Sex and the Citadel

Shereen El Feki wuchs als Tochter einer Waliserin und eines Ägypters in Kanada auf. Die studierte Immunologin arbeitet heute vor allem als Journalistin, u. a. für den englischsprachigen arabischen Fernsehsender Al-Dschasira und für den Economist. Sie lebt in Kairo und Toronto.

"Compelling, revelatory... No one can be sure where the Arab awakening will lead now -- towards fiercer sexual controls or a slight relaxing of them. The one thing El Feki is sure of is that there will be no seismic shifts. This will be evolution, not revolution" -- Jenni Russell Sunday Times (Culture) "Fascinating" -- Daisy Goodwin Mail on Sunday "Frequently eye-popping. The stories emphasise just how bewildering the issue of sex has become across the Middle East" -- Nicholas Blincoe Daily Telegraph "A fascinating survey of sex that is rich in detail" The Economist "Highly researched and refreshingly amusing... an honest appraisal of a culture and religion in turmoil" -- Malu Halasa Times Literary Supplement "In talking to ordinary people as well as sex therapists and sociologists, El Feki has been able to produce an original portrait of the region's youth that sheds light on the condition of women, failing education and health systems, and the uses and abuses of religion to reinforce the status quo" -- Rhoula Khalaf Financial Times "Serious and ground-breaking study of what goes on in bedrooms away from the public turmoil taking place in Egypt. It also reappraises the sexual history of the Arab world" GQ "Dr El Feki's position as a western-educated female Muslim, both insider and outsider... gives the book an invaluable perspective and a differnet kind of authority" -- Faramerz Dabhoiwala Observer "This is a principled book, robustly educative and illuminating without consenting to the kind of vacant voyeurism that the intimate life veiled by Islam can provoke in unthinking outsiders" -- Shahidha Bari Times Higher Education Supplement "In her sweeping, finely researched and fascinating book Shereen El Feki spends five years travelling the Arab world asking intimate questions of the most private people on Earth. She speaks to disaffected wives, single mothers, sex workers, agony aunts, Koranic scholars, infertility specialists. Her findings are endlessly