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| Srl | Item |
| 1 |
ID:
087289
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| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
In recent decades, the age of marriage in many minority Muslim communities has risen so that significant numbers of Muslims in these contexts are remaining unmarried into their late 20 s and beyond. As with other communities in Western contexts, Muslim communities have also experienced a rising divorce rate, leading to many more single women. These social and demographic changes, combined with traditional attitudes towards female sexuality and virginity, have led to a rise in the number of women who have either never had a sexual encounter or who no longer have sexual encounters. Cultural discourses surrounding virginity and female celibacy frequently conflate the virtue of refusing sexual encounters outside of marriage with happiness and satisfaction at 'choosing the right path'. However, these discourses negate or downplay women's sexual desires and result in women often feeling trapped into having to perform the 'myth of the happy celibate'. To disrupt this myth is to unleash the potentially destructive power of female sexuality, while to openly challenge it is to risk being positioned as a 'slut'.
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| 2 |
ID:
087291
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2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Islam's explicit condemnation of homosexuality has created a theologically based homophobia which engenders the intolerance of homosexuals by Muslims. In this article I explore Muslim attitudes towards homosexuality and homosexuals as this area has elicited very little research. Based on structured interviews with 68 Muslim male and female heterosexuals I examine the connection between participants' attitudes towards homosexuality and their understanding of gender and gender roles. I also analyse whether participants' views are shaped by their religious beliefs and values. Age, gender, education and level of religiosity are analysed to see whether they affect attitudes. Data suggest that participants held negative attitudes towards homosexuals and this is the result of being religiously conservative in their attitudes towards homosexuality and gender roles.
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| 3 |
ID:
087286
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| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Academic and popular discourses of Islam and Muslims, particularly within the
Western context, tend to focus on macro issues such as multiculturalism, community
integration, political management, and governmental policies. This scenario is
primarily propelled by the geopolitical sensitivities surrounding a key question-
what Turner (2007: 123) has called 'the management of Muslims'. Under this
climate, some may consider the examination of sex and sexuality inconsequential
and insignificant, at best an endeavour within the confines of theology and ethics
(good works in this area include e.g. Ali 2006; Wadud 2006). Yet, as scholars such
as Plummer (2003) and Richardson (2000) have rightly pointed out, although issues
about sexuality are seemingly personal, private, and intimate, they have a significant
public and policy dimension because they are related to our status and rights as
citizens, thus inextricably linked to other aspects of social life. I am therefore
grateful to Gabriele Marranci for inviting me to edit this special collection which
aims to illuminate a grossly under-studied aspect of Muslim lives.
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| 4 |
ID:
087294
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| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Drawing on qualitative data from interviews with twelve queer Muslims in Australia, this article analyses the ongoing struggle for queer Muslim recognition within the context of the so-called 'Clash of Civilisations'. Analysing the rhetoric of national security and 'Western' civilisational identity, this article interrogates the incorporation of sexuality into the cultural and political discourse of the 'war on terror', from the xenophobic demonisation of Muslims as sexual predators, to liberal Islamophobia that posits Islam as an aggressive and alien Other against which liberal capitalism must be defended. Within this hostile environment, queer Muslims in Australia are articulating various strategies for finding meaning in their lives. From a Marxist perspective, this article analyses these strategies for recognition which range from complex acts of 'closeting' sexual, ethnic and religious identities, to subversive acts of critical hybridity that seek to negate the exclusionary nature of homophobia and Islamophobia within Australia's multicultural society.
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| 5 |
ID:
087292
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| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Muslims today are increasingly re-examining gender and human rights in the light of Qur'anic teachings, and these issues crucially intersect in the terrain of sexual autonomy. The Qur'an insists that men and women are spiritually equal, yet dominant interpretations of sexual rights in Islam are not gender symmetrical. This paper asks whether Islam's depiction of sexuality and marriage allows a space for female, and non-heterosexual, sexual autonomy. It also explores current interpretations of Islam, sexuality and same-sex relationships amongst British Muslims who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered. Large issues are at stake for contemporary Muslims re-examining their institutions and identity. Does marriage remain authoritative when paradigms of sexuality shift, and what does this mean for sexual autonomy in the wider Muslim consciousness?
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| 6 |
ID:
087287
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| Summary/Abstract |
The article investigates the way unmarried Muslim girls in contemporary Dakar construct their sexuality. It explores in what way and to what extent female sexuality is being silenced, and if any, in what way pleasure and sexual agency are present in the narratives of those girls about their intimate lives. Such an analysis is called for in relation to understanding young people's safe sex practices and concerns about reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. Women's own experiences and understandings are often downplayed in studies that focus on and reproduce the dominant discourse of patriarchal control. This article shows the silencing in a male-centered construction of pre-marital sexuality in Dakar, but also reveals female pleasure and sexual agency. This multi-dimensional understanding of female sexuality of Muslim girls in Senegal provides a more dynamic insight of the power processes surrounding safe sex practices.
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