Harem : ce que les femmes recluses font entre elles. Cet article tente d’éclairer le moment où, dans la perception de l’Orient musulman par les observateurs européens, s’instaure un lien d’évidence entre réclusion des femmes et homoérotisme féminin. Cette vision du harem générant par nature des pratiques homosexuelles va à l’encontre de la littérature islamique médiévale sur la question, dans laquelle le tribadisme ne peut résulter que d’une corruption externe à la clôture vertueuse de l’espace domestique. Les observateurs européens de (...) l’âge moderne transposent dans l’espace privé du harem l’homoérotisme (masculin) qu’ils observent dans l’espace public. Les femmes seraient induites à différentes formes de transgression sexuelle et de genre et le modèle du harem, assimilé à un couvent dévoyé, peut figurer en soi une forme d’imposture absolue. Cette analyse d’une séparation pathologique des hommes et des femmes, induisant des pratiques sexuelles elles-mêmes « pathologiques », a longtemps imprégné en retour le monde islamique et ses sciences sociales ; elle ne s’est vue remise en cause que tout récemment. (shrink)

This text gives a critical account of various, often conflicting interpretations of slash fiction - stories based on characters from popular TV show, The Star Trek, written by fans. What makes slash fiction, a subgenre of fan fiction, specific is a homoeroticization of characters that in the original narratives are either explicitly or implicitly heterosexual. Whether such?homoerotic pairing? has any foundation in the original Star Trek narrative, remains an open question. Answers to this question vary greatly. An affirmative answer, however, (...) begs a further question: whether these narratives are?homosexual representations? in a strict gay/lesbian sense? The authors propose that slash represents a non-hegemonic narrative which transgresses borders set up in the original narrative - queering, reexamining thus both sex and gender. (shrink)

This paper stands as a contribution to the debate triggered by the problem of violence and sexuality within the representation of the Other or, in this case, the Arab as Other. We shall depart from Judith Butler’s statements about the notion of theoretical framework and its political, ethic and aesthetic implications. Afterwards, we will confront this viewpoint with the criticism of J. Massad against the alleged orientalism and ethnocentrism of LGTB activist movements from the perspective of a certain cultural specificity (...) regarding sexuality in the Arab World, as well as to analyze the polemic arosed by Massad among different interlocutors. (shrink)

The author considers the role of male and female homosexuality in society and presents a range of theories about the causes of homosexuality as well as diverse theories about free will and the extent to which it influences sexual orientation.

Malek Chebel talks to Nicole Albert and Lydia Ruprecht about gender questions in Islam: androgyny, homosexuality, and relations between the sexes in traditional and changing Muslim societies. 198.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Books ReceivedThe Ahmadis: Community, Gender, and Politics in a Muslim Society. By Antonio Gualtieri. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2004. Pp. xvi + 192. Hardcover $65.00. Paper Cdn $24.95 / U.S. $19.95.American Knees. By Shawn Wong. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 2005. Pp. xxi + 229. Paper $14.95.The Art of Worldly Wisdom. By Baltasar Gracian and translated by Joseph Jacobs. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2005. Pp. (...) xiii + 114. Paper $5.95.Bashō's Journey: The Literary Prose of Matsuo Bashō. Translated by David Landis Barnhill. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005. Pp. xvii + 191. Hardcover $59.50. Paper $17.95.Bringing the Gods to Mind: Mantra and Ritual in Early Indian Sacrifice. By Laurie L. Patton. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005. Pp. xv + 289. Hardcover $49.95/£32.50.Buddhist Inclusivism: Attitudes Towards Religious Others. By Kristin Beise Kiblinger. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2005. Pp. viii + 145. Hardcover $89.95.A Chinese Ethics for the New Century: The Ch'ien Mu Lectures in History and Culture, and Other Essays on Science and Confucian Ethics. By Donald J. Munro. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2005. Pp. xlv + 158. Hardcover $33.00.Chinese Theories of Reading and Writing: A Route to Hermeneutics and Open Poetics. By Ming Dong Gu. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005. Pp. xiv + 334. Hardcover $85.00.A Dictionary of Cantonese Slang: The Language of Hong Kong Movies, Street Gangs, and City Life. By Christopher Hutton and Kingsley Bolton. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005. Pp. xxiv + 492. Paper $28.00.Ghazālī and the Poetics of Imagination. By Ebrahim Moosa. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 2005. Pp. xiii + 349. Hardcover $59.95. Paper $22.50.Going Forth: Visions of Buddhist Vinaya. Edited by William M. Bodiford. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005. Pp. x + 317. Hardcover $48.00.The Harem: Inside the Grand Seraglio of the Turkish Sultans. By N. M. Penzer. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2005. Pp. 277. Paper $14.95.Ideals of the East: The Spirit of Japanese Art. By Kakuzo Okakura. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2005. Pp. xiv + 106. Paper $5.95. [End Page 365]An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. By Jing-Nuan Wu. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Pp. 706. Price not given.Jews and Arabs: A Concise History of Their Social and Cultural Relations. By S. D. Goitein. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2005. Pp. xv + 263. Paper $12.95.The Logic of Nothingness: A Study of Nishida Kitarō. By Robert J. J. Wargo. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2005. Pp xi + 241. Paper $25.00.The Moral and Political Thought of Mahatma Gandhi. By Raghavan N. Iyer. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000. Pp. xiii + 449. Paper Rs 520.00.Nietzsche's Epic of the Soul: Thus Spoke Zarathustra. By T. K. Seung. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2005. Pp. xxviii + 370. Hardcover $83.00. Paper $27.95.Of Guilds, Companies, Corporations, and Governance: A Conceptual Sketch. By Leonardo R. Silos. Makati City, Philippines: Asian Institute of Management, 2005. Pp. xvi + 238. Price not given.The Path to Rome. By Hilaire Belloc. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2005. Pp. ix + 251. Paper $12.95.The Philosophy of the Bhagavadgātā : A Study based on the Evaluation of the Commentaries of Śamkara, Rāmānuja and Madhva. By S. M. Srinivasa Chari. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 2005. Pp. xxvi + 294. Hardcover Rs 575.00.The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore. By Kalyan Sen Gupta. Burlington, VT: Ash-gate Publishing Company, 2005. Pp. ix + 103. Hardcover $79.95.The Pristine Dao: Metaphysics in Early Daoist Discourse. By Thomas Michael. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005. Pp. xi + 170. Hardcover $60.00. Paper $21.95.Three Mountains and Seven Rivers: Prof. Musashi Tachikawa's Felicitation Volume. Edited by Shoun Hino and Toshihiro Wada. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. 2004. Pp. xx + 903. Hardcover Rs. 1800.The Unity of Mystical Traditions: The Transformation of Consciousness in Tibetan and German Mysticism. By Randall Studstill. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2005. Pp. xii + 304. Hardcover @89/$127.00.Writing the World: On Globalization. Edited by David... (shrink)

This paper considers the question of whether the explanation of homosexual orientation offered by Sigmund Freud qualifies as a genuine explanation, judged by the criteria of the social sciences. It is argued that the explanation, namely that homosexual orientation is a function of atypical parental influences, is indeed an explanation of the kind found in the social sciences. Nevertheless, it is concluded that to date Freud's hypotheses about homosexuality are no more than unproven speculations. Also considered is the question of (...) whether the very topic of homosexuality falls or ought to fall within the domain of medical inquiry. CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this? (shrink)

Synonymy, antonymy, and homonymy are among the prominent semantic relationships that exist between words in all languages. They play a crucial role in highlighting the contrasting value between words. Through these relationships, we can pinpoint the linguistic differences among the words we use in a language, in addition to the role these relationships play in shaping the overall meaning of a phrase. Among these semantic relationshipsthis reasearch focuses on the semantic relationships of antonymy.Antonymy, as a natural phenomenon, can be observed (...) in humans, animals, plants, and various aspects of our surroundings. Antonymy is one of the elements that demonstrate diversity among existing entities. This is because within individual and societal life, there exist contrasts such as war, peace, death, birth, happiness, and misery. If there were no contrasts among entities, everything would blend together, making it nearly impossible to distinguish them. Antonymy not only appears in the external world but also manifests itself in our mental world. The phenomenon of contrast is especially prevalent in poems and prose.The main issues that this research aims to address are: What is the meaning of antonymy تضاد in the Arabic language, and what distinguishes it from the term opposite الأضداد?What are the types of antonymy in the Arabic language? Are there examples of antonymy in the Quran, and if so, what are they?The research is presented under the title "AntonymyRelationships in the Framework of the Qur'an."Before delving into the main research topic, some relevant terms were explained, including:1. teẓadالتضاد: Lexically, it refers to the opposite of something, and its plural form is أضداد. In the terminology, Generally speaking, oppositeness is defined as two words holding contrast meanings. The term antonymy التضادis commonly used in modern semantic studies. Examples include: طويل long - قصير short, ذكر male - أنثى female.2. eẓdadالأضداد: This term was used by ancient Arabic linguists to indicate a word that carries two opposing meanings. For example, the word جَون /jawn/ means both the colors white and black simultaneously.3. Semantic Antonymy Relationships: Antonymous relations are considered as one of relations that ensure the integrity of a text. Based on this, the study will examine the types of antonymy present in the Arabic language and clarify them through examples. Subsequently, examples from the Quran will be provided to illustrate these semantic relationships.As for the references used in this study, they were limited. There is a scarcity of Turkish studies specifically addressing the types of semantic antonymy relationships. Therefore, reliance was placed on Arabic references, notably the book علم الدلالةilmu’d-Delāle “Semantics” by Muḥammed ʿAli Al-Ḫūlī. Additionally, foreign sources like John Lyons' Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics were consulted.This study is considered unique, particularly as it pertains to the specific types of antonymy semantic relationships, especially within the framework of the Quran.The study employed a descriptive-analytical methodology, involving several stages. The first stage involved collecting types of antonymy semantic relationships mentioned in Arabic and Western references and discussing them through various examples. The second stage focused on searching the Quran for verses representing types of antonymy relationships and explaining them. The third stage examined antonymous word studies in Quranic examples from a lexicographical linguistic perspective.The types of antonymy relationships covered in this study are as follows:BinaryAntonyms: Gradable, Complementary,Relational, Directional, Whole- Partcyclical.Antonymous triplet:Hierarchical, Group- Items Antonyms.The purposes and benefits of this study include:Understanding the types of antonymy relationships in language and Identifying the types of antonymy relationships in the Quran.These objectives aim to assist the reader in gaining insight into the various types of antonymy relationships, their purposes, and their occurrences in the Quranic context.In this study consists of three main sections: an introduction where the term " antonymy" is explored both linguistically and conceptually, a section addressing the types of antonymy relationships, and a conclusion focusing on the derived results and evaluations. The main section of this study, the section on Types of antonymy Relationships, will explain contrast relationships with examples from the Qur'an. The conclusion will be completed in a question-and-answer format, addressing questions such as "What are antonymy relationships?" and "Which types of antonymy relationships can be identified in the Qur'an?" in a list format. (shrink)

This volume is a comprehensive reference work on the life, labors and influence of the great evolutionist Charles Darwin. With more than sixty essays written by an international group representing the leading scholars in the field, this is the definitive work on Darwin. It covers the background to Darwin's discovery of the theory of evolution through natural selection, the work he produced and his contemporaries' reactions to it, and evaluates his influence on science in the 150 years since the publication (...) of On the Origin of Species. It also explores the implications of Darwin's discoveries in religion, politics, gender, literature, culture, philosophy and medicine, critically evaluating Darwin's legacy. Fully illustrated and clearly written, it is suitable for scholars and students as well as the general reader. The wealth of information it provides about the history of evolutionary thought makes it a crucial resource for understanding the controversies that surround evolution today. (shrink)

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution continues to be controversial. Offering a ground-breaking introduction to the history and plausibility of the theory, this book shows that the theory is supportive of religion and an essential guide to approaching today's most pressing social issues - immigrants, race, homosexuality, and the status of women.

Throughout history, scientific discovery has clashed with religious dogma, creating conflict, controversy, and sometimes violent dispute. In this enlightening and accessible volume, distinguished historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Edward Larson and Michael Ruse, philosopher of science and Gifford Lecturer, offer their distinctive viewpoints on the sometimes contentious relationship between science and religion. The authors explore how scientists, philosophers, and theologians through time and today approach vitally important topics, including cosmology, geology, evolution, genetics, neurobiology, gender, and the environment. Broaching their (...) subjects from both historical and philosophical perspectives, Larson and Ruse avoid rancor and polemic as they address many of the core issues currently under debate by the adherents of science and the advocates of faith, shedding light on the richly diverse field of ideas at the crossroads where science meets spiritual belief. (shrink)

In recent years, preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) of IVF embryos have gained much traction in clinical assisted reproduction for preventing various genetic defects, including Down syndrome. However, such genetic tests inevitably reveal the sex of IVF embryos by identifying the sex (X and Y) chromosomes. In many countries with less stringent IVF regulations, information on the sex of embryos that are tested to be genetically normal is readily shared with patients. This would thus present Muslim patients with unintended opportunities for (...) sex selection based on personal or social biases without any pressing need or valid medical reason. Additionally, there are other patients who claim using PGT for preventing genetic defects as a pretext or “convenient excuse,” with a secret intention to do sex selection when it is banned in their home country. Currently, non-medical sex selection is a highly-controversial and hotly debated issue in Islam, because there is generally a strong preference for having sons over daughters due to widespread cultural norms of elderly parents depending on their sons for financial support, as well as the need for male heirs to continue the family lineage within the backdrop of local patriarchal cultures. There is a risk of gender imbalance and social disequilibrium occurring in Islamic societies due to prevalent sex selection. Hence, the question is whether opportunistic sex selection with PGT would contravene Islamic ethics and principles, which will thus be discussed here. (shrink)

We report on the first stage of a project on the representations of gender in the coverage of the Arab Spring by Western media. We focus on designing comparable corpora to examine Arab women’s depiction in English and German news during the uprisings. The English corpus is composed of reports published by _The Guardian and The New York Times_. The German corpus consists of articles collected from _Der Spiegel, Die Welt_, _Die Zeit, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,_ and _Süddeutsche Zeitung_. The datasets (...) were processed through Sketch Engine to identify the terms collocating with _women_ in the English corpus and _Frau_ in the German one. Then, the themes reflected by these expressions in the two corpora were compared. The results show that both news media feature two types of topical frames linked to Arab women; one is associated with the uprisings while the other is related to their recurrent stereotypes in Western news discourse. Yet, there are discrepancies between their focus on related issues to each type. Other differences between the two sets of news outlets include intensity of reporting on Arab women and stressing their nationalities. These findings suggest that although Arab women’s negative stereotypes continued to feature in western news discourse during the Arab Spring, new positive images emerged and contributed to changing their depictions in global media. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:The Transvestite Achilles: Gender and Genre in Statius' AchilleidNeil W. BernsteinP. J. Heslin. The Transvestite Achilles: Gender and Genre in Statius' Achilleid. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. xx + 349 pp. Cloth, $80.You do a girl tolerable poor, but you might fool men, maybe. Bless you, child, when you set out to thread a needle, don't hold the thread still and fetch the needle up to it; hold (...) the needle still and poke the thread at it—that's the way a woman most always does; but a man always does t'other way.... Why, I spotted you for a boy when you was threading the needle; and I contrived the other things just to make certain.(Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn, chap. 11)In the wake of important briefer studies by Barchiesi, Feeney, and Hinds, and new editions by Rosati and Shackleton Bailey, Heslin has now produced the first full-length monograph in English on Statius' Achilleid. Although he surveys the entire poem, Heslin devotes particular attention to the episode of Achilles' transvestism at the court of Lycomedes on Scyros. By turns as witty, sophisticated, and learned as its object of examination, this book focuses on the themes of "the relationship of the Achilleid to the epic tradition and to the mythical biography of Achilles, Statius' manner of characterization, and the way he explores the nature of sex and gender" (xviii).Chapter 1, "Opening Nights at the Opera 1641–1744," demonstrates the Scyros narrative's appeal to a performance genre that commonly features transvestite masquerade. Assuming that his readers have little familiarity with the history of opera, Heslin surveys nine operas over a century and provides an "Epilogue" that brings his discussion into the twentieth century. The extended discussions of operas such as Gay's Achilles and Metastasio's Achille in Sciro (and the latter's numerous revivals) skillfully relate the libretti and staging to contemporary political, social, and literary debates. This chapter succeeds admirably in bringing out many of the major issues to which subsequent chapters return, such as the opposition of biologically essentializing and socially constructed models of gender and the conflict between heroic and burlesque approaches to mythological narrative.Chapter 2, "The Design of the Achilleid," takes up more traditional questions of form and genre. Though clearly an incomplete narrative, the Achilleid was carefully revised, and the text features a coherent design. Heslin suggests that Statius produced a prospectus designed to attract further patronage and thus intentionally left the reader unable to determine the future course of the epic either from the proem or extant narrative. Viewing the Achilleid as a prospectus permits Heslin to account for the proem's lack of specificity (in contrast, for example, to the "table of contents" found in the Thebaid's proem). The latter part of the chapter offers a close analysis of the proem and an assessment of Statius' engagement with the literary tradition. The Achilleid's proem bluffs the reader by advertising a linear, non-Aristotelian narrative, where in fact the epic begins in medias res and proceeds selectively. In contrast to the mad, vatic poet of the Thebaid, this narrator asserts his control over the narrative. Through passages such as Achilles' song in Chiron's cave, the epic enters "an ongoing discussion [End Page 142] regarding the proper version of a myth" (91) in the manner of learned Hellenistic poetry. The chapter concludes with a discussion of Statius' corrections of Vergil, such as his introduction of Deidamia (Achilleid 1.290–300) that responds to contemporary criticisms leveled at Vergil's Dido/Diana simile.Chapter 3, "Womanhood, Rhetoric, and Performance," offers a reading of the performances of gender by Thetis, Deidamia, and Achilles. Thetis' incompetent use of rhetoric makes her "the Mrs. Malaprop of Latin epic" (137). In her entreaty of Neptune, she fails to recapitulate the success enjoyed by literary models such her Homeric counterpart and the Vergilian Juno and Venus, in part because of her misuse of mythological exempla. She continues to misuse exempla in her persuasion of Achilles, undermining her case by associating his transvestism with the transsexuality of Caenis/Caeneus. Heslin further claims that Thetis engages in "discursive 'transvestism'" (133... (shrink)

Dede Korkut Stories are a national cultural heritage that narrates about events and challenges of Oghuz Turks in 10th-11th centuries. This period of time is important, as it was the times when Turks became Muslims. In this work, heroism, customs, habits and traditions, socio-cultural and moral life of the Turks before and after becoming Muslims are analysed. One of the topics addressed in this work is religious beliefs and worships of the Turks after became Muslims. In this context, the belief (...) in Allah appears to be the most emphasized type of belief in the stories. The theme of fate, which is included in the subjects of Tawḥīd (oneness of Allāh) is another theme mentioned in the stories. The stories also includes some expressions regarding particularly the Prophet Muḥammad as well as some other prophets. Jibrīl and ʿAzrāʾīl angels are also mentioned. As for the Divine Books, only the Qur’ān is namely addressed and other divine books are not mentioned. The beliefs regarding afterlife, such as death, resurrection, heaven, hell, pool of al-Kawthar (abundance) are also referred to in the stories. The Book of Dede Korkut is not a didactic work written to teach Islam. On the contrary, in the stories, Islam is discussed as an element of the spirit/essence of individual and society. The aim of this study is to investigate the representations of the beliefs of tawḥīd, prophecy and hereafter of the Turks, especially the Oghuz Turks with reference to narrations in Dede Korkut stories. It aims to discuss them in the context of six pillars of faith and evaluate from the Islamic belief point of view.Summary: The Book of Dede Korkut consists of twelve epic stories created within the oral tradition of Turkish Folk Literature. It is said that the origins of these stories, which are one of the oldest works of Turkish Folk Literature, went as far as 7th century. It is generally accepted that the Book of Dede Korkut, which narrates about Oghuz Turks who lived in 10th-11th centuries was transferred to writing after 15th century. There is no information found about writer/s of the Book. Dede Korkut, who considered being the narrator of the stories, is in fact a character in the stories. Dede Korkut plays qobuz, reads poetry, names children, mediates in marital affairs, resolves disputes, and leads religious rituals in the stories. Therefore, he stands out as a saint figure and considered to be wise man of the Oghuz Turks in almost every story, especially regarding social events. In this work, there are many expressions about heroism, customs, habits and traditions, socio-cultural and moral experiences of the Turks before and after becoming Muslims. The stories bear many traces from the earlier Turkish beliefs. However, these are not the issues of this study. The dates of the emergence of the stories, 10th and 11th centuries, coincides with the times when the Turks became Muslim. This situation makes the stories more important as they include rich narratives about the fundamental beliefs of Islam. Especially the belief in Allāh, which is one of the six pillars of faith, appears to be the most emphasized in the stories. In these stories, Turkish and Persian names of Allāh as well as His Arabic names and attributes are mentioned directly or indirectly.The belief in predestination and casualty related with Allāh's eternal knowledge and determination is another faith object that takes place in the stories. The issues regarding the predestination discussed in the stories as follows: the deeds occur with the wish of Allāh; Allāh decides whether the child male or female; Allāh predestines human lifetime, livelihood, time of death and calamities.There are also narrations about the belief in the prophets in the stories. Particularly the Prophet Muhammad's prophecy is prioritised. Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses are the other prophets mentioned in the stories. The successive authority of Adam and His story with Iblīs; the wife and donkey of Noah, not burning of Abraham when he was thrown into the fire, the speaking of Allāh with Moses and the staff of Moses are some of the expressions related with prophecy in the stories. Nimrod against Abraham and Pharaoh against Moses are described as negative personalities in the stories. In the stories, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is handled in a position that intercession is demanded from Him. Greetings and prayers are read for Him. His intercession is sought for forgiveness of sins and acceptance of prayers. He is exalted with some attributions, such as the holly Prophet Peace be upon Him, friend of Allāh, the leader of religion and the headman of religion. When the Prophet Muhammad is mentioned, it is felt that there is a high respect and an enthusiastic love. When he is addressed, the expressions indicating respect and affection, such as "His name is magnificent Muhammad" and "His name is magnificent Muhammad Mustafa" are used in the stories.In the stories, only the Qur’ān is mentioned among the divine books, none of the Torah, the Zabūr and the Injīl is mentioned. It is referred that the Qur’ān descended from the heavens and it is the word of Allāh and His knowledge, and it was copied (collected) by Uthman. It is described as "Magnificent Qur’ān".It is seen in the stories that there is also a place for the belief in angels and only two of the four great angels are mentioned. One of them is ʿAzrāʾīl, the death angel. It is one of the main heroes in the story of Deli Dumrul. ʿAzrāʾīl is described as an angel from the sky, who has red-winged, who takes the souls of living beings by the command of Allāh and kill them. It is also narrated that ʿAzrāʾīl takes the form of human and pigeon, and the struggle of ʿAzrāʾīl with Deli Dumrul. The other great angel mentioned in the stories is Jibrīl. In the story of Emre, the Son of Begil, it is described as an angel fulfilling the commandments of Allāh. Apart from these, there is no information about other angels and their characteristics, such as not being gendered, not to sin, and being created from light. Within the scope of invisible beings, the Devil is also narrated in the stories as it did not prostrate itself to Adam, and therefore it was repelled and cursed.The principle of the belief in Hereafter, which is one of the pillars of faith, is also dealt with in the stories. The ending, death, resurrection, reckoning, Heaven, Hell, seeing Allāh's face in Heaven, drinking water from the pool of al-Kawthar are some of the topics addressed in relation to this principle. While talking about Heaven in the stories, the words "Uçmak" (flight) in Turkish and "Behesht" (paradise) in Persian are mentioned in addition to Arabic "Jannah" (heaven).The Book of Dede Korkut is not a religious book written to teach the ʿaqāʾid (beliefs) of Islam or its practices. On the contrary, it is a work that narrates about people’s lives and social experiences. There is neither any specific verse from the Qur’ān nor sayings or the deeds of the Prophet (ḥadīth) included in the stories. However, the contents of many issues stated in the Qur’ān and ḥadīth are expressed in the stories. For instance, the statements from the surah (chapter) al-Ikhlāṣ (sincerity), such as al-Aḥad (the one), Allāh begets not, nor was He begotten, and not being any equivalent to Him are mentioned in the stories. Likewise, not burning of the Prophet Abraham when thrown into the fire, speaking of Allāh with Moses and giving the stuff to him as a miracle are also stated in the Qur’ān. As for the pool of al-Kawthar, the believers’ seeing Allāh in Heaven, ineffectiveness of the deeds without saying in the name of Allah are mentioned in ḥadīths. However, some information that is not rooted in the Qur’ān and ḥadīths, such as the stinging of Nimrod's arrow is also encountered in the stories. Based on the narrations in the stories, it seems possible to draw the conclusion that the Oghuz Turks mentioned in the Book of Dede Korkut adopted Ahl al-Sunnah (people of Sunnah) interpretation of Islam. However, it should be reminded that this implication will lose its meaning if it is proved that the original versions of the stories were redesigned according to the interpretation of Ahl al-Sunnah in the process of transferring them into writing. (shrink)

ABSTRACT:This paper explores how corporations, through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, can help to effect positive developmental change. We use research on institutional change, deinstitutionalization, and institutional work to develop our central theoretical framework. This framework allows us to suggest more explicitly how CSR can potentially be mobilized as a purposive form of institutional work aimed at disrupting existing institutions in favor of positive change. We take the gender institution in the Arab Middle East as a case in point. (...) Our suggestion is that the current context of the Arab Spring, which combined with increasingly obvious endogenous institutional contradictions, has created a fertile ground for shaping change processes within the gender institution. Finally, we provide concrete examples of CSR initiatives that regional corporate actors can engage in for positive developmental change supporting women. (shrink)

Previous work on the comprehension of agreement has shown that incorrectly inflected verbs do not trigger responses typically seen with fully ungrammatical verbs when the preceding sentential context furnishes a possibly matching distractor noun (i.e., agreement attraction). We report eight studies, three being direct replications, designed to assess the degree of similarity of these errors in the comprehension of subject-verb agreement along the dimensions of grammatical gender and number in Modern Standard Arabic. A meta-analysis of the results demonstrate the presence (...) of agreement attraction effects in reading comprehension for gender and number on verbs. Moreover, the meta-analysis demonstrates that these two features do not behave identically: gender effects are larger and occur later relative to number attraction effects. These results challenge models of agreement that predict agreement features to be equipotent and show that real-time models of agreement require modifications in the form of cue-weighting in order to account for these differential results. (shrink)

In his disputatio, Johann Peter von Ludewig provides a history of rational philosophy among the Arabs and sets out to contextualize the Turks’ attitude to it. Like many Lutheran scholars of the time, Ludewig believed that Islam, as a religion, impeded the development of rational philosophy in the Arab world. However, unlike those philosophers, he examines external influences that may have fed the interest of Arab Muslims in rational philosophy, especially dialectic. Unlike Orthodox Lutherans, such as Pfeiffer and Kromayer, in (...) his conclusion, Ludewig prays that Muslim philosophers cultivate reason to overcome the "deceit of Muhammadanists" toward rational worship. The use of the contentious and seemingly oxymoronic phrase “rational worship” (logikē latreia: λογική λατρεία, from Rom. 12:1), combining “rationality” and “worship” together refects, to a certain extent, the Enlightenment belief that reason could be used to understand the nature of God against any type of irrational religiosity. The idea of worshipping God rationally and equating God with reason shows the intellectual engagement of Protestant scholars with Enlightenment rationalism. (shrink)

The events that followed the revolution of 25 January 2011 demonstrated the tenacity and resilience of gendered dissent and its centrality to collective action and civil disobedience, thus enriching the transnational feminist archive with the experiences and praxis of gendered revolutionary action. Paying particular attention to women’s activism during the uprisings in Egypt, this article focuses on the broader themes of gendered political resistance and the intersections of gender ideology, state policing, Islamism and militarism with protest and collective action. The (...) aim is to take count of the challenges and gains of gendered resistance and women’s political participation during times of political upheaval. (shrink)

From the start of the Arab revolutions in late 2010, a connection between the law, state, political economy, gender norms and orientalist ideology has formed the foundation of women's systematic exclusion from politics. By unmasking processes in Egypt that have created the ideological and material conditions of externalising women's revolutionary acts, estranging their political involvement, and exposing them to various forms of violence, this article offers a gendered political reading of the concept of alienation. The article suggests that gender-normative ideology's (...) characterisation of women's images, roles and acts during and after revolutions, corresponds to the most profound form of alienation. The article identifies the externalisation and subjugation of women, and objectification of their revolutionary acts as modes of alienation. Moreover, it proposes that the implementing of these modes of alienation are necessary for creating conditions that allow for the reconfiguration of power dynamics that restore the authoritarian power of the state. This discussion suggests that the sphere of politics not only relates to political activism and conflict between revolutions and counterrevolutions, but that it is also a battlefield for the (re)production of gender-normative knowledge. (shrink)

Previous studies conducted in the United States indicate that people associate numbers with gender, such that odd numbers are more likely to be considered male and even numbers considered female. It has been argued that this number gendering phenomenon is acquired through social learning and conditioning, and that male-odd/female-even associations reflect a general, cross-cultural human consensus on gender roles relating to agency and communion. However, the incidence and pattern of number gendering in cultures outside the United States remains to be (...) established. Against this background, the purpose of this study was to determine whether people from a culture and country very different from the United States also associate numbers with gender, and, if they do, whether the pattern of these associations is the male-odd/female-even associations previously observed. To investigate this issue, we adopted the Implicit Association Test used frequently in previous research, where associations between numbers and gender were examined using male and female Arabic participants native to, and resident in, the United Arab Emirates. The findings indicated that the association of numbers with gender does occur in Arabic culture. But while Arabic females associated odd numbers with male faces and even numbers with female faces, Arabic males showed the reversed pattern of gender associations, associating even numbers with male faces and odd numbers with female faces. These findings support the view that number gendering is indeed a cross-cultural phenomenon and show that the phenomenon occurs across very different countries and cultures. But the findings also suggest that the pattern with which numbers are associated with gender is not universal and, instead, reflects culture-specific views on gender roles which may change across cultures and gender. Further implications for understanding the association of numbers with gender across human societies are discussed. (shrink)

Psychological sex differences have been studied scientifically for more than a century, yet linguists still debate about the existence, magnitude, and causes of such differences in language use. Advances in psychology and cognitive neuroscience have shown the importance of sex and sexual orientation for various psychobehavioural traits, but the extent to which such differences manifest in language use is largely unexplored. Using computerised text analysis, this study found substantial psycholinguistic sexual dimorphism in a large corpus of English-language novels by heterosexual (...) authors. The psycholinguistic sex differences largely aligned with known psychological sex differences, such as empathising–systemising, people–things orientation, and men’s more pronounced spatial cognitive styles and abilities. Furthermore, consistent with predictions from cognitive neuroscience, novels by lesbian authors showed minor signs of psycholinguistic masculinisation, while novels by homosexual men had a female-typical psycholinguistic pattern, supporting the gender shift hypothesis of homosexuality. The findings on this large corpus of 66.9 million words indicate how psychological group differences based on sex and sexual orientation manifest in language use in two centuries of literary art. (shrink)

What is the relationship between gender and sexuality? Some theories claim that they are two distinct systems of stratification, whereas others claim that they are bound tightly together. By looking at medical opinion on homosexuality in men and women from 1900 to 1950, this article examines the relationship between sexuality and gender. Interpretive analysis of articles on homosexuality appearing in medical journals during this time suggests that the relationship between sexuality and gender varies in historically and socially specific ways.

The purpose of this article was to analyse gender biases from the wider range of gender discussion written in Arabic textbooks Al-Asas volumes 1, 2 and 3, published by Sinan Al-Alamiyyah in Sudan. This research employed a qualitative approach with the implementation of critical discourse analysis (CDA). The results showed that unjust descriptions of female characters usually appear in textbooks: pictures of women as second-class and illustrations of gender bias. The pictures were always dominant among members of the community. Furthermore, (...) there were also positive images showing the position of women among men and women having the same rights. The findings theoretically highlighted the implementation of CDA to analyse the content of Arabic textbooks for non-Arabic speakers. As a practical implication, both readers and the users, either native or non-native Arabic speakers, could avoid the nurturance of gender biases in their social lives. The main conclusion would be that the users of the textbooks can consequently identify gender bias in the textbooks. Contribution: Through the findings of positive images on the position of women within society and women’s equality rights, it is hoped that this research would become a medium of increasing social awareness about the importance of achieving gender equality. The application of the study should include the improvement of the textbooks specifically referring to gender biases that would influence users of the textbooks in different countries. (shrink)

Much is said about Middle Eastern and North African publics opposing gender equality, often referring to patriarchal Islam. However, nuanced large-scale studies addressing which specific aspects of religiosity affect support for gender equality across the MENA are conspicuously absent. This study develops and tests a gendered agentic socialization framework that proposes that MENA citizens are not only passively socialized by religion but also have agency. This disaggregates the influence of religiosity, highlights its multifacetedness, and theorizes the moderating roles that gender (...) and sociocognitive empowerment play via gendered processes of agentic dissociations. Using 15 World Values Surveys and multilevel models, our analyses show that most dimensions of religiosity fuel opposition to gender equality. However, the salience of religion in daily life is found to increase women’s support for gender equality and cushion the negative impact of religious service attendance. Also, gender and education moderate the impacts of several religiosity dimensions; for instance, women’s support for gender equality more sharply declines with increased service attendance than men’s. Altogether, this study finds that religious socialization is multifaceted and gendered, and that certain men and women are inclined and equipped to deviate from dominant patriarchal religious interpretations. (shrink)

Research has uncovered consistent gender differences in attitudes toward gay men, with women expressing less prejudice than men (Herek, 2003). Attitudes toward lesbians generally show a similar pattern, but to a weaker extent. The present work demonstrated that motivation to respond without prejudice importantly contributes to these divergent attitudes. Study 1 revealed that women evince higher internal motivation to respond without prejudice (IMS, Plant & Devine, 1998) than do men and that this difference partially mediates the relationship between gender and (...) attitudes toward gay men. The second study replicated this finding and demonstrated that IMS mediates the relationship between gender and attitudes toward lesbians. Study 2 further revealed that gender-role variables contribute to the observed gender differences in motivation to respond without prejudice. These findings provide new insights into the nature of sexual prejudice and for the first time point to possible antecedents of variation in motivation to respond without prejudice. (shrink)

Il testo vuole incarnare una possibile mediazione tra universi culturali lontani ed essere una lettura propedeutica per chi intenda addentrarsi nella tematica, lasciando che la fede cristiana s’interroghi liberamente sul ‘gender’. Un approccio sereno e critico sia alla cultura laica di genere – della quale si esaminano i nodi principali – sia a quella cattolica, con l’intento di superare le reciproche diffidenze e cercare insieme una verità umanizzante per tutti. L’obiettivo è gettare delle basi condivisibili su cui costruire una sintesi (...) teologica più ampia. Un testo che, nell’esaminare i nodi teoretici, volge lo sguardo alla recente campagna ‘anti-gender’, cercando di fornire le coordinate utili a svelenire il clima e muoversi al suo interno con padronanza di lessico e concettualità. In questo senso, l’opera vuole essere uno strumento per formatori, pastori e attivisti che vogliano introdursi nella complessità senza scorciatoie, per cogliere la ricchezza del ‘pensiero di genere’: nell’orizzonte della promozione di un benessere comunitario e individuale. (shrink)

Analyses of gender-based violence during mass conflict have typically focused on violence committed against women. Violence perpetrated against men has only recently been examined as gender-based violence in its own right. Using narratives from 1,136 Darfuri refugees, we analyze patterns of gender-based violence perpetrated against men and boys during the genocide in Darfur. We examine how this violence emasculates men and boys through four mechanisms: homosexualization, feminization, genital harm, and sex-selective killing. In line with an interactionist approach, we demonstrate how (...) genocidal violence is gendered and argue that perpetrators committing gender-based violence perform masculinity in accordance with hegemonic gender norms in Sudan. We also show how gender-based violence enacts, reinforces, and creates meaning on multiple levels in a matrix of mutually reinforcing processes that we term the gender-genocide nexus. By extending the gender–violence link to the context of mass atrocity, this study facilitates an understanding of the mechanisms through which gender inequalities can be reproduced and maintained in diverse situations and structures. (shrink)

Philosophy & Social Criticism, Volume 48, Issue 4, Page 580-589, May 2022. Women and girls in contemporary Arab societies suffer from various and intersecting forms of discrimination that deny them their enjoyment of fundamental human rights. The right to freedom of expression is one of the essential areas that may expose this gender-based discrimination and patriarchal attitudes. In many contexts, freedom of expression has enabled women to speak out and organize in civil, political, social, economic and cultural spheres and contexts; (...) participate in their own emancipation and improve their status. Women’s exercise of freedom of expression has also provided them with new rights such as the right to vote, the right to control their own bodies, the right to join unions and the right to equality before the law and to participate in decision-making and hold governments to account. In the last decade, we have witnessed different attacks on women’s rights particularly their right to the freedom of expression, as scholars, journalists, social media users, human rights defenders, politicians and activists. The aim of this article is to explore emerging challenges and to highlight the struggle of Arab women for freedom of expression. (shrink)

In his book Homosexuality, Michael Ruse argues that the state does not have any obligation to provide affirmative action benefits for gay people (beyond the obligation to have anti-discrimination laws). I believe that Ruse's stated reasons do not justify this conclusion. I also believe that the conception of affirmative action he deals with is far too narrow to guarantee that if there is no obligation to provide affirmative action benefits (on that narrow conception) then there is no obligation (...) to provide positive benefits not provided to all (the wider conception of affirmative action). Moreover, I think the attempt to use the narrower, rather than the wider, conception in this case indicates a considerably less than complete sensitivity to the plight of gay people in the context of present day Western societies. In this article I attempt to justify these beliefs. (shrink)

In ‘Aeon’ magazine, 2 August 2017, Professor Paul Russell maintains that identities such as race, gender and sexual orientation have equal ethical standing because they cannot be discarded and they are not constituted by beliefs, values or practices. We should, he says, resist attempts to present those who identify as gay as making a choice and affirming certain values and practices that they are capable of shedding. However, such identities can be discarded and they are in part constituted by beliefs, (...) values or practices. Russell’s defence of homosexual equality, because it focuses on the inclination to homosexuality, is pointless and useless. A proper defence of homosexual equality focuses on homosexual lifestyles and argues that the choice of such lifestyles is not wrong. Whether people who choose homosexual lifestyles do so because of a natural and unchangeable inclination, or whether environment or choice plays a part in bringing about that inclination, is an interesting question for science but of no concern for politics. (shrink)

Male-to-female transvestism is a complex phenomenon that is often confused with other manifestations of male-to-female cross-dressing, e.g. drag performance. As a practice, male-to-female transvestism remains under-theorised in feminist and queer literature. In this article I approach male-to-female transvestism from two different directions. First, I sketch out some of the meta-theoretical issues surrounding its place in feminist and queer scholarship. Second, I hone in on particular details of male-to-female transvestite culture in order to model the kind of attentive reading that male-to-female (...) transvestism requires. The first section of the article presents readings of three foundational texts – Gayle Rubin’s ‘Thinking Sex’ (1984), Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble (1990) and Marjorie Garber’s Vested Interests (1992) – to highlight the challenges facing the theorisation of male-to-female transvestism in feminist and queer scholarly traditions. In the second section, I turn to an online message board for male-to-female cross-dressers (crossdressers.com) and read practices of passing and photography through a theoretical framework informed by Alan Turing, Masahiro Mori and Silvan Tomkins. (shrink)

The present article constitutes an attempt to analyse the historical causes of the present crisis affecting the Arab world and the failure to build modern states in this region. It has to be noticed that from the three main ethnic groups constituting the pillars of the Middle East, i.e. the Persians, the Arabs and the Turks, the Arab failure and the generalization of violence in Arab societies and between Arab states is to be adequately analysed in order to be able (...) to contribute to peace, reform and a dignified life for Arab citizens. Different historical factors are identified in the article, some of them internal to Arab societies, but inextricably linked to massive foreign interferences in the region. The last of these interferences are linked to the instrumentalization of religion in the last period of the cold war in order to stop the extension of Soviet and communist influence in the Arab and Muslim world. Since then, this use of religion for political purpose in the conflicts about supremacy in the region has destroyed ethics and citizenship and given rise to generalized violence and acts of terrorism, in addition to other economic and social factors that are identified in the article. (shrink)

Gendered language is becoming a matter of serious concern for legal drafters and policymakers because 'it is always changing as societal views change' (The University of Calgary: Office of diversity, equity and protected disclosure 2017:1). Many western countries have made considerable progress towards using inclusive legal language. However, inclusive language is not implemented in other parts of the World; the Arab World is no exception. This may be due to the violation of language rules, the decline of language, and the (...) lack of enough evidence that changing the language will change society (Brown in ABA J, 2019) and (Brown in ABA J: 24–26, 2018). In this paper, I explore the challenging socio-cultural and linguistic factors that may hinder the implementation of gender-inclusive language in Arabic and explain the current situation in two current constitutions of Egypt and Tunisia in particular. The main aim of this paper is to conduct a comparative analysis of terminology representing gender in the Egyptian (2014, amended 2019) and Tunisian (2014) Arabic-English Constitutions using corpus-based tools. The analysis shows inconsistent attempts at a more inclusive source text through using neutral terms and adding inclusive pre-modifiers to these terms. It also shows inconsistent translation of gender-specific terminology and pronominal references. Both constitutions explicitly stress the ‘eradication of violence against women’ and express parity between ‘women’ and ‘men’ in terms of ‘equal rights’ and ‘appropriate political representation’ (e.g. in the Egyptian House of Representatives (28%) and the Tunisian Assembly of People’s Representatives (26%)) (International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance, IDEA 2021). Although these percentages are not far away from the representation of women in European countries such as the United Kingdom (35%) (International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance, IDEA 2021), it is the reality of women’s actual roles, change they initiate and their impact in the society that counts. (shrink)

In the first decade post-1989 no gender policies with clear objectives and specific instruments existed in Romania. The gender mainstreaming was first stated in the two National Action Plans for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men (1996 and 2000). Still, the attention of the various Romanian Governments, concerning women's issues, was focused especially on labour relationships and on related domains, such as social security and health insurance. Other fields, such as education, political participation, family and civil rights, were under- developed, (...) as regards the consideration of women's needs and interests.The legislation and institutions that implement and monitor the observance of equality take no special interest in women's discrimination, as women are treated together with other discriminated categories (the disabled, Rroma, homosexuals). (shrink)