What's in a Taboo?

A post by Hayat caught my eye today and opened up a whole door of questions. It might not mean much to you if you don't read Arabic, but the topic revolves around sexuality in general and our Islamic societies. Considering the conservative nature of such societies, sex isn't exactly an openly discussed topic; the concept isn't featured on local TV, radio stations, or in the newspapers. Talking about openly it is taboo, and any form of sexual relationship outside of marriage is forbidden.

And as stated, 'outside' of marriage; therefore, the only allowed outlet for sexually frustrated individuals would be marriage.

Now, with marriage being a step that may be impractical at any given time due to financial reasons, family issues, and so on, many individuals may be tempted to find another solution to fulfill their sexual needs. A few may be able to control them, but many will have to resort to other means, many of which I don't need to state here.

The whole point of the topic was, we have a problem; we have an issue, which is not openly discussed because of societal taboos, and therefore ignorance reigns supreme. As many youth (or even adults) approach sex, just the fact that it is unspoken of doesn't mean they will not do it; TV, movies, internet are more than enough to spark interest in it. Unfortunately, unlike some other 'more advanced' countries, we don't talk about sex, we don't have awareness lectures, we don't teach kids about it in schools. So what sort of understanding do we have about it? Well, it feels good. But how about diseases? Pregnancy? Safe sex? And so on?

You see, labelling something as taboo, and acting totally oblivious to the fact that it happens around us is wrong. Sex will happen whether you like it or not, and you can't control it. What you can control, however, is how much knowledge there is about it. Children in schools in some other countries grow up taking sex education classes. They learn what safe sex is, what the downsides are. They have questions, and they get answers, which might help control their desires rather than push them to go out and discover on their own.

How many cases of sexual diseases, or pregnancies happen outside of marriage here? Well, believe it or not, more than you think. But again, it's all taboo, so you never hear of it.

Doesn't it ever occur that keeping quiet about something actually encourages people to go out there and do it? When you don't talk about something, you're encouraging people to go out and find out about it themselves. When you restrict something from someone, it just makes them want it more; just take a look at some of the other countries in the GCC, and how their 'weekend visitors' act when they come here? Hell, I don't blame them, it's their society that's turned them into this.

But this post isn't about sex. No. It's about taboos. It's about drugs, alcohol, sex, homosexuality, and everything that is considered religiously and culturally wrong, but has become a lot more popular in our society, somehow, through not talking about it. Through not discussing the effects. Through not telling people why it's right or wrong. Our societies have a serious problem in facing the facts, and talking about them, whether it's from societal problems such as the above, to reporting a fault a company made that caused damage/losses, to admitting a mistake made by a minister that causes many people grief.

Deal with it. If it's a fact of life, you sure as hell won't fix it by keeping quiet. You can't deal with something if you don't discuss it, communicate it, and try to encourage solutions.