Arab Erotica Teaches Women To Own Their Bodies

Joumana Haddad may be a poet, but she is better known for her infamous magazine, Jasad.

Covering everything to do with the body, topics have ranged from voyeurism and masturbation to polygamy and forced marriage. Needless to say, she is not the most popular woman in the Middle East.

Because the material is so taboo, many question whether they are written by Arabs at all, yet she insists that all the authors are legitimate: “I do not accept fake names.”

One of the goals of the magazine is to try to fight the image of an Arab woman as “the one who doesn’t have any decision over her body, her life,” she said.

• “Even though that image does exist,” she says, there is also another Arab woman who is liberated and emancipated, “and she represents the hope for the first one.”

Part of that liberation is an acceptance of sex as part of the human, and female, condition.

“We constantly and obsessively think about sex, but dare not talk about it. We rid ourselves of one so-called abomination with one hand, then practice intellectual debauchery, which is much worse, with the other,” she wrote.

Growing up in Lebanon gave her an opportunity to see the effect of Christianity and Islam on women, and she is not a fan of either faith.

“I’m convinced that religion in general is one of the worst enemies of women’s emancipation.”

Another enemy — the women themselves. She believes that Arabs are too willing to trade their freedom for riches and an easy life. They “indulge in being a victim” but then do little to demand their rights.

“I frankly don’t feel that many women are doing enough to change their state.”

The magazine proves that at least one is.

Contact the author here: feministinarabia@morningquickie.com