sexuality

Two terms that you'll almost never see juxtaposed: latex burqa. But I saw them in a blog by a woman who wears one on a regular basis. Assuming that this isn't a grand hoax, this is a woman who lives in Ireland, is in a sub/dom relationship with her husband, and wears restricting and enveloping garments made of latex 24/7. No mention is made of religious or cultural background, but the author is clearly educated, fluent in English, and has an active social life, although her world is filtered through a layer of latex and any restrictions that her husband (who she calls "Sir") may choose to impose.

My question in the headline comes from this sentence of an article about the American Christian movement: The religious right is "not simply a religious movement or a political movement; it has also, and above all, been a sexual movement."
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This blog is about sex. For those who are too prim and proper, please do not read.

It stopped raining. I'm sitting in my living room, waiting for the primrose oil to moisten my body.

I have been frustrated. I have been swept up in a routine and endless days of work and parties and bills and bills and bills. Responsibilities. No time for me. No time to relax and find out what i want to do with life.

I realize what's been missing in my life. Independence. Gypsy-like seizure of the day. Great sex.

A bride may await me, someone who I do not know, someone who is eager to accept the proposal and draw up the contract that will legally define our relationship. I don't know what to think, where will she live? I have no means to support her, I can barely support myself right now as a student. I hope this is nothing more than talk, and nothing that may become reality, but I have a photo of her, I'm single now, but what to do?

I'm wondering if there is any way to discuss what modesty is and means to people, and what are the supposed intentions of being modest? Is it contextual (ie I'm modest for wearing trunks in stead of speedos in Brazil)? Is it perscriptive (in all circumstances you will wear THIS)? Or is it wholly personal (what I think works works)?

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Sexual Ethics and Islam is finally in my hot little hands, so get yourself to a bookstore and get it NOW. I'll try to post a review soon.

In case you've been hiding under a rock for the past three weeks, Inside the Gender Jihad is in stores now as well, so pick them both up and save yourself a second trip.  

Speaking of jihad, more on the Fashion Jihad later, and I mean it. 

Now, I've got to get reading!

*mwah* 

I've just read Michael Muhammad Knight's story, "Progressive Islam and the Double-Dong Brothers." There are any number of things which could be said about it, and maybe I'll say them some other time.

For the moment, I'll say that for me, it raises a number of questions about the role of sexuality in the lives and imaginaries of North American Muslims.

In Knight's story, women are essentially objects. Men look at them, lust after them, do things to them. And, of course, write about them. And apparently, women like it---not that it really matters.

How brutally familiar it all is for those of us who are familiar with typical conservative Muslim discourses on gender, marriage and the family---the sort of discourses which do not bother to disguise the male-centredness of their worldview with flowery rhetoric:

I'm sure you're waiting with bated breath for "Sexual Ethics and Islam" by Kecia Ali. And if not, you should be. It will be available shortly in fine bookstores everywhere, insha'Allah, and if you don't have a fine bookstore near you, then get on over to Amazon. But its very title has sparked a curious line of thought.

If Muslims are to strive for moral excellence, I can't see how this would exclude intimate acts and relationships. Passages of the Qur'an would concur with this view, but the Qur'an also condones certain acts that would now be seen as morally repugnant (sex with slaves, sex with those who would now be considered underage), and condemns certain acts that many don't consider immoral in this day and age. Classical fiqh can complicate this issue, lending authority to ideas that now seem hopelessly outdated, if not repellent. There are arguments  to support the maintainance of tradition, and equally sound arguements to support change that is consistent with Qur'anic injunctions of justice, mercy, and respect for universal human dignity. So my question: how do we find the eternal ethical and moral principles that should guide us through the ages? Preserving the past for the sake of preserving the past isn't any more consistent with the Qur'an's teachings as change for the sake of change. In the bedroom and beyond, Muslims will need to separate fads from new moral insights, and outdated custom from established moral principles. It may be a mood killer, but before we turn down the lights, we're going to need to have a discussion on how to follow the straight path- even when it's strewn with discarded clothing.