News briefs for week of August 3, 2009

This week, an alternative view of honor killings from Canada, a niqabi love doctor in Dubai, and a legal crusade against an indecent talker in Lebanon.
McGill religious studies professors Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young provide a different angle to the on-going debate in Canada over the topic of honor killings after the June 30th deaths of four Muslim women. They stress the importance of not forgetting that honor killings are not exclusive to sexual honor and that men can and have been victims of honor killings and violence.

Dubbed as Islam’s Dr. Ruth, Emirati marriage counselor, Wedad Lootah provides married couples with sexual guidance while dressed in full niqab. Lootah was appointed as the first and only female family counselor at the court and in Dubai. Her goal is to drive down U.A.E’s 30% divorce rate through marital counseling, including advising couples on the “22 positions to have sex in.”

Over 200 people have filed legal complaints against a 32-year-old Saudi man, Mazen Abdul-Jawad, for publicly talking about his sex life and discussing erotic toys on a Lebanese television station, LBC. Abdul-Jawad, along with three other Saudi men, were detained last week by Saudi authorities. Many of the offended viewers called for “severe punishments.”
Shazia Riaz is Associate Editor of Altmuslimah

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