{"id":9800,"date":"2018-09-14T11:53:05","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T09:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/?p=9800"},"modified":"2018-09-14T18:39:11","modified_gmt":"2018-09-14T16:39:11","slug":"an-arab-spring-of-love-matters-al-hubb-thaqafa-defies-sexual-taboos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openasia.org\/en\/2018\/09\/an-arab-spring-of-love-matters-al-hubb-thaqafa-defies-sexual-taboos\/","title":{"rendered":"An Arab spring of love matters \u2013 Al Hubb Thaqafa defies sexual taboos"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE GUARDIAN<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

By\u00a0Dr Shereen El Feki\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The social media site offers young women in the Middle East the chance to talk about sex openly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Al Hubb Thaqafa offers young people access to an agony aunt and Q&A sections to discuss menstruation, contraception and sex without judgement. Photograph: Peter Andrews\/Reuters<\/h6>\n

The social media site offers young women in the Middle East the chance to talk about sex openly without criticism.<\/p>\n

The Middle East is not known for frank, open and mature discussions about sex, but a social media platform is hoping to change that.\u00a0Al Hubb Thaqafa\u00a0<\/a>offers young people, particularly girls, straight talk on sex, love and relationships in Arabic. The name means \u201clove is culture\u201d and the site aims to tackle taboos surrounding sex by offering visitors not just the facts of life, but also a chance to ask questions, express opinions and debate with one another \u2013 opportunities still rare in Egypt and the wider Arab world, when it comes to sexuality.<\/p>\n

The formula has proved hugely successful; since its launch almost a year ago, Al Hubb Thaqafa\u2019s main website has received more than 3m views, mainly from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, with almost a quarter of a million users following the the complementary\u00a0Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter feed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Al Hubb Thaqafa is part of\u00a0Love Matters<\/a>, a collection of similar platforms targeting audiences in half a dozen languages and markets around the world. They\u2019re run by\u00a0Radio Netherlands Worldwide<\/a>\u00a0as a media development project, part of a wider remit to encourage freedom of expression and human rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you see most often is that sexual reproductive health programmes online and offline solely focus on avoiding sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies,\u201d says\u00a0Michelle Ernsting, head of Love Matters<\/a>. \u201cBoth are important for young people, but these are not what draw people to sex. Young people have sex because it feels good. So why not use pleasure, love and relationships as the way to address taboos?\u201d<\/p>\n

This pleasure principle has been rolled out across half-a-dozen websites since 2010, targeting audiences in India, Kenya, China, Mexico and Venezuela \u2013 and now Egypt. There is no shortage of sexual context accessible to internet users in the Middle East \u2013 Pakistan,\u00a0Egypt<\/a>\u00a0and Iran top the Google league tables for sex-related searches \u2013 but material available in Arabic tends to be either pornographic or puritanical with nothing in between.<\/p>\n

Given the absence of sex education in schools, and general reticence within families to broach such a matters, young people are largely at a loss when it comes to accurate information and advice to help them navigate their sexual lives. Much of Al Hubb Thaqafa\u2019s main website consists of the nuts and bolts of sex and reproduction, but its most interesting and popular pages take visitors far beyond.<\/p>\n

Local bloggers tackle taboos head on through their own experiences; one fascinating post by a male contributor puts the \u201cmen\u201d into \u201cmenstruation\u201d by recounting his own shopping adventure\u00a0buying sanitary pads<\/a>\u00a0for his sister, and asks what makes this basic bit of biology so culturally awkward.\u00a0Online agony aunt Marwa Rakha<\/a>\u00a0tackles visitors\u2019 predicaments from straight-up heartbreak to the finer points of BDSM.\u00a0Discuss with Me<\/a>\u00a0asks visitors to vote on hot topics, from polygamy to homosexuality, and explain their positions. In a society where keeping up appearances means that women often hesitate to talk about sex \u2013 even with their husband \u2013 the chance for a free and frank exchange with men on such matters is, for many, unprecedented.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Indeed, women are in charge at Al Hubb Thaqafa: its editorial team, many of its contributors and almost half of its Facebook followers are female. There are few more remarkable sights in the Arab region than that of a woman showing male viewers how to roll on a condom (indeed, women showing men how to do anything is notable in its own right), but this is exactly what Alyaa Gad, an Egyptian sexologist, tackles, and more,\u00a0in a series of hugely popular videos<\/a>\u00a0on the platform\u2019s YouTube channel, which have attracted more than 5m views since launch.<\/p>\n

So far, reaction from the region has been enthusiastic \u2013 the usual fatwas that condemn any challenge to the sexual status quo as a corruption of \u201ctraditional\u201d values have yet to be flung. The creators of Al Hubb Thaqafa are keen to keep it that way, and in their choice of topics, use of language and selection of images, walk a fine line between awakening, and shocking, their audience.<\/p>\n

We haven\u2019t seen as free and frank an exchange on sexuality in the region since the golden age of\u00a0Arabic erotica a millennium ago<\/a>. The climax of the Arab Spring may be a distant memory, but Al Hubb Thaqafa and its newfound freedom of expression is a welcome sign of things to come.<\/p>\n

Dr Shereen El Feki\u00a0<\/a>is the author of\u00a0Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World<\/a>. Follow\u00a0@shereenelfeki<\/a>\u00a0on Twitter.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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