Bashasha (left) and a friend.
Studio Shehreadze, Saida, LEbanon, late 1950s
Hashem el Maadi

copyright: Arab Image Foundation

“Films inspired the people a lot. They came to perform kissing in front of a camera. In a conservative society such as Saida (Sidon, Lebanon) people were willing to play the kiss between two people of the same sex, but very rarely between a man and a woman.”

courtesy of queeringyerevan.blogspot.com

Meem members participated in many panels at the AWID Forum 2008, contributing to topics like young feminist activism and challenging religious fundamentalism. Along with members from Aswat, Meem also presented a strategy towards building a queer women’s movement in the Arab world at a packed panel with over 100 feminist activists from around the world.

Meem is delighted to be the newest member of CSBR, the Coalition for Sexual & Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies. CSBR is a network of NGOs and academics working in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and South-East Asia. Visit their website here for a loot into their very progressive core values on sexual rights.

Bekhsoos has made its first media appearance in Menassat.com, an online Arab news portal You can read the fantastic article in Englishand Arabic. After the exposure we got from those articles, Bekhsoos il Homophobia, our first issue was discussed on many blogs and news websites such as Caledoniyya, Muslimah Media Watch, and Jiha5 Saudi Magazine.

Women for Women’s Human Rights in Turkey invited a Meem member to participate in a training institute on gender and sexuality held in Malaysia this past month. The training was organized by the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Socities. Meem gave a presentation about Arab lesbians and networked with various Arab and South East Asian groups working on gender equality and sexual rights.