This place is so screwed up… Everything and anything here is related back to sex. You can’t look at a woman’s hair, it’ll make you think about sex. You can’t look at her face, it’ll make you think about sex. Of course her figure is right out as well. Forget about talking or meeting between the sexes, that could lead to sex. It’s as if they think the only thing that men and women can do together is have sex, it’s repulsive. A common complaint about the US is that there are many references to sex and sexuality in popular media and culture. Fair enough, there is, but at least those are about sex as opposed to, you know, talking to each other… I’m not supposed to go outside with wet hair, why? Well, obviously it means that I just had sex… What? First off, why would anyone care, and second, you only take a shower after sex? Whatever, they will just have to deal with the idea that I’ve just had sex for the 10 or 15 minutes it takes for my hair to dry (shut up, it’s not that crazy an idea that I’ve had sex..), I’m not getting up any earlier for class.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise that their ideas about sex are totally warped. There’s plenty of stories about women being blamed for being raped over here (I still haven’t figured out how if she’s a whore and asking for sex that she could be raped. Rape means that she didn’t want it…), but it is much weirder when it comes to “homosexual acts.” Homosexuality is, of course, haraam, but you’d be amazed at what the popular culture considers a “homosexual act.” What we back in the states would consider gay sex happens very frequently over here, but get this, the one, um, receiving, is the only one considered “gay,” the act of giving doesn’t really have much social stigma attached to it, at least when you’re single. It doesn’t seem to make much difference that he’s doing it to another guy, at least he’s being “masculine.” This is one of the worst kept secrets of the middle east. If only they would fess up to how screwed up their attitudes are towards sex I think it would go a long way towards alleviating the collective neurosis that they have regarding sex.
There has been a rape case in Saudi Arabia that has been getting some attention worldwide recently. A woman was with a man that she was not married to, a guy (or guys) attacked them, both her and the guy were raped(!), and she was whipped and sentenced to two years in prison. Unfortunately, that’s par for the course over here and I’m sad to admit that it doesn’t surprise me. The weird thing is how they treated the guy. There isn’t a legal definition for a man getting raped in KSA and in many other middle eastern countries. So the guy that was raped was given 90 lashes for “performing a homosexual act” and I don’t think that the guy who raped him will be punished for it. That and the prevalence of FGM encapsulates how utterly and truly this area is screwed up.
This is a good warning to all of those that would like the overt sexuality in the US to just go away. I don’t think that it would hurt too much to knock it back a few notches, but I don’t think we should underestimate the value of even a vicarious release for sexual interest. To try to totally suppress it like they do here (and in Victorian England) leads to some really screwed up people. I gotta believe that the brainwashing they receive all their life until they get married can’t just be switched off on their wedding night, there has to be long term consequences to it. How can you have a healthy sex life if you’ve been told it is something to fear and avoid all your life? I think that it is much healthier to be frank, admit that sexual desire is a powerful thing but that it needs to be channelled into healthy outlets. A good psychologist would never run out of clients here…
Anyway, my hair is dry now, I guess I can go to school…