1. VEILED PORNOGRAPHY: THE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION OF PORN IN THE MIDDLE EAST Sarah Michelle Leonard The American University in Cairo

2. Intent and Focus  To explore the phenomenon of Munaqqabah pornography  To examine the available statics related to consumption of pornography of the Middle East  To discover if a professional pornographic industry exists in the Middle East; what types of amateur pornography are produced and distributed by local populations

3. Methodology  The fieldwork for this paper started in March of 2008 and is part of an ongoing project  Sources came primarily from one on one interviews and several focus groups based in Cairo, Egypt; however many of my informants had spent considerable time in other Middle Eastern states and thus were able to give data specific to other areas

4. Definitions  My definition of pornography was flexible. If my informants considered it porn, I included it in my sample  It is important to distinguish between the terms of munaqqabah and the niqaab and that of muhagabah and the higab. Most of my sample consisted of munaqqabah pornography. It is interesting to note that most western-produced “Arab” or “Muslim” porn features muhagabah women.

5. Primary Sources for Porn in the ME  Almost all of my sources were digital material rather than in physical form. Considering that both the possession and sale of pornography is highly illegal in most Middle Eastern countries, it’s hardly surprising that all of my sample was in clear violation of any kind of copyright law.  My informants gathered pornography from four main sources: satellite TV, the internet, mobile phones, and pirated material bought from the street  The internet was by far the most poplar way to collect pornographic material; the mobile phone was the most common tool used to create pornography

6. Satellite TV and Pirated Material  Satellites provide perhaps the easiest access to porn; as of March of 2008, I found 17 pornographic channels ranging from call in strip shows to full length films. All were from western sources, although several channels did feature non-western subjects  Pirated DVD’s can be bought on the street for around 1 to 3 Euros each. Most DVD’s feature 8 to 10 short clips of western pornography. At most, two of the videos on each DVD featured non-western subjects

7. Mobile Phones  Mobile phones are the most common way to both produce and disseminate pornographic material  Collections based on mobile phones tended to be both mostly amateur and non-western in nature  This a pan-regional trend; for example, 2007 study done by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia found that almost 70 percent of all files on teenagers’ mobile phones are pornographic in nature  15 of my 17 informants had pornographic material on their phones. The material ranged from still photos to short video clips. 10 of my informants admitted to creating pornographic material with their phones

8. The Internet  If my informants had private access to a computer, they were much more likely to have an extensive, primarily western, pornographic collection.  Only about 20 percent of the Middle East has access to the internet, and most users reside in urban areas  There are very few professional, pay pornographic sites in Arabic. What exists is usually Israeli or Lebanese.  Thus my informants either used a search engine such as Google, or went to Arabic language message boards such as banatfun.com, s7lb.com, jartna.com that allows users to post and share pornographic links and pictures. Unlike most western sites, they are mostly free, and among other things, feature explicit literature and threads on various sports

9. Google Trends  Although by no means a perfect source, Google trends provides fascinating indicative conclusions regarding what people are searching for. Moreover, it demonstrates that there are large regional differences in the types of sexual material people search for.

10. Google Trends

12.  The types of sexual content that people are searching for in the Middle East is striking in terms of violating cultural taboos  For example, Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia typically rank among the top three nations searching for the terms “ass sex” and “man sex”; Egypt, Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia are all usually in the top five for “sexy child”, whereas “animal sex” generates the most hits from Egypt, Pakistan, Morocco

13. Google Trends  Egypt provides an interesting snap shot when using Google trends. It typically ranks in the top three countries searching for the term “sex”. This is notable not only given Egypt’s limited number of users, but also because users are searching for “sex” rather than the Arabic term “ جنس ”. Moreover, the transliterated phrase “ سكس ” was more common than the Arabic “ جنس ”.

14. Munaqqabah Pornography  I came across two types of munaqqabah pornography; pictures and video clips. Of those, pictures were by far the most common form of munaqqabah pornography. Some shots were clearly posed; others appeared to be candid shots taken during a sex act.  The sample for this paper only includes material that I was able to obtain a copy of.

15. Munaqqabah Pornography

16.  Of the twenty-seven images that I collected, only four featured men and women together; in two of those, only male body parts could be seen. I also found one picture that featured two women kissing.  The remaining twenty-two pictures showed women in various explicit poses, with differing levels of nudity.  Three of the pictures contained no nudity, rather showing women in swimwear or bikinis; on the other end of the spectrum, seven shots featured the women totally nude except for the niqaab.  An additional seven pictures showed women wearing some form of lingerie that either revealed their breasts or pubic region. Five pictures featured only the women’s head, with semen on the niqaab or veil.  For the most part, the wearing of the veil served to concealed the women’s identities; however in several of the pictures, the women were veiled only in a higab.

17. Munaqqabah Pornography

18.  Of the eight videos that I encountered, two were clearly professionally produced, and six appeared to have come from amateur sources.  The amateur videos were all very low quality, between thirty seconds and two minutes, and appeared to have been taken with cell phones with little to no audio. Four of the videos showed vaginal sex, two oral sex, and one showed both. Two of the videos ended with the men ejaculating on the women’s niqaab. None of the videos revealed the men’s faces, but rather exposed the men from the waist down. In one of the videos, the woman wore a higab rather than a niqaab. Other than this, the identities of the women were obscured by the niqaab.

19. Munaqqabah Pornography  The professional videos were between eighteen and twenty minutes in length.  The content and style varied considerably from both each other and the amateur videos. The first video was unremarkable expect for the fact that the woman was wearing the niqaab. The second video more closely resembled a western-style pornographic film, with dialogue and a very clear storyline.

20. Conclusions  The incorporation of the niqaab and higab into Arab-produced amateur and professional pornographic material calls into question many issues concerning agency, sexual mores, and symbolic violence in the Middle East.  From a functionalist perspective, covering gives women a measure of protection and freedom. Likewise, we can also say that it strips a women of her agency identity as an individual by turning her into nothing but a blank slate for sexual desire.

21. Conclusions  A woman (or a man for that matter) may very well exercise agency and power when taking part in the production of pornography, but the open distribution of the material often does not allow her to give consent or permission for it to be disseminated.  The veil is not a neutral entity; it is loaded with religious and political symbolism. By transforming the veil into a sexualized object-- specifically by ejaculating on it—the argument can be made that the male participant is defiling or disrespecting the religious, cultural, or political factors that have created it, as well as the woman underneath. Although I am less inclined to agree with this view, one can also make the argument that a woman could be using the veil for exactly the same reasons.

22. Conclusions  Within a regional framework, troubling issues appear. The use of the veil within western pornography clearly stems from an orientalist stereotype of the hyper-sexualized and forbidden Muslim women; given what I encountered, I would strongly question how much of this stereotype has also been internalized within Middle Eastern or Arab minds as well.

23. Conclusions  Moreover, the cultural and religious gender restrictions have severely limited the amount of contact between the sexes. And whilst the argument can be made that munaqqabah pornography is not inherently dangerous by itself, it is often situated in the midst of highly misogynistic and violent western pornography. Thus, it is plausible that for some Arab youth, pornography is one of their main sources of sexual socialization. Combined with the social and economic marginalization emblematic of Middle Eastern youth, a problematic situation is evident - youth have very few options, outlets, or healthy resources for gaining positive sexual knowledge. It remains to be seen how this could effect gender relations in the future but, the situation does not appear to promising.