Shereen El Feki: A little-told tale of sex and sensuality
Шерийн Ел Феки: Една кратка приказка за секса и чувствеността
Shereen El Feki works and writes on sexuality and social change in the Arab world. Full bio
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pregnancy, and delivery.
over the years, traveling across the Arab region
understand my origins.
my background in HIV/AIDS,
in the Middle East and North Africa,
where HIV/AIDS is still on the rise.
in gender and generations.
to challenge in word or deed.
across the region since 2011.
will be a better life.
Muslim Brotherhood.
to ask questions
that off-limits subject,
context for sex is marriage --
move out of your parents' place,
to be having children.
not a piece of wishful thinking.
extoll premarital chastity,
on their wedding night --
and in particular, men's honor.
this tiny piece of anatomy --
sexuality education in schools,
her father and brothers.
a hospital in Casablanca,
in and out of the citadel.
a very expensive proposition.
of costs in married life,
of the recent uprisings,
rising age of marriage
in Tunisia put it to me,
cross the heterosexual line,
which punish their activities,
in the marital bed either.
of being seen as bad women
sex trade across the Arab region.
this is sounding familiar to you,
has a monopoly on sexual hangups.
an Arab Kinsey Report
inside bedrooms across the Arab region,
something is not right.
beyond private whispers
(Laughter)
will make you happy in life.
move yourself in harmony with him.
a 10th-century Arabic book
in a long line of Arabic erotica,
whole dictionaries of sex in Arabic.
of the woman you see on this page.
in the Arab region.
feel more comfortable talking about sex
in their own tongue.
a lot like Europe and America
to have been moving in the opposite direction.
of Islamic conservatism
around the world
as a Western conspiracy
and Islamic values.
even as recently
to consider other interpretations:
the incendiary topic of homosexuality.
as conservatives would have us believe.
across the Arab region
to help couples
sexuality education into schools,
who are starting to speak out
protect themselves against HIV
stay with their kids.
they're often underfunded,
through dramatic confrontation,
sexual revolution,
learning from other parts of the world,
not following one blazed by another.
to the right to control our own bodies,
and services we need
to choose our own partners,
to decide whether to have children and when,
across the Arab region,
only served to strengthen my faith,
where I once only saw absolutes.
countries in the Arab region,
challenging the taboos,
something of a luxury.
in our sexual lives,
and that is true for us all.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Shereen El Feki - Arab sexuality expertShereen El Feki works and writes on sexuality and social change in the Arab world.
Why you should listen
Dividing her time between London and Cairo, TED Fellow Shereen El Feki works on issues related to health and social welfare in the Arab region -- including intimate attitudes toward sexual (and political) freedoms, as explored in her new book, Sex and the Citadel.
Half-Egyptian and half-Welsh, El Feki was brought up in Canada. She started her professional life in medical science, with a PhD in molecular immunology from the University of Cambridge, and later worked as healthcare correspondent at The Economist. She also is a former vice chair of the United Nations' Global Commission on HIV and Law. While she has worked in regional media as a presenter with the Al Jazeera Network, and continues to write on social issues in the Arab world, her passion lies in projects that aim to better understand, and surmount, the social challenges facing Arabs, particularly young people.
Read a Q&A with Sheeren El Feki on the TED Fellows site.
Shereen El Feki | Speaker | TED.com