Middle East & Africa | Sex toys and taboos

Women in the Middle East are leading a revolt against prudish men

More of them want to claim control of their own sexuality

Vanity case with contents, X-ray.
Image: Getty Images
|DUBAI

Even the act of defiance has to be discreet. On the wall of a private art gallery in Dubai, the raciest city in the United Arab Emirates (uae), is a set of office pigeon holes. They contain photographs of homemade sex toys: mere photographs because if they were real, Dubai’s police might seize them; they are home-made because importing them is banned.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Hands off”

From the January 7th 2023 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Middle East & Africa

Sudanese refugees in Chad

America concludes genocide has been committed in Sudan—again

The move highlights the magnitude of Sudan’s civil war but does little to end it

An inside view of the empty Baabda Palace

Lebanon tries yet again to elect a new president

But it will not be easy to convince its corrupt politicians to reform


A man sits in front of a destroyed building in Daraya suburb on December 25, 2024 in Damascus, Syria

The West is making a muddle of its Syria sanctions

Outsiders should be much clearer about how and when they will be lifted


Alawites formed Syria’s elite. Now they are terrified

Fear of reprisal stalks the heartlands of the Assad regime

From inside an obliterated Gaza, gunfire not a ceasefire

In north Gaza the IDF is now facing “a bitter guerrilla war”

Mozambique’s opposition leader flies home into chaos

Will Venâncio Mondlane’s arrival on January 9th deepen or ease political crisis?