Since when is it “offensive” to talk about sex and homosexuality?
February 6th, 2008This is a controversial website, I don’t think anyone can argue that we’re all wise and level-headed moderates with no biases or personal influences. We never claimed that we’re preachers who know right from wrong in this world, we simply engage in discourse in order to learn more about ourselves and those around us. And this progressively diverse platform is the best place (at least, for me) to do it.
Despite this site and its projects being a big part of my life, I’ve never shared it with close friends or family. But some time ago last year, I created business cards for the most hard working members at MEY. Recently, I’ve been giving mine out to said friends and family, knowing fully well the risks involved in doing so.
I was expecting a lot of negative responses, and I got them. But I thought they were going to be about having Israelis posting with us as well as some disrespected minorities (i.e, “infidels”) like the Baha’is, self-critical Muslims, and outspoken atheists.
But most of my friends (people I went to school and grew up with) were complaining about the “sex” and “homosexuality” category, noting, and I quote this, that it’s “very offensive.”
Uhm. Why? Just because they’re taboo?
No, apparently, they think it’s because we “invite porn.”
Do our entries really look like this?
Someone please go through the sex and homosexuality categories, and tell us how any of it invites or promotes porn. And then think again about my article concerning sex/porn searches being most apparent in Arab and Muslim societies. Then think about how this is most likely the result of “sex” being treated like an “offensive” topic that should never be discussed in public, not even in educational institutions.
It’s worth pointing out that our articles about sex here are never about the process of sex. We never encouraged young people to have sex before marriage, or that it’s okay to be a manslut or whore. No one here reveals or talks about their sex lives, most of us talk about sex education and the need for it (with regards to AIDS, STDs, and offenses like sexual harassment or rape.)
All of these are taboo, but none of them should be. This censorship is hurting our societies, and especially our youth, and people in turn feel oppressed and emotionally/intellectually sheltered.
Ditto to homosexuality.
I can see how it would be offensive if we posted pictures of people engaged in homosexual activity or sexual behavior in general.
But all we did was give homosexual human rights activists the ability to share their voices, struggles and experiences, or write about the unfortunate things many of them suffer through.
What’s so offensive about that, people? What’s so pornographic and sexual about people defending their rights to be who they are? They have a different sexual orientation and suddenly they’re corrupt and immoral?
Why do many people consider being open about our lives and our societal problems “Western-influenced propaganda” or being outright “offensive”?
Who are we offending exactly? If it’s you, then why?
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Amen! Hallelujah.
I’m so tired of that.
Seriously. And it’s not even being prudish, it’s just being childish and immature. Furthermore, I really think that the people most offended by “sex” are usually the ones who are most sex-crazed, hence porn being amongst our top searches.
The ones complaining about your articles concerning sex are most probably the ones who also support marrying of little girls to dozens of years older husbands – it’s all about their moral authority.
(Damning sex is something even very liberal western societies or familiar with. On another level, sure, but conservatives always seem to concentrate on that topic. You will rather get a weapon than a porn video – wonder, what’s more dangerous…)
You don’t see many people condemning children being forced into this kind of abusive marriage, but say “I’m gay” in public and you’ll be flogged and shunned by society. Homosexuals are damned even though they’re completely harmless. Why do so many people write about and discriminate against homosexuals, but perverted men who run after pre-teens while wooing the child’s parents with money is fine? How come many people consider homosexuality to be disgusting, while raping minors goes unnoticed, even though it’s much more prevalent?
Why are we being criticized for talking about this? It’s absurd that people aren’t. It’s time for us to break the silence. You can censor yourself if you choose to, but don’t try and censor the rest of us. No one has the right to do that.
It’s bad enough regional governments keep an eye out on the kind of stuff we do, now we got our own families and friends trying to shut us up.
I’m sorry to the friends whom I know are reading this, but I hope you’re as hurt and offended as I was at your shallow complaints.
[...] “Offensive” Word Author: Drima (Sudan) – February 7, 2008 So Esra’a told a story and asked “since when is it “offensive” to talk about sex and [...]
The Arab World is still in the Middle Ages – Mollahs and Imams are ruling and the people are “submitting”…
Esra’a, I don’t really understand the dynamics of hate. Why are we so quick to hate someone of this or that minority?
My guess is, although it may sound a bit simplistic, is that it makes us feel good about ourselves to hate someone else.
It’s not easy to look at a mirror and see all our faults. It’s quite a bit easier to take the mirror and break it over someone else’s head. It’s easier to pretend that all our problems are not our own fault, but the fault of others instead, be they gays, or Jews, or blacks, or Latinos, or what have you.
When we look outwardly for solutions to our problems, it’s easy to find plenty of people to hate. When we look inwardly for solutions to our problems, then we realize that we all have problems, and that we share much more in common than divides us.
It is time to look at the mirror, instead of at the window. As someone once told me, when you point your finger at someone else, three fingers are still pointing at you.
Sorry about the double message, I thought I lost it, and here it’s back. What can I say? It’s all part of the ride.
I can’t believe that people are linking this site to promoting porn. Somebody needs a remedial lesson in searching the Web. I mean, if I want to look at porn, I just have to go to Google Images, unfilter the results, and type in just about any damn word at all.
As for the whole gay thing, we’ve had the complete rights package here for about 2 decades now, and the latest generation still hovers around the 2% mark for identifying themselves as gay. Our society didn’t collapse (as far as I can tell, I don’t pay that much attention to what’s going on downtown).
Oh well, mabye the gays, the Jews, the Islamic radicals, the Illuminati, the Freemasons, the Gangstas etc., simply haven’t been able to schedule a convention to overthrow us “normal” people
It’s not so offensive to talk intimately about sex and homosexuality.Talk about the mechanics, the nuts & bolts of what makes someone’s religion tick and one is called an Islamphobe and racist.
Best simply to write nice-nice, sweet things about another’s religious beliefs.