Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in Moslem Societies

224 Pages·2013·1.28 MB·English

by  John Dececco

Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in
Moslem Societies
HAWORTH Gay & Lesbian Studies
John P. De Cecco, PhD
Editor-in-Chief
New, Recent, and Forthcoming Titles:
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Murphy Bad Boys and Tough Tattoos: A Social History of the Tattoo with
Gangs, Sailors, and Street-Comer Punks by Samuel M. Steward Growing Up
Gay in the South: Race, Gender, and Joumeys of the Spirit by James T. Sears
Homosexuality and Sexuality: Dialogues of the Saual Revolution, Volume I by
Lawrence D. Mass Homosexuality as Behavior and Identity: Dialogues of the
Sexual Revolution, Volume II by Lawrence D. Mass Understanding the Male
Hustler by Samuel M. Steward Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in
Moslem Societies edited by Arno Schmitt and Jehoeda Sofer Men Who Beat
the Men Who Love Them: Battered Gay Men and Domestic Violence by David
Island and Patrick Letellier
Sexuality and Eroticism Among Males in
Moslem Societies
Arno Schmitt
Jehoeda Sofer
Editors
First Published by
The Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580
This edition published 2011 by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
© 1992 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilm and recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Reprint - 2007
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sexuality and eroticism among males in Moslem
societies/Arno Schmitt, Jehoeda Sofer, editors.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56024-047-4 (alk. paper)ISBN 0-918393-91-4 (pbk.) 1. Homosexuality, Male–Islamic
countries. 2. Gay men–Islamic countries–Sexual behavior. 3. Sex–Religious aspects–Islam. I. Schmitt,
Arno. II. Sofer, Jehoeda, 1944-1990.
H076.2.I74S49 1991b
306.76’62’091767l–dc20
91-2316
CIP
Publisher’s Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some
imperfections in the original may be apparent.
DEDICATED TO JEHOEDA SOFER 1944–
1990
This book is dedicated to my co-editor and friend whose life was as rich in
diversity and texture as the world in which we live.
Jehoeda Sofer, born into a Jewish family in the Moslem city of Baghdad, Iraq,
grew up in a neighborhood of Oriental Jews in an Israel that perceived itself as a
part of the West. Jehoeda viewed himself as an Arab Jew. He loved the land of
Palestine/Israel and felt the awesome beauty of Jerusalem/Al Quds with never
diminishing intensity.
Jehoeda dedicated his life to a deeper understanding of the culture, literature,
and heritage of the peoples of the Middle East and to the dissemination of
knowledge. He fought for the oppressed regardless of race, religion, sex,
economic class, nationality, political beliefs, or sexual orientation.
After moving to Amsterdam, Jehoeda played a vital role in both the Dutch and
international movements for gay and lesbian rights. He was an integral member
of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, where he was especially
involved with Third World concerns. Both in the Netherlands and in the Jewish
communities of Europe and Israel, he was an active proponent for peace in the
Middle East, striving for the reconciliation of Jews and Arabs.
As an author of numerous articles, Jehoeda greatly contributed to the better
understanding of the underlying conflicts and possible solutions to the problems
in the Middle East as well as for the oppressed. His many Palestinian friends
learned through him that a Jew, a gay Jew at that, could fight for the freedom of
Palestinians and Israelis and for peace between the states of Israel and Palestine.
He kept his dignity even into death. He chose to be buried as a Jew. Both the
publishers and I regret that he was unable to see this book in print.
To my friend and colleague,
Arno Schmitt
Berlin, November 7, 1990
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Arno Schmitt studies Islamology at the Freie Universität in Berlin. He has
recently compiled a bibliography of nearly 30,000 items on male-male sexuality
and eroticism in Moslem society. He lives in Berlin.
Jehoeda Sofer (1944–1990) worked as a journalist in The Netherlands, where
he was undertaking country-by-country research on legislation concerning
sexual activities between males. He was a frequent contributor/editor to
publications on homosexuality and on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He had
been active since 1975 in the Dutch and the international lesbian and gay
movement.
CONTENTS
Foreword
Jeffrey Weeks
Preface
Acknowledgments
Different Approaches to Male-Male Sexuality/Eroticism from Morocco to
Usbekistān
Arno Schmitt
An Italian in Morocco
Gianni De Martino
Moroccan Boys and Sex
Andreas Eppink
Among Syrian Men
Gary B. MacDonald
Intimate Look of the Iranian Male
Jerry Zarit
The Persian Boy Today
David Reed
Tehran: Dangerous Love
Hélène Kafi
Turkey on the Brink of Modernity: A Guide for Scandinavian Gays
Mehmet Ümit Necef
The Dawn of a Gay Movement in Turkey
Jehoeda Sofer
Transvestites and Transsexuals in Turkey
Thijs Janssen
Not-So-Gay Life in Karachi: A View of a Pakistani Living in Toronto
Badruddin Khan
Testimonies from the Holy Land: Israeli and Palestinian Men Talk About Their
Sexual Encounters
Jehoeda Sofer
Arab Men in Paris
Dominique Robert
Sexual Meetings of East and West: Western Tourism and Muslim Immigrant
Communities
Arno Schmitt
Sodomy in the Law of Muslim States
Jehoeda Sofer
Liwāṭ
Charles Pellat
A Critique of John Boswell’s Writings on Muslim Gays
Arno Schmitt
Islam
Maarten Schild
Man of Ashes: A Film Review
Jehoeda Sofer
Bibliography
About the Contributors
Index
Foreword
Until recently, “homosexuality” was seen as a minor part of our common
history, the preserve of the prurient or the “special interest.” Today, thanks
largely to the efforts of lesbian and gay historians, we can see clearly its
centrality: studying same-sex eroticism and relationships throws light on a whole
culture, illuminates the complex ways of life within it, and above all informs us
about the prevailing power relations around gender and sexuality. This book
does just that for the Muslim societies it explores.
There is much that could be said concerning the rich material in this book. I
would like to start, however, by looking a little more closely at that word
“homosexuality” which I have put in quotation marks. It is a word we now take
for granted as having a universal meaning. It implies a common psychological
type, a common set of desires and sexual practices, and common meanings,
which would allow lesbians and gay men to recognize one another across time,
and across cultures. It suggests a truth about people’s needs and personal
characteristics which sets “homosexuals” apart, the eternally different.
The recent historical, sociological, and anthropological work suggests
something different. We now know, for example, that the concept of “the
homosexual” is of very recent origin. The term “homosexuality” itself was not
invented until 1869, and the idea that homosexuals belonged to a common
sexual species was largely an invention of sexology, the would-be science of
sex, which developed in the West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
This does not mean, of course, that same-sex erotic activity did not exist
before then. On the contrary, there is abundant evidence of it. The crucial point,
however, is that it had different implications from the ones we now impute to it.
To put it bluntly, homosexuality, like all forms of sexuality, has different
meanings in different cultures—so much that it becomes difficult to find any
common essence which links the different ways it is lived, apart that is, from the
pure sexual activity itself.
On a world scale, however, historians have now begun to trace two great
patterns by which different cultures have attempted to come to terms with same-
sex activity. The pattern that by and large has predominated in the West until