Majority of the people in these countries participate in Abrahamic religions such as Islam, Christianity, or Judaism, some of which prohibit premarital sex depending on the wide variety of different sects.
[3] DAWN also realized, that by engaging more in the region between research institutes, civil society, and governments, they are able to create better outcomes in the Middle East.
Quantitative research in the Middle East and particularly in surveys done with the youth have shown that there is a lack of adequate education of younger populations as to their sexual health, including taboos, contraception and family planning.
A survey conducted in 2009 by the Population Council in Cairo showed that 15,000 people aged 10–29 received little to no information on sexual health from public school.
[6] It is paramount to look at sexual and reproductive education challenges using a single service delivery system as opposed to the current disposition of no vision at all.
[7][8] The twist in the tale is that premarital sex is largely prohibited while media coverage of such issues as sexual and reproductive health is considered taboo.
This indicates a society characterized by self-denial and hypocrisy because people know and even think that sexual reproduction health is crucial but nobody wants to confront it[8] Majority of both men and women in Iran supported dating in order to get more acquainted with the person before marriage.
The Prophet Muhammad adds, "Doomed by God is who does what Lot’s people did" (i.e. to engage in same-sex sexual activity) .’"[12] Muhammad said that, "’No man should look at the private parts of another man, and no woman should look at the private parts of another woman, and no two men sleep [in bed] under one cover, and no two women sleep under one cover.’ In his last speech, known as the ‘Farewell Sermon’, he added a last condemnation of homosexuality, saying, ‘Whoever has intercourse with a woman and penetrates her rectum, or with a man, or with a boy, will appear on the Last Day stinking worse than a corpse; people will find him unbearable until he enters hell fire, and God will cancel all his good deeds.’"[12] Christianity has a variety of sects in the Middle East, but two important ones are the Coptic and Maronites Churches.
This includes the expression of love through the means of marital relations and sexuality.” This being said, same-sex marriage in most countries in the Middle East, rendering homosexuality intolerable by Coptic religious moors.
Experts came from different backgrounds, such as healthcare, law, psychology, academia and education gathered together to have a discussion about the revealed human rights violations across the region.
The goal of the conference was to explore the themes of sexuality and gender issues around bodily rights, and to develop regional, national and international strategies to overcome these violations with the use of law, social and political practices.
[14] “Violations of women’s sexual and bodily rights do not simply originate from religion, but rather are the result of the combination of historical, traditional, social and economical constructs.
Many violations in the region such as early, forced and temporary marriages, lack of alimony, honor crimes, stem from traditions and customary laws.”[14] As stated prior, the religious prescriptions of Islam are not a definitive indication of one’s behavior in society.
The Emir, by being both the receiver (the pathic) of the sex act and by doing so against his will (as a result of his attempt to defile, so to speak, the local woman) is stripped of his dignity which has subsequently been transferred to his conquerors.
"[T]o penetrate phallically is to dominate, subjugate, and ultimately to humiliate"[17] More conservative states today, particularly authoritarian ones like Iraq the absolute monarchy of Saudi Arabia, as well as theocracies like Iran, are characterised by heavy reppression of homosexual behavior.
Less conservative states today like Turkey and Israel are influenced by LGBTQ+ movements which find great success in shifting public perception and even policy.
According to literature that can be dated as far back as the 1500s to present day is where we can find evidence of,[18] pederasty, or amorous and sexual relations between men and adolescent boys.
'"[20] The French traveller Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt, who visited Egypt between 1777 and 1780, made a similar observation: "The passion contrary to nature .
It is not for the women that their amorous ditties are composed: it is not on them that tender caresses are lavished; far different objects inflame them.”[17] The Egyptian scholar Rifāah al Tahtāwī, who was in Paris between 1826 and 1831, noted: "Amongst the laudable traits of their character, similar really to those of the Bedouin [arab], is their not being inclined toward loving male youths and eulogizing them in poetry, for this is something unmentionable for them and contrary to their nature and morals.
The change in community structure and the rising influence of Western perceptions thus largely created the contemporary taboo against homosexuality in Muslim societies.