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La Bourgeoisie, le sexe et l’honneur
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La Prostitution antiphysique
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L’Inversion sexuelle
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Leçons sur les déformations vulvaires et anales produites par la masturbation, le saphisme, la défloration et la sodomie
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—Biology; Criminal; Degeneracy; Endocrinology; Ex-Gay; Fascism; Genetics; Hirschfeld, Magnus; Inversion; Medicine; Perversions; Psychiatry; Psychoanalysis; Treatment.
MIDDLE EAST, the
Geographically speaking, the region known as the Middle East is not strictly defined. It covers an area that stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Oman, from Turkey in the west to Iran in the east. Out of a core of sixteen countries that are defined as belonging to the Middle East, twelve are overwhelmingly Arab in population. This region, unsurprisingly, reveals clear differences in general practices and attitudes, especially with regard to homosexuality. This can be largely explained by two factors: religion and the influence of the West. In the Middle East, religion is a dominant force, be it
Islam, Judaism
, or
Christianity
. Social practices and attitudes are largely determined by these forces; as a result, in various countries in the region, religious minorities have conformed to the social norms of the majority. The degree of openness to foreign cultures in any given country, however, has a direct impact on the degree of homophobia experienced there, in that notions of LGBT identities are largely tied to European and North American ways of thinking.
Taken as a whole, the Middle East is one of the most hostile regions in the world for homosexuals; of the nine countries in the world where homosexual acts are punishable by death (as of 2008), four are in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Yemen, to which we could add Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, and Chechnya, bordering states that also participate in the region’s cultural dynamic. (Despite the concentration of capital punishment for homosexual acts in this region, it is interesting to note that the highest number of homophobic murders occurs in Brazil.) The facts are overwhelming if one also takes into consideration other countries in the region where informal, social homophobia is rampant despite the lack of statistics, on the murder of homosexuals for instance. Moreover, we must assume that the populations of the Middle East have long since learned to avoid the rigors of law, which are severely applied but less often than one would think, given the legal inefficiencies of many countries in the region. And as homophobic as these states may be, their hostility toward gays and lesbians should not be thought of as inevitable and irreversible. Far from being the “natural” expression of local societies, on the contrary, this attitude is only part of a history that still remains to be retraced.
In fact, since Antiquity, the Middle East has been home to homosexual or pederast cultures that flourished greatly, not only during the ancient Persian era, but also afterwards, under Islamic-Arab domination. Verses proclaiming love for young men appeared in the work of certain poets who are among the greatest Arabic authors, such as Abu-Nuwas and Hafez Shirazi. Moreover, the ascetic sect of Sufism gave birth to many mystical texts that were strongly homoerotic, in which the love of God and the love of youths appear to follow common paths, such as in the writings of Mansur al-Hallaj, Jalal al-din Rumi, and Umar Ibn al-Farid. Many writings depicted beautiful young men (
fata, mourahîq
) and dainties (
ghilman
) who aroused the desire of men, princes, and kings, as in
Gulistan
by Shaykh Sa’di, or in
One Thousand and One Nights
, which was collected over many years and included the work of many different authors; some stories in it featured amorous relations between women, an event rare enough to be noted. But this sensual, erotic
literature
, still present in the
ghazal
(lyrical poems of the Persian and Urdu traditions), is not well known given that it was often voluntarily hidden or diligently expurgated by
censorship
in eras that followed. However, barely thirty years ago, Iran still had a relatively lively homosexual community (something that current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who claims that there are no homosexuals in Iran, would be loath to admit). Contemporary hostility toward gays and lesbians thus corresponds to the rise of
Islam
, especially to Islamic fundamentalism, in a reactive logic in relation to the West, whose power is perceived as more and more imperialist, menacing, and hostile. Fundamentalism appears as a means of resistance in the name of identity and, in this context, despite native traditions, homosexuality cannot be perceived as anything other than a foreign import linked to Western gay and lesbian movements; in other words, it is necessarily bad. It is possible to turn a blind eye to the discreet practices of a few homosexuals, but any activity that takes place out of the shadows is considered an intolerable affront. In Muslim nations, the hostility toward homosexuals is thus a dynamic of opposition, propagated of course by religious and nationalist dogma that is highly critical of the West in general, and the United States in particular.
These few details will doubtlessly allow for a better understanding of the foundations of contemporary homophobia in the Middle East. For a start, if we consider the two factors which have an impact on Middle Eastern attitudes on homosexuality—Islamic fundamentalism and the influence of the West—the region can be divided into three groups: those states dominated by Islam and generally opposed to Western influences; Turkey and Cyprus, whose populations are essentially composed of non-Arab Muslims and Christians, more open to Western influences; and Israel, a mainly Jewish country, and very much influenced by Western culture.
The Muslim States
The predominantly Muslim countries of the Middle East are generally defined as the following: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the Palestinian territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Official information concerning homosexuality in these countries is quite limited.
These Muslim societies are regarded in the West as sexist, in that women are largely subordinate to men in practically every field. They are also heterosexist in that they value exclusively the heterosexual model. The members of the same family always live together, have practically no privacy, and often children only leave the household when they get married. Interaction between the sexes is very limited, though it varies according to the country, each person having his or her strictly defined social role. In the Muslim world, homosociality is the norm. Gestures of affection between men or between women are common, and can be made publicly, as long as they have no sexual connotation. For a Westerner, the rarity of women in public places and the physical displays of affection between men can appear surprising. But as long as a man acts in a masculine manner, he is honored and respected (even if he privately penetrates another man); if he acts in a feminine manner, or if he adopts the “passive” role, he is dishonored and considered to be a degenerate. In these societies, gender and sex categories are defined in relation to power structures, to positions of dominance and subordination, and to normal or deviant behavior. Under these conditions, homosexuality is not linked to an identity (gay or lesbian), but rather to a behavior (inappropriate acts that do not conform to gender or status). If we define homophobia as the American psychologist George Weinberg did—i.e. the fear of being in a closed space with homosexuals—the term may be inappropriate for these societies since individuals live in close contact with those of their own gender. What the Muslim man fears most is that he not be perceived as a true man. Thus, the term “homonegativism,” which defines the tendency to oppose homosexuality on moral grounds, may be more appropriate.
In Muslim states, the distinction between what can be done in public or in private is more rigorous than in the West. Most often, homosexuality, and sexuality in general, are subjects that are not spoken of in public, sexual education being, for the most part, nonexistent.
Thus, basic knowledge on issues relating to sexuality (including homosexuality and other subjects such as the prevention of HIV) is, in general, lacking; this ignorance obviously feeds homonegativism. The homosexual issue is not perceived the same way depending on if it is expressed in public or in private. In private, sex between men is more or less accepted, as long as it is kept quiet and certain rules are obeyed. In fact, there are many Muslim men who have engaged in homosexual practices at one time or another in their life. For the rest, certain sexual relations between men of different ranks are permissible, notably between older, wealthy men and younger, poorer men. Homosexual practices, sometimes for money or other favors, are common among young men before
marriage
. But in public, social pressure is enormous, as is the price to pay for deviant behavior. Under these conditions, most men end up getting married, all the while continuing to have occasional homosexual encounters. Despite the regularity of these practices, for these men, the homo- or bisexual issue does not constitute a particular identity.
With regard to sexual relations between women in the Muslim world, information is even more scarce. In the most conservative Muslim countries, women are confined to the home, and even in more liberal countries, according to the dominant thought, women are not supposed to have any independent sexual desire: they must content themselves with satisfying their husband’s desires. All sexual contact between a woman and a person other than her husband is rigorously condemned. In many Middle Eastern countries, the “honor” killings of women and girls by members of their own family are intrinsically linked to inappropriate female sexuality: adultery, premarital sex, and homosexuality.
An interesting fact is that in certain countries, transgenders are relatively tolerated in public and are not confronted by the same hostility as are homosexuals. Male actors and dancers can adopt feminine attitudes. In Iraq, there are the
mustergil
, biological women who dress as men in order to free themselves of the many restrictions normally imposed on women; this phenomenon appears to be partially tolerated by the community. Similarly, in Oman, there are the
xaniths
, who are perceived as “botched” men, or a sort of third gender. These are biological men who have homosexual relations, but who are allowed to marry; they dress and act in public according to social norms that are halfway between male and female. In other countries, the situation is also sometimes paradoxical. In Iran, for instance, where homosexuality risks execution, sex change operations are completely legal, even partially funded by the state. Such operations are also legal in Turkey.
There are no officially recognized LGBT organizations in Muslim nations of the Middle East, but there are associations that meet rather clandestinely. In general, meetings are held in private homes; if they occur in public places, they are normally disguised in order to not attract the wrath of authorities. In Dubai in 2005, twelve men were jailed after being arrested preparing for a gay commitment ceremony. Gay meeting places are strictly underground, with a few exceptions. These meeting places are usually not exclusively gay, otherwise they are extremely discreet. In a recent edition of the
Spartacus International Gay Guide,
the listing for Egypt includes cruising areas and many bars and hotels in large cities, including Cairo, where there is also a dance club and an escort service. The listing for Jordan mentions only two bars, one dance club, and a restaurant in the capital city of Amman, and a few cruising areas. In Lebanon, in the city of Beirut, there are two dance clubs, a bathhouse, and a few cruising areas. In effect, there are very few gay and lesbian places listed, and these are countries that are more open to Western influences. In these countries, it is still possible to meet people who can clearly assert their gay or lesbian identity. But sexuality cannot be freely spoken of in the
media
, and homosexuality in particular usually appears in the context of one
scandal
or another. In such cases, the “criminals” are described in demeaning terms. There are numerous websites on homosexuality in Muslim countries of the Middle East, but it is significant that the majority of them—if not all—are hosted by Western service providers (e.g., Al-Fatiha, the Gay and Lesbian Arabic Society [GLAS], and Huriyah).
Many of these countries apply Islamic religious law, or
sharia
, the basis by which homosexuality is condemned by fundamentalists. Homosexual acts, both male and female, are now illegal in every Arab country in the Middle East, with the possible exception of Iraq, where homosexuality was legal until 2001, when under pressure from fundamentalists it was criminalized by Saddam Hussein; its legal status is unclear at present, but this has not prevented religious militias in the ongoing civil war from actively murdering homosexuals.