But remember, this is BUTT, not Scientific American.
I just met a man who had returned from the Middle East, where he is working on a number of research projects. One of these projects is a covert study of self-identified gay men, their mating habits, and methods of congregating in the Middle East. I have decided to keep my subject anonymous in order to protect him and the future of the project. The country has also been changed to ‘the Middle East’ for the same purposes.
Because people in ‘the Middle East’ read BUTT.com? I’m going to assume this was in Dubai or Saudi Arabia. So why not say so? The Middle East is a big place! It’s not fair to lump in the gay-friendly parts (i.e., Israel) with the scary, anti-gay parts. Also, “mating habits”? What are they, apes?
Anyways, excerpts from the interview, which is fine, until the end:
What are you finding to be the most common demographic about the guys?
They are coming from all places and walks of life. They’re so socially marginalized in every day life that, regardless of their class or where they are from, they find ways to connect. They are actually having amazing sex lives because they have found each other through these networks, yet have to live in fear should they be found out.Have you found many couples?
Yes, we have. They mask their relationships, and often we have found that they have separate residences and are being consistently pressured to get married to women. One couple actually moved from one large city to another large city to flee their family’s pressure. Formally they have separate residences, but live together in one or the other.Who was the first subject you met for this research?
He was a very vocal and articulate hotel manager at a large hotel, in his late twenties. He introduced us to the diverse, gay underworld that exists in this particular city, and he brought us to our first Middle Eastern sex party.Wow! What was this like?
It was amazing because the fellows not only needed to get their rocks off, but they were also connecting in ways they never thought they could. It wasn’t just physical, but also emotional and spiritual. One guy we met there had just finished having sex and immediately started conversing with us about whether it was possible to be gay and Muslim, and why not? He felt he was a good Muslim.How many people were in attendance? Were condoms used? Poppers?
At this particular party there were over thirty guys and no mattresses, just the bed of the owner. There were no condoms. There were people in various rooms, and some were shy and some weren’t.Was there any group sex at the party?
There was some group sex, but mostly one-on-one and a few threesomes spread throughout a large condominium above a business. Funny thing is, we asked them how they learned to have gay sex and they actually laughed at us. The first response was, ‘doesn’t everyone know how to have gay sex?’ But then they talked about being scared about how to fuck, and what is pleasurable.Did you dive in?
Hell yeah!!What is favorite memory of this particular evening?
The smell, and nuzzling in a hairy chest with a thick, fantastic, musky smell. It was heaven!
Will that be in the final report–the heavenly musky chest hair? A researcher who fucks his subjects? The results of this study will be reliable! And that’s assuming it’s a real study and not just a travelogue from a wanna-be sociologist hipster who went on a gaycation.
Gay culture center in Tel-Aviv is the only government funded glbt center in the world. All the people that work there are government workers!!!
So Yes, they are open to gays. There will always be desent when religion is involved. You could live in the heavily atheist Czech Republic, but you will not have the weather and the beaches.
Gay travel Tel-Aviv
http://www.logotv.com/video/episode-24-season-4-tel-aviv-israel/1649939/playlist.jhtml
Jerusalem
http://www.logotv.com/video/episode-25-season-4-jerusalem-israel/1649995/playlist.jhtml
Dear Collin O’Neal,
Turkey and Egypt are indeed considered part of the Middle East, according to the Associated Press, National Geographic, etc. I’d be interested to know who claims they are NOT and why.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East
http://stylemanual.ngs.org/intranet/styleman.nsf/d44bbc7b59384795852574a2004bfeb7/3fcb99599faed7fb852566ab0068ec47?OpenDocument
This reminds me of Tobias Schneebaum — the Ivy League anthropologist who indulged in the gay sex rituals of Papua New Guinea’s tribes and joined some Peruvian natives in cannibalism!
There’s a great documentary about it called KEEP THE RIVER ON YOUR RIGHT. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206187/
P.S. Arab gays aren’t the only ones vulnerable in Israel, Mr. Anthropologist. The Orthodox Jews and right-wing political parties always try to ban gay pride parades or take away rights from Israeli gays and lesbians, too.
3 things:
1) Israel is a problematic example of a pro-gay rights country, especially when you’re talking about gay Muslims. You’d have to disentangle the deep anti-Arab sentiment before you could say anything about whether or not Israel supports all its gays equally. Don’t believe what Michael Lucas tells you.
2) If you’ve ever read BUTT before, you’d know that they write in a semi-serious, semi-snarky tone. This is a self-described magazine for “homosexualists.” It’s a sexually explicit but high-minded rag. So I’m guessing the story is for real.
3) As for sex and research; it’s an open secret that most social scientists (and lots of other academics) who do fieldwork abroad often get busy with the “natives.” In the last fifteen years or so people are more likely to come clean about it. Is it ethical? No easy answer there.
This interview is very vague. Very strange, like its a guy that really didn’t go to the Middle East. You can name a country….really. I can say a lot more since I have been to The UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon (I would say Turkey and Egypt too, but neither are in the “Middle East”). In Syria, they don’t like condoms, but local gays say that Lebanese have HIV and spread it (because the Syrians are not happy that they were not kicked out of Lebanon after Hariri’s death). I’ll keep the rest to myself and write on my blog about my experiences so The Sword will pick it up…more to come…on my blog! PS….Middle Easterners don’t know WTF poppers are!
Israel gay friendly? Hmm a tleas tthey do’nt stone them to death as in so many other muslim countries, this whole thing of ‘ a gay researcher’ is a total hoax
Israel is gay-friendly….? Hmmm.
Q: Were condoms used?
A: There were no condoms.
Am I the only one who thinks that the most important conclusion of this “study” is that middle east men dont use condoms in their “mating habit”?
This “project” sounds like a mash of a Colin O’Neal story with the New York Times’ recent description of a Gay Arab party in New York City.
Being Arab, Muslim, and having the chance of living in the region for a few years, my guess is that this was done either in Lebanon or Jordan as they are probably the more gay friendly countries in the middle east (Israel is, too, but it isn’t a big deal there.) I think it’s an interesting topic yet they do make it sound like they are trying to find some extinct species. It’s also pretty retarded that they asked how they learned to have gay sex. I don’t think it takes that many brain cells to figure out how to put slot A into slot B like a piece of Ikea furniture (which, yes, is also one of the most popular growing stores in “the middle east.) Zach, you should go and do your own experiment there!!! I’m sure you wouldn’t be disappointed :)