Japan.
Making sure the young can marry
September 08 2000
Arab weddings are splendid occasions, often
spread over several days. They are also horrendously expensive.
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