Producing Desire: Changing Sexual Discourse in the Ottoman Middle East, 1500–1900 (review)

In this far-reaching and thoughtful book, Ze'evi studies the several Ottoman discourses on sexuality, identifies the common themes, and outlines their transformation in the nineteenth century. Although Islam tends to be treated as the principal and monolithic source of social and cultural values for Muslims, this book recognizes a variety of discourses that shaped the Ottoman-era understanding of sexuality. Whereas pre-Ottoman Muslim religious literatures were misogynistic and condemned nonmarital sexuality, early Ottoman elites defined sexuality in a more open-minded way. The property-based independence of women, their power at court, and perhaps popular Turkish customs all enhanced the status of women. Ottoman norms attached no shame to sex, saw men and women as having the same sexual nature—the one-sex paradigm—and accepted both hetero- and homoerotic relations as normal. The medical discourse, based on Galen and the humoral theory of the body, held that men and women have the same nature, and blurred the distinction between hetero- and homosexual behavior.

In the legal discourses, seriat or Muslim law defined adultery and fornication by unmarried men and women as serious crimes. Sexual relations not involving both penis and vagina were disapproved without being subject to penalties. Kanun, state law, tended to equalize the treatment of men and women and of hetero- and homosexuals. Dream-interpretation literature accepted both homo- and heterosexuality as natural. In the puppet theater, both men and women are portrayed as avidly sexual, and women as independent and assertive. Karagoz, the principle puppet character, is married and has children, but he chases women, has both active and passive homosexual sex, and cross-dresses. Furthermore, Sufi mystics sought spiritual inspiration by gazing upon youthful male beauty. Homoerotic relations between an older man and a beardless youth, especially between a Sufi master and his disciples, were considered desirable.

In the eighteenth century, however, Islamic orthodox reformism rejected Sufi practices. New European ideas about sexual differences of men and women, and a more judgmental tone distinguishing natural from unnatural, normal from abnormal, and Christian from heathen forms of sexuality led to attacks on the Ottomans for the seclusion and the promiscuity of women, sodomy, homoerotic relations, and lurid theater. The corruption of government was traced to the corruption of sexuality. By the 1850s, European ideas were driving Ottoman discourses into self-censorship. Homoerotic love became shameful. Dream books virtually disappeared. The puppet theater was toned down. An embarrassed silence descended on Ottoman sexual discourses. The hetero-normalization of sex was reinforced by massive sociopolitical changes, such as the centralization of state power, the breakdown of small communities, and the emergence of the nuclear family.

The method of this book is basically literary-historical, but it is a major step away from older stereotypes of Islamic studies and a breakthrough toward realism and sophistication. It not only compels a re- evaluation of sexual beliefs and practices in other Muslim societies but also raises important questions about the differences among Muslim ethnic populations and between high culture and popular values.