ARAB WORLD - CULTURE - LEBANON
Jasad, an Arabic paean to the body – in all its states
WEDNESDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2009
"Jasad," a new Arabic cultural quarterly that unabashedly talks about – and depicts – the body, has just been released in Lebanon. The founder-editor says the magazine seeks to break taboos. But is the Arab world ready for it?
The first edition of a risqué Arabic cultural quarterly that threatens to inflame sensibilities across the Arab world has hit news stands in Lebanon.
Jasad, or “body” in Arabic, is a glossy that tackles the issue of the human body – from every possible angle. It aims to be artistic, intellectual, scientific, literary, sociological… and sexual.
Published in Beirut, the color glossy includes features, columns and essays on a range of subjects including cinema, literature and the arts.
But its frank portrayal of the human body, with scant regard for longstanding taboos, has raised eyebrows across the Arab world. The magazine presents, for instance, artwork by artist Ninar Esber, daughter of the famous Arab poet Adonis. Esber’s cutting edge work deals with nude figures, some in provocative underwear, as well as risqué pieces featuring dildos and sex toys.
Jasad founder-editor Joumana Haddad, 38, believes it’s time to challenge the Arab world’s sensitivity about sexuality.
“We must break these taboos, stop the hypocrisy and schizophrenia that reign in Arab countries when it comes to issues concerning the body,” she says.
On sale in Lebanon, but seeking a wider audience
Jasad is expensive by Lebanese standards, costing 15,000 Lebanese pounds ($10). But the magazine’s launch has been a success, according to Haddad.
“My distributor in Lebanon was astonished. He told me the magazine is selling well - even in little villages,” she said, before adding, “Out of a run of 7,000 copies, 4,000 were sold in just 11 days.”
The magazine is currently on sale only in Lebanon.
But Haddad has her eyes set on a wider readership, even though much of the Arab world is deeply conservative and is likely to take offence with the magazine’s risqué contents.
She has already received letters warning her that “God will punish” her and that she is “corrupting younger generations.”
Even her family and friends were against her launching Jasad.
“They told me it was not the right time,” Haddad says. “It wasn’t an easy thing to do, and I expected criticism. But I’m not afraid of the threats. I’ve stuck to my guns and I believe my passion has won over any doubts I might have had.”
A rich tradition of Arabic erotic literature
And it is precisely this passion that led her to launch Jasad. “I want to write for people like me,” she says. “Everybody is fascinated by the human form. I want to offer readers the opportunity to go to a newsstand and buy a magazine like this – if that’s want they want.”
Haddad notes that sex wasn’t always a taboo subject for Arabs. “This is a subject that has only become taboo over the last 300 years. This was not the case when you look back beyond that time span. During the Middle Ages there was plenty of good Arabic literature concerning the body - with none of the modern taboos attached, works such as The Perfumed Garden and The Thousand and One Nights.
“And Jasad intends to revive this literary tradition, to highlight the body, to meditate on the Arabic language and its relationship with the body.”
The first issue does not hold back any punches and will certainly make the prudish blush.
Topics include homosexuality, fetishism, masturbation, cannibalism and the very notion of pleasure itself.
There are features with pornographic and erotic film actors and even a cookery page containing aphrodisiac recipes.
But Haddad insists she is not out to peddle porn.
The young Lebanese editor admits she has faced pressure to tone down the magazine’s contents. But, she insists, she has not buckled under the pressure.
“I have even turned down funding from one Arab investor because of demands to tone down the content,” she says.
Jasad has cleared the official censors – it has been given the green light by the Lebanese Ministry of Communication as well as the country’s union of journalists.
However, it’s worth noting that Jasad, when sold in shops, comes in a plastic wrapper clearly marked “adults only.”
2 comments:
Dear Ocho-Onda,
Pardon my cynicism. I believe that if 'they' would to discover their roots, those moral crusaders would discover, much to their horror, that their forefathers would relish such a magazine, if you get my drift. Not only that; I believe it would achieve runaway fame!
A look at Arabic historical literature can tell us the sort of society that existed - devoid of inhibitions - their culture and literary gems just flowed and flourished!!!
And now- with all the shackles of self-righteousness that they impose on themselves, there exists a pseudo 'moral' society!
Tis such a pity because Lebanese culture is so beautiful, vibrant, colorful...and even the belly-dancing, kebabs, pitas etc...is a veritable feast for the eyes...but alas, they have to see the world through the glasses of the authorities. Sigh.
Anyway, thanks for this post. As always, an eye-opener!
Cheers!
They do not have to go that far , just less than a hundred years back, to the wisdom of Kahlil Gibran, the great Lebanese poet of the early 20th Century ! Below are from "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran.
CLOTHES
And the weaver said, "Speak to us of Clothes."
And he answered:
Your clothes conceal much of your beauty, yet they hide not the unbeautiful.
And though you seek in garments the freedom of privacy you may find in them a harness and a chain.
Would that you could meet the sun and the wind with more of your skin and less of your raiment,
For the breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind.
Some of you say, "It is the north wind who has woven the clothes to wear."
But shame was his loom, and the softening of the sinews was his thread.
And when his work was done he laughed in the forest.
Forget not that modesty is for a shield against the eye of the unclean.
And when the unclean shall be no more, what were modesty but a fetter and a fouling of the mind?
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
PLEASURE
Then a hermit, who visited the city once a year, came forth and said, "Speak to us of Pleasure."
And he answered, saying:
Pleasure is a freedom song,
But it is not freedom.
It is the blossoming of your desires,
But it is not their fruit.
It is a depth calling unto a height,
But it is not the deep nor the high.
It is the caged taking wing,
But it is not space encompassed.
Ay, in very truth, pleasure is a freedom-song.
And I fain would have you sing it with fullness of heart; yet I would not have you lose your hearts in the singing.
Some of your youth seek pleasure as if it were all, and they are judged and rebuked.
I would not judge nor rebuke them. I would have them seek.
For they shall find pleasure, but not her alone:
Seven are her sisters, and the least of them is more beautiful than pleasure.
Have you not heard of the man who was digging in the earth for roots and found a treasure?
And some of your elders remember pleasures with regret like wrongs committed in drunkenness.
But regret is the beclouding of the mind and not its chastisement.
They should remember their pleasures with gratitude, as they would the harvest of a summer.
Yet if it comforts them to regret, let them be comforted.
And there are among you those who are neither young to seek nor old to remember;
And in their fear of seeking and remembering they shun all pleasures, lest they neglect the spirit or offend against it.
But even in their foregoing is their pleasure.
And thus they too find a treasure though they dig for roots with quivering hands.
But tell me, who is he that can offend the spirit?
Shall the nightingale offend the stillness of the night, or the firefly the stars?
And shall your flame or your smoke burden the wind?
Think you the spirit is a still pool which you can trouble with a staff?
Oftentimes in denying yourself pleasure you do but store the desire in the recesses of your being.
Who knows but that which seems omitted today, waits for tomorrow?
Even your body knows its heritage and its rightful need and will not be deceived.
And your body is the harp of your soul,
And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds.
And now you ask in your heart, "How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?"
Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower,
But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.
For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,
And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,
And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.
People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees.
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