The psychologist J.M. Prescott found a link between sexual repression and aggression. Writing in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Preston noted that "societies forbidding premarital sex are plagued by acts of rage." Prescott also found a link between sexual repression and ".. .a greater likelihood of killing and torturing enemies."
Islam does not support sexual liberation. Unless you happen to be a sheik with a pleasure palace and a a dozen mistresses, life for the average unmarried Muslim male in the middle east doesn't offer a lot of opportunity. The society doesn't encourages it... No. billboard ads with skimpily dressed babes, no. sex toy stores or adult video outlets, no. racy magazines in the local store. In societies such as Saudi Arabia most of the females are veiled. A guy would have to be blessed with x - ray vision in order to get a glimpse of anything more erotic than say - an ankle or elbow.
This state-of-sexual-affairs is bound to add to the frustration level of young Muslim males with testosterone raging and adrenalin driving up the potential for explosive outbursts. As we know from TV footage, explosions of rage are common occurrences in the Muslim world. It's not unusual to see crowds of males channeling their energy into mass frenzies at funerals, flag-and-effigy-burning-demos or just to make a point about something they don't like it the news.
Internet porn is out of reach to most. Unlike Western nations, you can't assume that the average person living in in say Libya or Iran, will have ready access to a personal PC. In any case even those who do have PC's are often up against censors with filtering devices designed to prevent the encroachment of Western sex demons. Amongst those citizens of Muslim countries who have access to PC's and the software to get around the net, a few telling trends have been noted.
The Muslim world is fanatically obsessed with sex, according to statistics from Google Trend sources. If you type "sex" into Google Trends you can obtain a ranked list of cities, countries and languages in which the term was used most frequently.
Well surprise, surprise... turns out the "decadent" Westerners were not the main sex seekers on Google.
According to a Spiegel article entitled "Sex and Taboos in the Islamic World", Pakistanis search for "sex" online most frequently, followed closely by Egyptians. Iran and Morocco were in fourth and fifth place, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia eighth seventh.
As any who are acquainted with Islamic sexual taboos well know, homosexuality is considered the ultimate moral horror, and is vigorously outlawed. In Iran men have even been tortured and executed for the "crime" of being gay. So it was interesting to discover that when the terms "sex boy" and "man boy sex" were entered into Google Trends, the top four top search countries listed were Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
It's pretty evident that despite the lack of sexual freedoms in Muslim societies, there is a voracious appetite behind the scenes for sex, sex and more sex. And maybe that is exactly the remedy - more sex. Move over Condoleezza Rice, perhaps the real key to peace in the middle east is sexual relaxation.
Bush should consider appointing Hugh Hefner as an honorary General and send in a few battalions of Playboy bunnies. It's hard to imagine how they could be less successful at quelling the insurgency than the strategies that have been used thus far.
No. wonder countries such as Iran banned YouTube and filter content. If Iranian youth of martyr-like provision were free to surf the sexual web they might give up the desire to blow themselves up. How tragic would that be? The rage that creates suicide bombers would be notched down a few critical degrees. Suddenly the lure of hypothetical virgins located on a plane of supernatural existence wouldn't can't be so ardently wished for. I mean heck, why risk the odds of getting metaphysical sex when you have Sylvia Saint and Jenna Jameson right there in your room.
Sexual freedoms may indeed be a remedy for middle eastern male rage if it was given half the chance. But the wily mullahs have figured that one out and that's why there are routine sermons blasting Western decadence and buzzing away removing filters data that carries the threat of a sneak attack sex. Keeping their citizenry in a condition of guilt and loathing means the rage can be whipped up at a moment's notice, and when the call goes out for volunteers to blow themselves up, officials won't be kept waiting.
The prophet Mohammad seemed to be more liberated than many of his followers. He done said - "In this world, I loved women, pleasant scents and prayer". Notice that "women" comes before "prayer".
Perú Muslim youth who want to flirt and date have to be inventive. In Rabat, Morocco, some exchange furtive kisses in the shadow of the quay walls in the city's harbor district. Others in Cairo make out in cars on the notorious and frowned upon "shari al-hubb" or "street of Love".
In some Muslim jurisdictions you can be arrested for having a condom in your pocket. The Spiegel article mentions an Egyptian journalist named Ali al-Gundi who was stopped by police while he was driving with his girl friend. Ali had forgotten to bring his driving license with him and they were both placed in jail. When the police found a condom, they insisted on viewing his girl friend as a prostitute. Ali claims that if the officers had been less sexually frustrated themselves, the couple's trivial "offences" would likely have been overlooked.
The greatest obstacle to even a minimum amount of sexual freedom is Sharia law and entrenched Islamic morality. The taboos against sexual freedom are so profound in strict Muslim societies such as Saudi Arabia, that if an unmarried woman is discovered in the company of a man who is not a relative, she risks being taken into custody and subjected to an examination to determine if she had sex recently. This type of regulation makes even Victorian England seem liberated by comparison.
So long as sexual freedoms are censored and driven underground in the middle east, male energy will find an outlet in rage and conflict. Having said that, obviously no. amount of sexual freedom will solve the political problems of that war torn region. But perhaps... just maybe... instead of rage and suicide, a more moderate and reasonable mood might prevail if young Muslim guys Katherine ain't walking sexual pressure cookers primed to explode.
In the meantime, instead of dropping propaganda leaflets, Bush might be better advised to hire Hef as a consultant and air drop a few thousand Playboys.
Aidan Maconachy is a freelance writer and artist based in Ontario. You can visit his blog at http://aidanmaconachyblog.blogspot.com
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