“Few people can imagine how many newly married couples have been divorced as a result of sexual ignorance,'' says Tamer Zaafrani, an Egyptian psychiatrist. Just saying the word “sex” in mainstream Egyptian society can be considered an indecent act, which is why Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) has launched “Love Matters Arabia”, an Arabic-language website dedicated to giving Egyptian and Arab youth information about sexual matters. Sarah Osman is the site's social media coordinator and one of the officials who are responsible for its creation. She says the Arabic-language site is “part of a global website” made by RNW, which has four other versions produced in Hindi, Spanish, Chinese and Swahili. RNW chose these five languages because the youth in the countries where they are spoken may, like young people all over the world, lack good information on sexual relationships, emotional relationships and reproductive issues. Osman says that the site, launched in 2013, was the first Arabic-language website to be so bold in its discussion of sexual issues. “It is the first Arabic website in Egypt that discusses sexual, emotional and reproductive issues with young people in a scientific way and at the same time in a respectable manner, aside from any kind of received ideas,” she said. She said that RNW had found that Egyptian and Arab young people lacked scientific and trusted sources to get information about sexual and emotional matters, meaning that they might turn to untrustworthy sources instead. “Much of the time they look at wrong websites and videos or ask their friends, who already have wrong information, for their advice, all of which maximises problems instead of solving them,” she said. Osman explained that RNW has qualified experts in sex, reproductive health and emotional relationships who are dedicated to increasing awareness and knowledge among young people. “We have had more than three million viewers of 94 information videos on the website,” she said, adding that the videos are designed to help young people have the right expectations about sex. From the website came the idea of the “Love Matters” exhibition. Thirteen graffiti artists participated and showed that there need not be barriers to discussing sex, love and reproductive matters. Young people were able to discover themselves in the exhibition, Osman said, and found that they were able to talk about their sexual and emotional problems in reality and not just online. “Such barriers are one of the main causes of sexual ignorance, which in turn has a negative impact on both physical and mental health,” said Zaafrani. He said that the percentage of young people's sexual ignorance could be very high, and that this could lead to dire consequences for the mental health of both males and females, causing depression or feelings of psychological impotence. According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), there was a divorce every six minutes in Egypt in 2013, or about 240 a day. The statistics indicated that the highest divorce rate was between newly married couples, where 34 per cent were divorced in the first year of marriage. The highest divorce rate was for couples between 25 to 30 years old at 23.3 per cent, while the lowest was for those aged 65 years or more. “I have treated more than one girl who got divorced after a few months because she was suffering from sexual phobia or was a victim of sexual ignorance,” Zaafrani said. Sexual harassment was related to sexual ignorance, he said, and it could affect both women and men. According to the UNDP's 2013 country report, about 99.3 per cent of Egyptian girls and women have been victims of sexual harassment; 59.9 per cent have suffered from physical harassment and 54 per cent verbal harassment. “In some cases the victim of sexual harassment, especially children, can become harassers themselves,” Zaafrani said. “It is an equation: sexual ignorance and repression, plus the psychiatric disorder of the harasser himself, which may be due to disorders in one of his parents, especially if they have also suffered before from any kind of abuse, lead to further problems. “Patients suffering from mental disorders, those having a low level of education, or perhaps abusing drugs or alcohol, can also be harassers,” Zaafrani commented. “Cases where a family of nine is living in one room can also add to the risk of harassment, when young people have no privacy, for example, or have no appropriate outlet for their energies,” he added. Zaafrani said that young people in particular could have huge amounts of energy, and they could receive little guidance on how to channel it in school, or university or even in the family. Sexual problems such as homosexuality could result, he said, though such young people were rarely homosexual, having simply not received the correct guidance and support. In other parts of the world, it should be noted, homosexuality is not considered a sexual “problem” but a matter of individual choice or inclination. He said that more work needs to be done by society, the family, the education system and the individuals themselves to break out of the equation of harassment. Society still considers learning about sex to be a sin or a taboo, he said. Parents sometimes refuse to talk with their children about such issues because this does not comply, in their view, with religion. Zaafrani said that society as a whole should admit that recognising the problem is the beginning of the solution. Sociology professor Ali Abdel-Razek said that there are three sides to young people's personalities: cognitive, emotional and behavioural. “Young people gain often misleading information from the wrong sources or unqualified people around them, and this contributes to reducing their general awareness,” he said. When both the cognitive and emotional sides of the personality are damaged, behaviour can be affected, leading to negative phenomenon like sexual harassment, unhealthy sexual relationships, high divorce rates, especially in the first year of marriage, and, in some cases, violence represented by so-called honour crimes against women, he said. Abdel-Razek said that the family should play a major role in forming the sexual awareness of young people, not only by teaching them the right sexual culture, but also instilling morals and religious rules. “The problem is not only about the absence of sexual guidance,” he said, “it is also about the absence of morals and principles.” Haitham Abdallah, a gynecologist, said that the effects of sexual ignorance are usually psychological but can extend to bodily health. “The problem of sexual ignorance appears in the first sexual relations, where there can be fears on the part of both men and women. Such fears can lead to incorrect sexual practices and possibly diseases,” he commented. He said that some young people have sexual relationships before marriage and could fail to take the needed precautious as a result of ignorance. “Teaching young people about sex at schools, universities, in the family and the media will help to remedy this,” Abdallah said. “And young men and women should also take pre-marriage or pre-sexual relations courses in order to ensure safe and healthy sexual relationships.”
