Gay Travels in the Muslim World

Michael T. Luongo ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Harrington Park Press was reviewed on 22-Oct-2008.

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1) Paperback Book Gay Travels in the Muslim World by Harrington Park Press. This is a selection of 18 articles, varying considerably in length, quality, and richness of information. While one should expect accounts of real travels, events, and people, some of the articles are pure fiction. This is unfortunately the case of the only article on Israel, involving two teenagers: an Israeli soldier and an Arab boy (written by an American, carrying BA and MA degrees).
The title leads to think that a balanced "sample" of the Muslim world would be given. However, most of the artciles deal with the Middle East, with the lion´s share going to Morroco with 4 articles.
The most surprising and informative is the article on Afghanistan (by the Editor), the funniest is the one on Oman, the most erotic is the one on Iraq (fiction??), and the most romantic is the on on Turkey.
The book is certainly informative, entertaining, and at times erotic.
All in all, it gives a good and useful background information, focussing in many articles on the importance of the cultural differences beween Western and Muslim societies. This, I think is a very helpful point for those who intend to travel to a Muslim country.¤

2) Paperback Book Gay Travels in the Muslim World by Harrington Park Press. As a contributor to many different publications, including Horror 101: The A-List of Horror Films and Monster Movies, I am happy to add Gay Travels in the Modern World to my list of credits. The diversity of styles, backgrounds, and ideas of the contributors to this book is a perfect reflection of the diversity in the experiences in both the gay and Muslim worlds. It´s impossible not to read this collection without reflecting on how these worlds sometimes collide, sometimes overlap. Don Bapst, author of danger@liaisons.com¤

3) Paperback Book Gay Travels in the Muslim World by Harrington Park Press. The book description mentions "traveling in the Middle East." Readers should understand that the Muslim world far exceeds this limited geographic region and that many of the stories in this book were written by people whose travels were in other areas.

I write this as the author of one of the stories in the book. My experiences were in Africa.¤

4) Paperback Book Gay Travels in the Muslim World by Harrington Park Press. "Gay Travels in the Muslim World" is quick interesting reading. Luongo´s perface to the book is most note worthy. He presents the issue of homosexuality in a framework of identity versus practices which is thoughtful. I would recommend this book for students of sociology and African American studies who are focused on learning more about ascribed and achieved life roles within society.

John Barfield
Evanston, IL¤

5) Paperback Book Gay Travels in the Muslim World by Harrington Park Press. Travel beyond the fear and paranoia of 9-11 to experience Muslim culture

Gay Travels in the Muslim World journeys where other gay travel books fear to tread--Muslim countries. This thought-provoking book tells both Muslim and non-Muslim gay men´s stories of traveling in the Middle East during these difficult political times. The true, very personal tales reveal how gay men celebrate their lives and meetings with local men, including a gay soldier´s story of his tour of duty in Iraq. Insightful and at times sexy, this intelligent book goes beyond 9-11 and the present political and cultural divides to illustrate the real experiences of gay men in trouble zones--in an effort to seek peace for all.

After the collapse of the Twin Towers, fears about terrorism and Muslim culture went hand in hand. Gay Travels in the Muslim World enters the current war zones to bring real and very personal stories of gay men who live and travel in these dangerous areas. This book challenges readers´ preconceptions and assumptions about both homosexuality and being Muslim, while showing the wide range of experiences--good and bad--about the regions as well as the differences in attitudes and beliefs.

Excerpts from Gay Travels in the Muslim World:

From "I Want Your Eyes" by David Stevens
Men by themselves are rare. I pass a handsome Omani man sitting on the Corniche wall with a cigarette between his long brown fingers. He wears his colourful cuma cap at a jaunty angle and his mustard-coloured dishdasha has risen up to reveal tantalizingly hairy calves. I note the carefully made holes in his ears--not in his ear lobes but deep inside the cartilages--a pre-Islamic custom still practiced on some male babies to ward off evil spirits. I decide it suits him.

From "It All Began with Mamadou" by Jay Davidson
Drawing definitive conclusions about a society after living here for a little more than a year is not a wise, safe, or responsible action on my part. If a society´s culture is a mosaic of thousands of little tiles, then I like to think that what I have been able to piece together has been a tableau in which certain aspects have become discernable, some are a little less clear, and others remain in a way that I will never see as whole and comprehensible.

From "A Market and a Mosque" by Martin Foreman
Sylhet, Bangladesh: It´s eight o´clock in the evening and Tarique and Paritosh are taking me out to look at the cruising spots. Until I flew in here this afternoon, all I knew of the provincial city and the surrounding area was that it was where most of the Bangladeshis in the UK come from--and since most of the Bangladeshis in the UK live in my home borough of Tower Hamlets, I feel a kind of affinity with the place. Whether or not Sylhet feels an affinity with me is a different matter.

From "Work In Progress: Notes From A Continuing Journey of Manufacturing Dissent" by Parvez Sharma
In the construction of the image and life of the "queer" Muslim is also the awareness of the not so well known fact that a sexual revolution of immense proportions came to the earliest Muslims, some 1,300 years before the West had even thought about it. This promise of equal gender rights and, unlike in the Bible, the stress on sex as not just reproduction but also enjoyment within the confines of marriage has all but been lost in the rhetoric spewing from loudspeakers perched on Masjid´s--or mosques--in Riyadh, Marrakech and Islamabad. The same Islam that has for centuries not only tolerated but also openly celebrated homosexuality is, today, used to justify a state-sanctioned pogrom against gay men in Egypt--America´s "enlightened" friend in the Middle East.

Gay Travels in the Muslim World is a refreshing, well written look at gay rights and the post 9-11 paranoia about Islamic culture, perfect for anyone interested in the Middle East travel, politics, gay men who travel, and any specialist in Middle Eastern travel.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 19-Nov-2008, 15602334009781560233404, 760-001-9X1-4X1-741-381-8

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