ABSTRACT

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.

part I|44 pages

Introducing studies on female homosexuality and contemporary critical theory

chapter 1|20 pages

Introduction

Contemporary views of female homosexuality in the Middle East

chapter 2|22 pages

Constructing and deconstructing sexuality

New paradigms for “gay” historiography

part II|40 pages

The history and representation of female homosexuality in the Middle Ages

part III|52 pages

The history and representation of female homosexuality in the contemporary Middle East

chapter 6|24 pages

Some Like it Luke-Warm

A brief history of the representation of (homo)sexuality in Egyptian film

part IV|12 pages

Conclusion and references