March in Times Square!

I'll write more about this later, but here are the details. The facebook event page is located here.

ONE YEAR AFTER THE MASSACRE
STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH GAZA

Date:

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Time:

1:00pm - 4:00pm

Location:

42nd st & 7th Ave, Times Square

Assemble at 42nd st and 7th ave, Times Square
March to the Israeli mission.

-Stop starving the people of Gaza! Lift the blockade now!
-Free Palestinian Political Prisoners! Prosecute Israeli war criminals now!
-End all U.S. aid and trade with the racist state of Israel!
-Support the Palestinian people's Right to Return!


Endorsers:
American Muslims for Palestine, American-Iranian Friendship Committee,
Anakbayan, Arab Muslim American Foundation, CUNY Law School
Middle Eastern Law Student's Association, December 12th Movement,
FIST (Fight Imperialism Stand Together), International Action Center,
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Jersey City Peace
Movement, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, MAS Freedom Society,
NYC Labor Against the War, NYC Jericho Movement, Pakistan-USA
Freedom Forum, Turath: The Arab Students' Organization at Columbia
University, U.S. Palestine Community Network (NY Chapter)


Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
info@al-awdany.org - call 718-228-8636

Sex and the Married Muslim

I thought I'd comment on another interesting article on Salon.com while procrastinating on my other finals work (one is for the same class! I am so weird)!

Anyway the article is titled Sex and the Married Muslim and can be found here. I actually wish I had found this sooner, back before life was throwing me several curve balls, because it would've been an interesting add-on to a couple on my anthropology papers. Basically, the article is about a television sex expert a la Sue Johanson, only Dr. Heba Kotb is an Egyptian woman who gives advice to married Muslims. And her argument? That sex is a gift from Allah to his followers and that it's in the Qur'an that [married] people are supposed to enjoy it. And while I don't know about the first part of that sentence, the second part is definitely true and something we learned the first or second day of our class.

Personally, I think it's great, even if her advice is obviously ethnocentric. The biggest exclamation points comes when she talks about homosexuality, but honestly homosexuality is so taboo in Islam that I think it isn't necessarily bad, what she is doing. Unlike Christian reform camps for gays, her perspective on conversion therapy seems to come mostly from a sexual perspective. I don't honestly believe what she does actually makes them straight, but I think it probably helps them to suppress their desires, which is better than the alternative where they get caught and imprisoned, harassed or worse. Still, I wish someone had asked her what her perspective is on gay animals when she said that she believed homosexuality is unnatural. That, to me, is the most obvious and most logical argument against homosexuality being a choice, since that would require that animals have the reasoning skills to make a choice.

Another exclamation point occurs when she talks about female desire not being "a call of nature". But again, she's obviously a product of her culture.

Edible Underwear!

If anyone out there is reading this- DON'T WORRY! My account hasn't been hacked and I haven't suddenly decided to change my blog into a porno. Instead (for class!) we read an article about edible underwear and other sexy lingerie in Syria. It was pretty interesting. Unfortunately, it said Jordanian woman prefer the plan old cotton version (I kid!). I thought it was actually pretty great at first, that Syrian woman could feel secure feeling sexy in a society we think of as unspeakably strict. Then the article mentioned that the main customers are mothers buying underwear for their daughters to bring to the marriage bed so that their husbands don't lost interest and get another wife and it made me really sad. I hope that there are woman who buy them for themselves in order to feel sexy, but it seems to me to be another case of women doing things in order to capture or hold men's interest, not because it's what they actually want (except, apparently, for Palestinian women). At least it's not playing to stereotype in one way: it's an article about Middle Eastern men who (at least in the bedroom) don't seem to want passive, respectful wives.

I wonder what it would be like to live in the middle east and be bombarded with images from the West, especially when it comes to marriage. I don't know if it's any better to be in a monogamous marriage, then a plural one necessarily. There would be jealousy, of course. But if you knew you were well and truly loved and you loved your sister-wives? I think maybe it could be beautiful. It would be tough (very, very tough) and very, very rare, but I think there might be examples. In one of her books our teacher talked about a plural marriage where the husband divorced one of his wives, but one of his sister-wives let her live with her family, because she considered her family just as much. Obviously that marriage didn't work out since the first woman and the husband divorced, but I think sometimes the women in the middle east must make it work, because otherwise it would've died out as an institution. I truly think if plural marriage was just always misery and then more misery then it would've stopped happening, because people need something to hope and to strive for.

Does that make sense or does it just sound hopelessly naive? I understand that they grow up thinking it's God's way for men to do what they want and I know a great deal of plural marriages must be hell. But a signifigant number of western marriages end up hellish too.

I don't know. I think I'm just in a strange mood brought on by a full moon and too many episodes of HBO's Big Love (I'll miss you cable television!). Forgive me for my foolish thoughts! Sleep well everyone else! And if anyone out there reads this and happens to be a student, I wish you much better luck than I got on your finals schedule; may whatever deities you deem worthy of belief bless you with good grades!

Happy Eid Al-Adha!

I constantly forget how many people I know who attended my old school that are Muslim, but then facebook reminds me! I bet the blogosphere in Iran is all abuzz! Too bad I don't speak Farsi.

To fellow Americans out there (but especially abroad! I know how you feel darlings!) Happy Thanksgiving!

Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces

In class we've watched a very strange movie called Halfaouine. I think what struck me the most about the film was the obsession the main character (who is only 13!) has with sex. It excludes all else in his life and yes, he's 13, so he can't be incredibly mature or anything, but it really bothered me when the servant girl he played around with was sent away and all he can do is smile. Another interesting thing in the film was how the men may own the spaces women spend their time, but it was the women in the film who ultimately made the decisions that affected the household. The men may let the girl in, but it's the women who kick her out when her attractiveness becomes a liability. At one point the man of the house tries to kick out his wife's cousin because she wears and does what she wants, but as soon as it's discovered she can contribute to the house, he leaves it alone and she continues to do what she wants.

Now there's a Muslim Barbie!

Story here

Paradise Now!

For once, couldn't there be a happy Sayid??