Comments on: A Jihad for Love: Being Gay in the Muslim World

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:50:16 +0000

Hmm, that must be something very hard to deal with. It is hard enough being white and gay but being muslim and gay, you are just asking for trouble. But I say do what you want and do as you will. All people deserve that right and I surely won’t be the one to stop them.

By: darko

darko — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:13:04 +0000

@interesting

The fear that gay males are competition is a fairly typical view of Arab/Muslim women towards gay males. The typical male Arab gay feels the same towards women.

The source of the conflict here is that most males who indulge in homosexual activity are doing so because of sexual deprivation. And once they are married, they ditch their gay partners.

Conversely the women have to endure unfaithful husbands after marriage.

The resulting heartbreak on both sides is the source of all the animosity and resentment.

By: interesting

interesting — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:04:23 +0000

gay or more significantly bisexuality is relatively common in countries where mix interaction between the two genders is forbidden. it is almost a default. I, being a heterosexual muslim female do feel concerned about these issues.

The real question becomes, what does it mean to be gay? or bi for that matter?
Is it mere fantasizing about sexual encounters, is it dreaming or is actually having a long term relationship with someone of the same gender.

If you say the prior statement, then research shows that “heterosexual” people have some or another fantasy and even encounter and if you say the latter then majority of the gay guys in middle east have not that experience.
Half of them dont even know what is going on besides their practice of sodomy.
thanks to Western movies the whole culture of gay identity has been brought to light to the arab guys at least and many of the realize what they are doing is in fact a homosexual act and soemthing they dont want to be associated with.
others offcourse do claim to be gay and know it is wrong by the religion but are helpless in the sense they say that God will change them etc.

either way, it makes me sad because what this means is less muslim men for us muslim women……..

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:56:19 +0000

Bi Muslim Dude: I'm not gay or Muslim, so I certainly wouldn't attempt to say what ought to be offensive or not. But I will say that the dance sequence isn't presented as a singular reality but rather a part of one person's reality. (Honestly, I didn't realize it was such a cliche -- it's interesting to hear your perspective.) Each segment focuses on different people in different circumstances, so the belly dancing bit was just one small part of that and, overall, the movie left me with a feeling of diversity rather than stereotype. (The website has an overview of the people it follows.) If you do see the film, I'd be interested to hear what you think, but I certainly respect your right to be concerned.

By: Bi Muslim Dude.

Bi Muslim Dude. — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:13:30 +0000

I was interested in this film till i came across these two sentences :There’s a scene about halfway through the film when Mazen (of the Cairo 52) dons belly dancer garb and dances among his friends, men and women, gay and straight. The camera lingers on him — we see clear joy in his eyes.

I guess being Middle Eastern and gay means there as to be the obligitry dress up as male belly dancer segment. Talk about cliched tripe.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 04:25:19 +0000

Yeah, that’s one depressing thing about the emergence of online distribution, ain’t it — smaller theaters struggle. I suppose the upside is that smaller films like this that would only be seen by a few on the big screen have a second chance.

By: David Simon

David Simon — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:12:09 +0000

Meh. I was about to say that I’m looking forward to when this arrives at my local artsy theatre, but it just went out of business. Meh again.

Well, at least there’s always NetFlix.