Sex and the Citadel

A fascinating, groundbreaking look at changing sexual attitudes and behavior in the Arab world, by one of the foremost experts on social practices in the region.

In the political unrest that swept across the Arab region in 2011, all eyes were on the streets and squares erupting in protest. But for the past four years, Shereen El Feki has been looking at upheaval a little closer to home -- in the sexual lives of men and women across the Arab world. The result is Sex and the Citadel, an informative, insightful and engaging account of a still largely secret aspect of this society.

Sexual attitudes and behaviours in the region are intimately bound up in religion, culture, politics and economics. They are not only a reflection of the conditions that led to the uprisings, as well as an engine of revolt, but will also be a measure of hard-won reforms in the future.

Sex and the Citadel is no peep show. By linking sexuality to political, economic, social and religious trends, it opens a window on the greater landscape of the Arab world, both for readers new to the region whose interest has been sparked by recent events, and for old hands familiar with the Arab world. Nor is the book an academic treatise: this is a highly personal account, rich with original research and first-person stories, that gives us unprecedented and timely insight into a part of the world that is transforming in front of our very eyes.

SHEREEN EL FEKI is a writer, broadcaster and academic who started her professional life in medical science, with a PhD in molecular immunology from the University of Cambridge. An award-winning journalist with The Economist and presenter with Al Jazeera English, she is currently Vice-Chair of the UN's Global Commission on HIV and Law and is advising Effat University, Jeddah, on setting up Saudi Arabia's first school of journalism for women. Born in the UK and raised in Canada, she is half-Egyptian and half-Welsh. She currently divides her time between London and Cairo.