Women Sexuality and Social Change in the Middle East and the Maghreb
In the present era of globalization, women’s bodies and sexuality are increasingly becoming arenas of intense conflict around the world. Conservative and religious right wing political forces are fiercely trying to maintain or reinforce traditional mechanisms of control over women’s sexuality and even to create new ones. Four UN conferences held in the 1990s – the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, the 1995 Beijing Conference, the 1999 five-year review of ICPD (ICPD+5), and the 2000 five-year review of the Beijing Conference (Beijing+5) – witnessed an unprecedented cooperation between the Catholic and Muslim religious groups to oppose and restrict women’s right to control their bodies and sexuality.