Week 7

The readings by Murray & Roscoe and Najmabadi surprised me in the way they talked about the normality of homosexuality as a normality in Oriental society as a way to express male sexual pleasure rather than love as is considered the norm in Western society. They both discuss the politics of both of the roles in a male sexual relationship, its different effects, such as reciprocity, and preference ideal of the youth male. It was interesting that this societal norm was still taboo. Murray notes, "After the act the 'impure object' is thrown away...The Maghribian man eliminates the fucked one after the act; he denies all importance to the act and declares it to be free of sentiment. At once he rushes to the shower...To talk about it is something else, not because one feels guilty making it, but because it would be shameful to denounce somebody as having been fucked. Done discreetly, one is able to pretend that nothing has happened" (Murray 18). This interesting dynamic of no shame yet a sort of protection and regard for the sodomized one speaks to the culture of the society, yet I'm not quite sure as to how the religion of Islam and its teachings play a role.