Introductory Chapter: Woman’s Claim to Sex Equality

1. Introduction

Sexuality plays an important role in human life. Sexuality is a not just a biological instinct but much more than. It encompasses love, passion, and mutual respect apart from its inherent pleasurable act. When it comes to discussing sex openly remained a taboo for long.

“The right to joy cannot be claimed in the same way as one claims the right to put a voting paper in a ballot box. A human being’s erotic aptitudes can only be developed where the right atmosphere for them exists, and where the attitudes of both persons concerned are in harmonious sympathy. That is why the erotic rights of women have been the last of all to be attained” [1].

These words indicate the social restrictions imposed upon women to express or voice their sexual eroticism openly. It is considered as immodest. In spite of their sexual pleasure being undermined, women considered marriage as an institution to nurture the concept of procreation and family.

It is not merely biological instinct. Yet many women could not discuss their physical needs and enjoy their sexual relationships.

They pointed out that there was a considerable surplus of women in the population, and that, in consequence, some women would inevitably have to go through life with no prospect of satisfying their instinctual urges toward sexual expression and toward maternity unless they were willing to pay the penalties which society imposes upon those who defy its convention. “The problem of the surplus woman”—a term I have never liked—was much discussed after the First World War when it presented itself in peculiarly acute form since so many of the flower of manhood had been lost in battle [1].

To these reformers, then, the “love rights” of women were the right to sexual expression and the right to motherhood. They demanded that unmarried women should be able to enjoy these rights without social stigma or legal disabilities [2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

To maintain bodily integrity without mutilation, to have the right to express one’s gender identity, to develop a preferred sexual orientation, to beget children without domestic violence form the basic women’s sexual and reproductive health rights.

The practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is done, and many millions of girls and women are affected. Child marriage is still practiced mostly in conflict-affected and refugee camps. A total of 14 Arab women face gender-based violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, restriction imposed in wearing dress, getting education, employment, and participation in public life.

The two-finger method to identify virginity is still followed in many of the Arab nations, The most common problem faced by Arab women in Libya is being forced to marry as second or third wife to an already married elderly person. The capacity of the groom to pay the dowry to marry a woman makes them get married fast. Younger adults without such wealth remain bachelors or get married outside the country (get married to women from certain European countries).

The patriarchal mentality promotes early marriage to beget children and repeat pregnancies without spacing are detrimental to maternal health [2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

It is reported that married women experience no erotic pleasure or have the freedom to express their desire for sexual gratification.

With the various proposals, which sprang from this discussion, I am not here concerned; for the most part, they consisted of suggestions for some form of “near marriage” relationship, which would—to put it rather brutally—“share out” the available man power. What we need to recognize is that the love “rights” of women are not necessarily attained by marriage; that indeed, many married women experience no erotic pleasure whatever through physical union. It follows, therefore, that if the love rights of women are to be asserted, the position of married women is of great importance since the majority of women marry [5, 6].

In a relationship, which is based upon equality, as the free marriage is, there must clearly be equality of “rights” in the realm of sex. Husbands claim certain rights. The phrase “exercise the rights of a husband” has become a cliché. But we rarely hear of wives claiming their sex rights. Even at gatherings of women who devote much thought to marriage problems, there is a marked reluctance to discuss this matter. In spite of the flood of enlightenment upon sex, which has done an immense amount of good in recent years, the overwhelming majority of wives accept what comes to them for all the world as though they had no rights at all in the sphere of physical intimacy within marriage, and as though it would be highly indecent even to consider that they had any such rights [6].

In spite of flood information available on human sexuality, erotic rights of women are still remained ignored. Married women also cannot express their emotional feelings or the need to enjoy their sexual relationship openly. Expression of such sexual feelings remains a taboo in society. The society may have adopted live in relationships as part of corporate culture to enjoy sexual freedom. Yet women remain silent when it comes to their sexual rights. Laws, social reforms, gender identity, and books on human sexuality may open the eyes of society to take notice of sex and sexuality. Still, human trafficking, child sexual abuse, rape, and domestic violence haunt the society. When sexuality becomes a part of education, teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, AIDS, and other sex-related social problems remain a bone of contention.