I originally intended to post a piece on the Other World Kingdom in the Czech Republic, an independent femdom micronation, but there is a surprising lack of academic sources pertaining to that. I nevertheless thought it fascinating enough to mention, so for those interested, http://www.owk.cz/ would be a good place to read about it. As a warning though, the site has explicit images.
The article I found on gender and sexuality among the muhajirin (refugees) in Northern Afghanistan mainly relies on data provided by “informants” from 1976 to 1977, so it is likely outdated. The muhajirin in this article are an ethnic group from Uzbekistan, who immigrated to Afghanistan. At the time of the article’s publication, their culture has strict barriers between men and women.
DESIRE, REASON, AND ORDER
In their cultural Islamic understanding of sexual desire and gender, the muhajirin focus on three main ideas. First, nafs can be understood as desire. This is kept in check by ‘aql, which is reason. People of both genders must keep their desire at bay through developed reason and self-restraint. This is how disorder, fitna, is avoided, according to the Qur’an. Theoretically, this would mean that both men and women are equally guilty of sexual desire. However, a lot of the language in the traditional ideological text used by the muhajirin suggests women are less able to control their desires, and thus more lustful. It is assumed that women will seduce and corrupt men, which means they must be controlled. This is why there is such a separation between genders in the culture of the muhajirin. Men and women who are not related or married tend not to spend time alone together. Further, the women wear veils when they go out so as to not seduce any men they may meet, since they can’t control their nafs. The ways in which men and women interact is generally limited to a description captured by the following four categories, used by Audrey Shalinksy:
Marriage (where interaction happens sexually and non-sexually in the household)
Taboo of Incest (sexual interaction is not okay between family members, but non-sexual interaction is cool inside the household)
Adultery (strictly sexual interaction occurs, but outside the household)
Veiling (no unveiled interaction occurs between men and women who are not related)
So, clearly men and women are only okay to interact normally if they are married or otherwise related. Otherwise, the woman must be veiled, or it’s essentially adultery.
IT GETS COMPLICATED
The female informants from this study feel differently about who is more guilty of overwhelming sexual desire. They largely indicate that men are the ones who are naturally unable to control their desire, and the veil protects them in some ways from unwanted advances. This is interesting, considering it challenges the notion that women are incapable of sexual restraint and sources of corruption, yet doesn’t challenge the notion that men are in some way superior even though some men are lustful and immoral. For instance, Audrey Shalinsky suggests that the veil represents the walls of the household. Women feel that they need to be protected “from men by other men,” she writes, suggesting that men from the women’s families are protecting them from outsiders (331). So, the men of the household are still the pinnacle of morality and social order.
THE OTHER AND THE ALMASTI
The muhajirin frequently associate immorality and sexual wantonness with the generalized outsiders or others. This can be seen in descriptions given by men of women, by women of men, by people comparing their family to strangers, or by the muhajirin as compared to other ethnic groups. It is always an outsider that is the example of sexual deviance. There is a creature of folklore that serves this purpose as well. An almasti, always a female figure, is a creature that tries to seduce men and serves as a type of warning for women. Shalinsky describes the almasti as:
[A] negative symbol for women who are beyond the control of men. Supposedly, a woman who does not purify herself for 40 days, obviously including one menstrual period, becomes an almasti. Though impure, the almasti gains the power to disappear and cause illness and insanity. Her powers are thus similar to those of the jinn in standard Islamic folk belief. (332)
The symbolic power of this folk creature is directed toward both men and women. Men are warned of the powers of impure women and taught that it’s best to keep women controlled. Women are warned to remain pure so as to avoid becoming this terrible creature. The almasti represents fitna, and reminds the muhajirin of the proper social order and morality. I think the almasti would make a really cool symbol for modern Islamic feminists to reclaim, but that’s a discussion for a different time.
The muhajirin of Northern Afghanistan, immigrants from Uzbekistan, demonstrate traditional Islamic ideas when it comes to sexual desire and social order. In the later 1970s at least, interaction between genders was restricted so that interaction between men and women is mainly in the context of the household. The almasti symbolizes how women are viewed as sexually insatiable, necessitating control by men. Granted, this analysis solely addresses heterosexual dynamics, but that indicates a lot about the culture.
-Zack Hill
Source:
Shalinsky, Audrey C. 1986. “Reason, Desire, and Sexuality: The Meaning of Gender in Northern Afghanistan.” Ethos 14(4):323-43. < http://www.jstor.org/stable/640408 >.
Exploring the Social Foundations of Sex and Sexuality 