Female Homosexuality in the Middle East

Download or read book Female Homosexuality in the Middle East written by Samar Habib and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-08-06 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, the first full-length study of its kind, dares to probe the biggest taboo in contemporary Arab culture with scholarly intent and integrity - female homosexuality. Habib argues that female homosexuality has a long history in Arabic literature and scholarship, beginning in the ninth century, and she traces the destruction of Medieval discourses on female homosexuality and the replacement of these with a new religious orthodoxy that is no longer permissive of a variety of sexual behaviours. Habib also engages with recent "gay" historiography in the West and challenges institutionalized constructionist notions of sexuality.