Prostitution/sex work

Prostitution /sex work

name REACH OUT-2

Homosexuality in Egyptian Film

Garay Menicucci

Images of same-sex love and sexual dissidence from the heterosexual norm have long been portrayed in literature , theater and cinema in the Arab world . While the explicit depiction of homosexual acts in film has been the subject of strict censorship , cinematic references to gays and lesbians abound , if often in heavily coded forms

The most ubiquitous coding for gay and lesbian cinematic imaging has been cross-dressing . While the tradition of transvestite performers in Arabia can be traced

back to pre-Islamic times ,1 in Egypt transvestites gained added prominence in the 19th century when Muhammad 'Ali banned female dancers who were then replaced by khawalat-male dancers who dressed in women 's clothing and performed at popular celebrations and other public venues

Costume and disguise go to the very essence of theater and film as media . Transvestism-a cultural practice which codes gender dissidence often associated with homosexuality-in itself is often an expression of eroticism and sexuality .2 Virtually all Egyptian films employing cross-dressing as a plot device do so within a comic context in to introduce sexual , gender or social issues that would be deeply shocking if dealt with in a serious manner

Women as Men

One of the earliest examples of an entire plot constructed around cross-dressing is Bint al-basha al-mudir (The Pasha Director 's Daughter 1938 ) directed by Ahmad Galal who also starred in the film along with his wife Mary Queeny and his wife 's niece Asya . Asya is forced to disguise herself as her brother Hikmat and must substitute for him in a job as a tutor on a wealthy estate in the Egyptian countryside . Most of the plot revolves around untangling misidentities so that all the main characters will end in appropriate heterosexual marriages . There are however , long erotic diversions before the prescribed happy ending Asya , as Hikmat , becomes a symbol of worldliness and sexual dissidence for members of a rich Pasha 's household who lack experience outside the confines of provincial society . One of the estate owner 's daughters Badriya , becomes sexually attracted to Hikmat . At one point , Badriya tries to seduce Hikmat by twirling a rose between her teeth and then dropping it to the ground so that Hikmat will be forced to stoop before her to recover it . Asya as Hikmat then tries to kiss Badriya Interrupted by Badriya 's older brother Tawfiq , the symbolic deflowering is stopped . A consummated lesbian act is prevented as well as any form of uncontrolled sexuality outside of marriage . Despite the conventional outcome , this scene is one of Arab cinema 's most erotic portrayals of two women engaged in flirtation and seduction

Transvestism in the plot of The Pasha Director 's Daughter was consistent with an elite heterosexual strategy to press for the right of romantic marriage based on erotic attraction instead of the arranged marriages still common in the upper classes in the 1930s . In The Pasha Director 's Daughter transvestism is coded...