October 16, 2008
Winning a Sexy Gives Local Article on Muslim Sexuality National Audience
Contact: Susan Wright, 917-848-6544 or Miriam Axel-Lute
Winning a Sex-Positive Journalism Award gave Omar Mouallem's story "Let's Talk About Sects" a much wider readership: It was reprinted, along with a brief article on the awards, in the national publication Canadian Arab News.
Mouallem says: "It was very profound to have Lets Talk About Sects republished in Canadian Arab News because of how conservative and community-based the paper is. I've been a monthly contributor to CANews for over two years, and I've pitched sexuality-related stories before – including one on gays in the Middle East and legal punishments they face – but they've been rejected by a neglect to respond. I understand why, of course, it's a very sensitive community. Nobody talks about sex in the Arab or Muslim worlds, not even the Arab and Muslims. It has for too long remained taboo, and that's why so many Sunnis have hostile reactions to the Shiites' tradition of mutah. Getting press was nice, but giving the readers a chance to learn about one another within the community was a great honour."
The CAN article follows:
Canadian Arab News, August 2008
LOCAL WRITER WINS JOURNALISM AWARD
The Edmonton-based concept artist, rapper, writer, filmmaker and film editor, Omar Mouallem was recently informed that he placed second in the New York-based Sex-Positive Journalism Awards.
Selected from over 100 entries submitted by both writers and readers, the winning articles were published in a dozen states in all corners of the United States (and one Canadian province), and represent a range of genres, from news to advice columns.
Features (other general-topic news publications), second place: “Let's Talk About Sects” by Omar Mouallem, Vue Weekly
Judges said: “Eye-opening and timely. We rarely get to read about Muslim sexuality, and almost never from an unbiased, objective point of view.”
Mouallem was born and raised in High Prairie, Alberta until the age of 17 when he moved to Vancouver to study film, worked for a short while in independent film, and wrote for a music magazine.
He later decided to move to Edmonton and began freelancing for various publications, locally and nationally.
In 2007 Mouallem was motivated to write an article, for Vue Weekly about mutah, which is a form of temporary marriage contract.
“I wanted to write about something more cultural and philosophical, and not so much about the kink of sex, but sexuality itself. People tend to think that Muslims are asexual, they don't think of them as people with ideas about sex, so mutah jumped out at me as something that a lot of people don't know anything about, including a lot of Muslims. Especially Sunni Muslims.”
He learned more about mutah, and the differences between Sunni and Shiite communities and their misunderstandings, when he travelled through Lebanon.
Mouallem will be in the company of writers from high profile publications such as New York Times Magazine and the Miami Herald.
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The Sexies were brought about in collaboration with writers, readers, and activists from The Center for Sex & Culture and the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, and with the support from sponsors Babeland, The Playboy Foundation, Xbiz, UltraVirgo Creative, and Splash.
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