Queer life in cool places
Kevyn’s semester at sea
By Kevyn Jacobs

Editor's Note: Kevyn spent Fall 1997 visiting twelve countries as a participant in the Semester at Sea (SAS) program. The group of 600 students left aboard the S.S. Universe Explorer from Vancouver, Canada, on 14 September 1997, and circled the globe. As part of his on-board studies, Kevyn prepared a comparitive report on gay subcultures. This is the second in a three-part series of his journey. Read Kevyn’s entire report.
 

INDIA

Homosexual sex is illegal in India under Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which forbids "carnal intercourse against the order of nature with man, woman or animal." Article 294 also prohibits "obscene behaviour," and these laws have been used recently to oppress gay men. Recently, however, an organized gay movement has begun to form in India to resist these laws (Gmünder, p. 531).

Gay establishments do exist in India, but they are almost exclusively centered around Bombay and New Delhi. No such establishments exist in Chennai, and consequently, I was unable to locate an interview subject while I was there. I was, however, able to locate a Dutch research paper on the Internet that had made a study of gay subculture in Chennai, which was able to give me some insight into the workings of Indian gay subculture.

Although the western idea of homosexuality was introduced to India by the British - along with Victorian attitudes about sex, which is why in India there is strong repression of homosexuality - Indian culture has long recognized the fluidity of human sexuality. Specific sex roles exist for non-heterosexual men in the culture, and specific words are used to define these roles.

Among these are the "third-gendered" ali (called Hijra in the North), who are commonly eunuchs, and who were mentioned in The City of Joy (Lapierre). The ali's role in Indian society is that of 'sacred prostitute,' and much like the berdache of the Native Americans, are believed to be endowed with the special power to bless newborn children. Ali often sell sex in addition to blessing newborns, and the Dutch report estimates that approximately 200 ali are operating in the Chennai area (Hekma, "Gay cultures in Madras, India").

In addition to the ali, other non-heterosexual men are identified in the Chennai area, including danga, panthi, and double-deckers. Danga are effeminate men who prefer the passive role in sex with other men. Panthi are masculine men who have sex with ali, women, and men. Double-deckers are morphological males whose gender identities are not necessarily masculine or feminine, but who prefer sex with other men. There also exist in Chennai a large number of rent boys and hustlers, who are heterosexual, but who have sex with other men for the money (Hekma, "Gay cultures in Madras, India"). It is unfortunate that I was not able to secure an interview in India, because it would have been very interesting to learn more about these roles as they are understood by the Indians themselves.

EGYPT

Homosexual activity is not illegal in Egypt, per se, but there are regulations about "offenses against public morals and sensitivities," which are vague enough to have been used against gay men in the past (Gmünder, p. 189). The Q'uran forbids anal sex between men (liwat), and in a predominately Islamic country, Q'uranic attitudes underlie Arabic attitudes towards homosexuality. Because of this, men in Egypt are never openly homosexual, and homosexuality is a trait Egyptians associate more with Christian Copts or with tourists than Muslims (Hekma, "Gay cultures in Cairo, Egypt").

Because there is no open homosexuality in Egypt, there exist no gay bars, political organizations, or publications. And while the gay subculture is completely underground, it is not as inaccessible as Chinese gay culture, because of some very curious attitudes about sex and sexuality that are held by Arabs, which I shall explain below.

Our interport lecturer, Nadia Atif, stated in pre-port that male Semester at Sea students should avoid wearing earrings, regardless of whether or not they were homosexual, because it  would attract attention from Egyptian males in a way that would probably be unwelcome. I decided to test her assertion, and found it was true - by wearing an earring, I received a lot of sexual attention from (presumably) heterosexual males in Egypt. All kinds of sexual advances were made towards me, from winks and whistles, to groping and fondling my breasts, buttocks or genitals, to outright offers of sex. But even when I wasn't wearing the earring, I received such attention, although not to as great a degree. And at least half a dozen other male Semester at Sea students (some gay and some straight) reported to me that they, too, had been the focus of sexual attention from Egyptian males.

Strange as this behavior may be, coming from heterosexuals, and especially in a country where there is no open homosexuality, I believe there is a good explanation for it. First of all, a strong division exists in the Arab mind between private and public behavior, and as long as a shameful behavior, such as homosexual sex, never becomes public, it is not damaging to an Egyptian man's honor. And tourists are not thought to have any honor in the Egyptian mind, and are from outside the Egyptian culture, which makes them suitable targets for sexual advances (Hekma, "Gay cultures in Cairo, Egypt"). This was certainly true of women from Semester at Sea who were sexually harassed, whereas Islamic women would not have received that kind of attention.

Secondly, in the Islamic world, there is an unwritten rule that any unmarried man can have homosexual sex, and as long as he is the sexually active partner in sex (that is, anally or orally the inserter), he is not gay. Only the man who is penetrated, anally or orally, is considered to be "gay," and as such, less than a man. This is because, in the Arab world, sex equals  power, and men are more powerful than women are. Someone  who takes on the "female role" in sex, that is, the submissive recipient of the male's lust, is reduced to the role of women, and is therefore less of a man. As long as a man is dominant in sex, he is not lessening his role, or jeopardizing his status as a "straight" man. And usually, because this is a power relationship as much as a sexual one, the younger partner in a coupling is expected to be the passive one - which made many Semester at Sea men ideal targets for this kind of sexual attention. (Hekma, "Gay cultures in Cairo, Egypt").

Thirdly, in the Islamic world, sexual contact between men and women is highly restricted, especially before marriage. For many unmarried Islamic men, sex with any woman before marriage is unthinkable, if not impossible. Consequently, homosexual sex is the only possible sexual outlet for sexually repressed heterosexual men. It's the "prison sex syndrome" - where females are not available, heterosexual men will seek out sex with homosexual men in order to "get off."

It is the combination of these three factors that I believe make homosexual conduct so widespread in Egypt among heterosexual men, and, as I shall mention later, in Morocco.

Speaking from my own experience in Egypt, I also think that many heterosexual Islamic men have a well-developed sense of "gaydar," and I suspect many of them are not even aware they have it. Gaydar is gay slang for the ability to single out a stranger as homosexual, even when there are no overt signs of  homosexuality. Gaydar is largely an unconscious process, picking up on subtle cues that many homosexuals unconsciously project, either in dress, speech, demeanor or body language, but that most people would not even notice.

Because unmarried heterosexual Islamic men look for homosexual sex partners, either consciously or unconsciously, they have honed their ability to discreetly pick out homosexuals at a glance. Of course, gaydar is not foolproof, and this in itself may explain the number of straight Semester at Sea men who were also hit on.

While wandering a Cairo bazaar with a female friend, I was sexually approached by a young Egyptian man. I was not wearing an earring at the time, nor was I behaving in any overtly homosexual manner. Yet he was able to figure out I was not exclusively heterosexual. It is my suspicion that he knew intuitively, and that this ability, so rare among heterosexual men in the west, is common among heterosexual men in the Islamic world.

I was, unfortunately, unable to interview any of these heterosexual men who made advances to me. Once it became clear that I was not willing to have sex, they lost interest in me. They were either unwilling or unable to talk about their reasons for hitting on me, and about homosexuality in Egypt. So it is only from my observations, and my readings, that I can speak about gay life in the Islamic world.

Next Issue:  Cyprus & Greece, Spain and Morocco!

Gmünder, Bruno Spartacus International Gay Guide '97/98, 26th edition, 1997, Bruno Gmünder Verlag GMBH, Berlin.

Hekma, Gert  At Home in a World of Strangers: Towards a Comparison of Gay Urban Cultures, Research project proposal to the Dutch Foundation for Scholarly Research, 1997, Amsterdam Gay & Lesbian Studies website, http://www.pscw.uva.nl/gl.

Lapierre, Dominique  The City of Joy, 1985, Time Warner Books, New York.
 
 
 

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