The urgent necessity of sex education and scientifically informed sexual policies in our Arabic/Islamic societies

According to the orthodox, oppressive view of our Arabic and Islamic societies, sex is ought to be practised within the legitimate, confined world of marriage. Marriage is an umbrella world that legitimizes sex irrespective of what kid of marriage it is. Hence a marriage is the designation of a social and religious acceptance of a sexual relationship, which without such a designation will certainly fall in the realm of the forbidden and the sinful that deserves the stoning or killing of a person and the person is always a woman; a man, the earthly representative of the heavenly God, cannot sin. Hence, marriages that go under names such as entertainment/pleasure or tourism marriages are acceptable again by virtue of their using the magic word ‘marriage’, a virtue that is not derived from the inherent virtue of sexuality as a source of pleasure, or from the intelligence of the erotic. It is the virtue of the phallus as the prescriber of morality or immorality. A phallic virtue is obviously a misnomer. Reluctantly or wilfully, a woman goes along with such a marriage for reasons including her acceptance of the phallic notion of sexuality, or for reason of her feeling that her getting some of the leftover of the sexual pleasure is better than nothing.
Premarital or causal sex, particularly for women, is doomed a sin. The objection to this kind of sex is vastly based on the moral argument that is grounded in religion or in cultural tradition. Such an argument, though a closed one, has the right to be there provided that it refrains from imposing itself on others. Certainly, we can not dialogue with the logic of a monologist.
Some of those who are morally opposed to this kind of sex might cite the economic rational. Those who are keen on safeguarding the material possessions of the linear, paternal heritage argue for the virtue of marital sex as it ensures a clarity of heritage. However, such an objection could be now rendered invalid through the availability of the DNA test that can with an extremely high accuracy ascertain the paternity of the child.
Another objection is based on the notion that sex practised premartially or casually will foster the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) .An objection based on health consideration is obviously extremely important and needs to be taken very seriously. But this objection is rooted in the unrealistic notion of risk-free life. And we know that the sexual spread of STDs can be greatly reduced though the use of safer sex methods likes condoms.
To make an informed choice, a person who practises sex has to have all scientific information available to him/her with regard to various risks associated with oral, vaginal, or anal sex, as well as the most appropriate ways of protecting oneself against STDs through, for example, use of condoms in case of vaginal and anal sex, or though refraining from having an oral sex with a stranger in case of his/her or the sex partner’s having an oral, bleeding ulcer or lesion.
Certainly the option of sexual abstinence or monogamy is the best preventive measure, but a health policy aiming at the promotion of sexual joy and prevention of STDs should never rely on wishful thinking of sexual practices, particularly since there is no empirical research into sexual behaviours in our societies. Therefore, it is vital that the designers of health policies base their policies on the more valid assumption of having people practising sex, most possibly unknowingly, in a risky fashion. This should make the need for such a health policy clear. A health policy on sexual matters should offer sexual information in a scientific, judgment-free manner to every one. It should be able to inform people of the ways that could enhance their joy of sex as well as of the risks involved in certain sexual behaviours. Such a policy encourages people to take their health and sexuality seriously and to make decisions on the best available scientific facts. Also, importantly, this policy should uphold the notion of people’s right to sexual pleasure as a human right.
The aspired-for sexual policy has additionally the following objectives:
1. The introduction of sex education in the school curriculum. The objective is, certainly, not to advocate promiscuity; since there is no evidence at all that sex education promotes promiscuity. On the contrary, societies that are liberal in their sexual attitudes and behaviours, like the Scandinavian countries, have much less teenage-pregnancies, as a measure of promiscuity, than countries that are relatively less liberal and enlightened such as the UK or Ireland.
2. Setting up of a post of a Chair of Clinical Sexology. The extreme relevance of sexuality to health, psychology of wellbeing, culture and politics necessitates its study in a multi-disciplinary fashion at university undergraduate and postgraduate levels. This necessity calls for an urgent setting up of a Chair of Clinical Sexology in our universities (usually the medical schools), whose function is the conduct and promotion of high-quality research into different aspects of sexuality. A person holding this post will be solely informed by sexual ethics that is grounded in science as ever-changing enterprise. His/her function, furthermore, is to promote empirical research that explores the variety of sexual behaviours in our societies; so that sexual policies will be based on hard evidence.
3. Setting up sex and marriage/relationship clinics that offer sexual information and counseling on sexual, marital and relationship matters. This is because sexual health is as equally important as any other aspect of health and the WHO defines health in a holistic fashion as not only the absence of disease but as the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual wellbeing of an individual. Certainly, health workers manning these clinics have to be properly qualified and informed in their clinical practices by the best available scientific evidence. Additionally, health professionals working in these clinics should be non-judgmental and refrain from imposing their views on those seeking their help. This means that they ought to be as respectful of the views of those who consider premarital sex a sin as of those like Raja Halwani, who, in his book ‘‘Virtuous Liaisons: Care, Love, Sex, and Virtue Ethics’ advocates that his "aim is to vindicate the liberal position s attitude with respect to promiscuity, open marriages, and sex work from a neo-Aristotelian perspective" (p.169).

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