NASSS calls for a scientific approach to sexual issues

Sex is still largely considered a taboo subject in Lebanon, and despite relatively liberal attitudes, is yet tackled with a lot of misinformation and myth. To shed more light on the issue, the Network of Arab Scholars on Sexuality and Sexual Health (NASSS) held a meeting at the American University of Beirut School of Health Sciences with the aim to spread awareness on sexual health notions and approach the subject in a scientific manner. To note, the NASSS has since 2006 been communicating with Arab students and has designed handbooks to this effect, with funding from the AUB. The group also plans to publish a book in 2017 about sexuality in the Middle East region. During the meeting, the network’s coordinator, Dr. Faysal al Qaq, underlined the importance of starting a conversation about sexuality in the region. He pointed out that in Lebanon, the subject is largely tarnished by violence, particularly that there are more women than men in the country who are pressured into violent sex sometimes to appease and entice or keep their male partner. Qaq considered that tackling such issues is still a challenge in a country of 18 religious confessions, each having its own views and interpretations of sexual relations. “Some are tolerant, others conservative,” Qaq maintained, which “requires researchers to get smart while addressing these matters in a different way,” he added. 

In a related vein, the Lebanese Women Council thanked in a statement issued yesterday all the political parties youth, human rights and women organisations which  united in a show of solidarity (news: http://bit.ly/2bbGazg) with women increasingly exposed to domestic violence. (The Daily Star, Al Mustaqbal, August 19, 2016)