Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-332) and index.

As political change sweeps the streets and squares, parliaments and presidential palaces of the Arab world, journalist Shereen El Feki has long been looking at upheaval a little closer to home, in the sexual lives of men and women in Egypt and across the region. The result is an account of a highly sensitive, and still largely secret, aspect of Arab society. Sex is entwined in religion and tradition, politics and economics, gender and generations, so it makes a perfect lens for examining the region's complex social landscape. From pregnant virgins to desperate housewives, from fearless activists to religious firebrands, this book looks at the sexual history of the Arab region and brings new voices to the debate over its future. This is no peep show or academic treatise. It is a highly personal, often humorous, account of one woman's journey to better understand Arab society at its most intimate, and in the process, better understand her own origins. Rich with five years of research from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, Tunisia to Qatar, this book conveys a unique insight into everyday lives in a part of the world that is changing in front of our very eyes.

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