"Arab men are told they are superior to women from a very early age"

Abdessamad Dialmy is a sociologist of sexuality, gender and religion. He has been a full professor at the universities of Fez and Rabat and is a regular visiting professor at different European universities. He is one of the first Arab authors to question notions about masculinity in his country and in Islamic culture, a courageous militancy that has earned him several physical threats. Dialmy delivered the opening lecture titled "The Arab Transitional Masculinity" of the international workshop on new masculinities Men in Movement, held on 16 and 17 November.

Abdessamad Dialmy is a sociologist of sexuality, gender and religion. He has been a full professor at the universities of Fez and Rabat and is a regular visiting professor at different European universities. He is one of the first Arab authors to question notions about masculinity in his country and in Islamic culture, a courageous militancy that has earned him several physical threats. Dialmy delivered the opening lecture titled "The Arab Transitional Masculinity" of the international workshop on new masculinities Men in Movement, held on 16 and 17 November.

Undoubtedly. I have tried to explain to the audience a theory I have developed to understand sexuality in Morocco. In my view, it is divided into three stages. In the first, the norms governing sexuality and the sexual practices are religious. In the second stage, the sexual norms are still religious but the sexual practices are secular. In the third and final stage, both the sexual norms and practices are secular, as happens in the West.

In Morocco we are at the second stage: a separation between norms and practices. Given this scenario, when I speak of an Arab masculinity in transition I am referring to the fact that there are men who apply religious norms to their sexuality but have secular sexual behaviour, for example when a man accepts marriage with a woman who has lost her virginity. This is not just an evolution but a real revolution in Morocco. When Arab men believe in a norm but do not respect it, then I speak of a masculinity in transition.

I have been studying the male identity in the Arab world for years. One of my challenges has been to show how far Moroccan men are aware of the domination they exercise over women and how arbitrary and socially constructed this domination is. For the man, this superiority is natural, biological and religious. You have to remember that even now most men, despite their modern sexual habits, are mental prisoners to the religious norms, they are not fully happy. My essay on masculinity is the first not just in Morocco but in all of the Arab world.

I published it 15 years ago and it was the first time that an essay had challenged Moroccan men's attitudes towards these matters. I sought to show how far this traditional masculinity is in crisis due to social evolution and women's revolution and emancipation. It was not easy. I faced great resistance and many threats, even death. Asking fundamentalists certain questions is risky. According to them, all the answers are in Islam. Can a woman have sexual relations before marriage? For a fundamentalist this issue is unacceptable because Islam has already provided the answer, which is "only after marriage". Is a homosexual a fully-fledged man? For them he is not even a human being, he is an animal and he deserves to be killed.

Mainly because I see a regression. Older people hold power at all levels: they dominate the situation, they do not need to be egalitarian, they have permissive attitudes and in some fields they are even open because they have a firm hold over power. In contrast, young people have no power and feel weak, they isn't much work or money. Their masculinity does not have the economic means to exercise power over women and this is why they are more conservative and use religion to justify their superiority and domination over them. I have no money or job or power but at least God has decided to give me power over you, woman. This is their logic.

Unfortunately not. Although they work and contribute to the family budget, their decision-making power is still very weak. In general, their salaries are lower and although they are equal, the husband is still the master based on religion and can even use violence if the woman is not obedient. The use of sex as a tool of domination has also intensified. You are my wife and I can do whatever I want with you, without your consent and with the endorsement of religion, so I'm a true man.

Within the family itself, in the early stages of socialization. The domestic chores are divided according to gender from a very early age: boys go out and girls stay at home. The man has a presence and a voice in the public sphere but women only in the home. The school transmits this culture that women are inferior, that they must conceal their body, that they are the origin of social chaos and evil. These ideas become part of the male outlook in early childhood.

Fundamentalism is in schools, in the school curriculum itself, and later diversifies throughout all aspects of life and on television. Moreover, it is very effective. There are many conservative teachers. I am invited to speak on television but never about these issues, especially because I develop an anti-patriarchal vision which is the contrary of the dominant and official Islamic vision.

Of course, from the 1990s militant women in left-wing parties began to come together and get organized because they saw no outlet for their aspirations, not even in their own parties; they were marginalized. In 1985 they founded their own movement and two feminist organizations emerged that in 1993 achieved the first tentative conquests with Hassan II. In 1999 there was a second wave of achievements through the left-wing government, the first time in the history of Morocco. There was a popular uprising in Casablanca to reject these improvements and King Mohammed VI had to intervene. A commission was formed that designed a new family code thanks to feminist pressure. The family was defined as a space of cooperation between husband and wife rather than something that emanates from a master, and the notion of obedience vanished. There was a different reading of the Quran, which meant reconciliation between modern feminism and Islam. However, many traditional judges and legislators overtly opposed it.

It is the norm. To be socially integrated and recognized, you need to marry. Staying single is suspicious for men and dishonourable for women. According to the 2014 national census, the average age for marriage is 26 for women and 31 for men. With such a long wait before marriage, of course some people have sexual relations beforehand, but they conceal it as it entails jail according to Moroccan penal code. Recent surveys show that sex begins before marriage: girls tend to have their first sexual experience at 17, whereas boys start a year earlier, usually with prostitutes. This discordance between age at sexuality starting and age at marriage is an evidence of the premarital sexuality existence. This sexuality is hidden because illegal as a debauchery for the penal code and because it is prohibited as fornication for Shari'a.