“Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again”: Exploring Sex, Shame and the Option of Queer Sexualities in Alifa Rifaat’s "Distant View of a Minaret"
“Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again”: Exploring Sex, Shame and the Option of Queer Sexualities in Alifa Rifaat’s "Distant View of a Minaret"
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Abstract
Sexuality has taken centre stage in most political and social discourses, as several laws are being passed and/or amended to respond to the call for an inclusivist approach to evolving sexualities. Previously shrouded in secrecy and considered verbal taboos, especially among women in African societies, sex and sexualities are now explored rather extensively by female writers and movie producers in contemporary Africa. Drawing on eclectic theoretical formulations, we explore the relationship between sex and shame and how it leads to the desire for queer identities using two short stories from Alifa Rifaat’s Distant View of a Minaret. The paper reveals that the subjugation of sexual freedom and sexual starvation of females constitute critical sites for the exploration of queer sexualities as alternative means of sexual agency and being. The paper makes a significant contribution to the literature and discussions on the intersection between postcolonial literature and sexuality studies.
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non–Commercial No Derivatives License which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of the Publisher must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
