Halal Sex, Sheima Benembarek
Halal Sex, Sheima Benembarek
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Halal Sex
The Intimate Lives of Muslim Women in North America

Author: Sheima Benembarek, Mona Eltahawy

Narrator: Sheima Benembarek, Mona Eltahawy

Unabridged: 5 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Viking

Published: 03/21/2023

Synopsis

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE QWF CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY FIRST BOOK PRIZE*

An unprecedented glimpse into the sex lives of female and gender-expansive Muslims living across Canada and the United States.

In the Muslim world, sex is permissible (or halal) only within the confines of marriage. Outside of wedlock, the act is considered haram, a sin of the faith. Girls are taught to protect their virginity; their mothers, if not forgoing “the talk” altogether, obscure the facts with elliptical language and metaphors.

So, what happens when immigrants and the children of immigrants set about pursuing an open and active sex life on a more sexually liberated continent, amid western peers and attitudes? The six deeply personal stories in Halal Sex attempt to answer this question, bringing a hushed conversation out into the open.

Within these pages you’ll meet Azar, a non-binary trans Sufi; Bunmi, a Nigerian navigating shame and Tinder; Eman, a lesbian stand-up comic in an interfaith marriage; Taslim, a virgin in her forties struggling to erect healthy boundaries; and Khadijah, an exotic dancer and sex worker.

With great empathy, Sheima Benembarek makes space for the honesty and vulnerability of each participant and handles their stories with gentleness and care. What emerges is a tapestry of a diverse Islam—encompassing a wide variety of cultural and religious and socioeconomic backgrounds—and a frank, feminist contribution to the advancement of Muslim sexual education and pleasure.

About The Author

SHEIMA BENEMBAREK is a Moroccan Canadian journalist who’s written for The Walrus, Broadview, Maisonneuve, and the Literary Review of Canada. She has an MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of King’s College, where she was a finalist for the Penguin Random House Canada Best Nonfiction Book Proposal Prize. In 2020, she was chosen as one of the five RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Writers of the year. She's currently a senior editor at Toronto Life.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Huda on March 26, 2023

Some of the accounts were written in a way that ceased to be objective, which I stylistically and ethically disagree with. But I appreciated most of the underlying stories of the participants. Personally, I’m in agreement that Muslim societies are largely patriarchal and helped along by severely bia......more

Goodreads review by Ameema on December 08, 2022

4.5 - 5 stars This collection was a thoughtful, tender, vulnerable, & human look into the lives and sex lives of six different Muslim women and nonbinary people. The author approached and reflected on each of the subjects with great empathy and understanding, allowing the readers into their worlds, a......more

Goodreads review by Shannon on April 10, 2023

An eye-opening and incredibly important collection of stories gathered by Canadian Muslim journalist Sheima Benembarek that provides insight into (as the title states), the intimate lives of a select number of North American Muslim women (including one trans woman). This book is groundbreaking becau......more

Goodreads review by Jillian on August 29, 2023

Fascinating. I initially picked this book up bc I think I am inherently nosy but I also ended up learning a lot. This was a collection of stories which is a format I really enjoyed.......more

Goodreads review by Mackenzie on September 14, 2023

An important topic & a great intro to the conversation, however it lacked the depth I was hoping for. The stories themselves were deeply personal and intimate, but I found the book as a whole was lacking a piece that ties everything together and offers readers a solution or a way to apply their new......more

Quotes

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE QWF CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY FIRST BOOK PRIZE*

“Each word of Halal Sex is a kind of transgression . . . Trenchant and urgent . . . brilliantly accomplished.”
—Quill & Quire

“About halfway through this extraordinary book, one participant reflects on what it was like growing up in a traditional and religious household, where topics such as sexuality, desire, and her changing body were never discussed. ‘Imagine if we talked about it rather than me having to Google things,’ she says. Through these six often hilarious and always inspiring stories, Halal Sex does just that: it pulls these vital conversations into the open. I loved every minute I spent reading this book.”
—Robyn Doolittle, author of Had It Coming
  
“Halal Sex is an inspiring portrait of intimacy built on a remarkably intimate process. Through empathetic reportage and meticulously cultivated trust, Sheima Benembarek has made possible a frank, generous conversation about the pursuit of pleasure. The many voices in this book––including Benembarek’s own personal reflections––emerge distinctively, playfully, and joyfully as they name their desires. Halal Sex is a thrilling collaboration between writer and subject and a testament to the liberatory power of listening.”
—Tajja Isen, author of Some of My Best Friends
 
“Sheima Benembarek’s Halal Sex gives voice to engaging and rarely divulged stories from diverse Muslim women about their fantasies, fears, and desires. It is a brave book, and a feat of reporting considering the sensitive nature of topics covered. Each tale is riveting and earns the reader’s complete attention.”
—Zarqa Nawaz, creator of Little Mosque on the Prairie

“In her enthralling book, Halal Sex, Moroccan Canadian journalist Sheima Benembarek has given the world an astute and unprecedented glimpse into the sex lives of female and gender-expansive Muslims living across Canada and the United States. The stories are complex, eye-opening, fascinating and courageous, inspiring thought and discussion regarding patriarchal systems, female pleasure, and the role that religion plays in women’s lives.”
—She Does The City

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