An Egyptian actress and TV personality has ignited a nationwide controversy for suggesting that Egyptian men would benefit from watching more pornography. In fact, she’s facing jail time. Entissar, as she is known, told a TV audience earlier this month that “These films are useful for men, especially those who have no pre-marriage sex experience.” But beyond what men might be able to learn about sex from such films, Entissar thinks that, “Everyone should be free in watching porn films if they want.”
Of course, not everyone in Egypt has embraced her suggestion. “This is a call for debauchery and depravity,” according to one unhappy cleric quoted in the press. “I can’t believe this could happen.” A group called “Who Loves Egypt?” was unhappy enough with Entissar, best-known for her comic roles on TV serials, to take her court for “inciting debauchery.” The charge carries a one-year prison term.
On one level, Entissar’s comments are part of a debate over Egyptians’ access to Internet porn sites, which the Mubarak government was supposed to have blocked as “venomous and vile” back in 2009, but which remain available because neither Mubarak’s regime, nor any of the regimes since, not even Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government, has budgeted the necessary funds. The result, as the Cairo Post puts it in its appealing near-English, is that, “The most populous Arab state is one of the most countries that restrict explicit content, but is also reportedly one of the most that consumes online porn.” In May, a court once again ordered the state to restrict access to porn sites, so the issue remains topical in TV terms.
On another level, however, Entissar’s remarks address the depressingly ever-topical issue of sexual repression in the region. At least one reaction to Entissar’s remarks made the connection directly. “Is it OK to talk about porn films so easily and on TV?” asked one Karam Abdul Alleem, helpfully identified as “a father of four children.” “Do you expect then sexual harassment to disappear?” Mr. Alleem thought that watching porn, and maybe even talking about watching porn, encourages harassment. But that wasn’t Entissar’s theory at all. She suggested that men “can cool down by watching porn films.”
Very hypocritical for Egypt as that region of the world consumes a lot of porn. Hypocrisy plague’s many nations in that region of the world..