Press release (I received it by email)
We are all Ali Mahfouz!
On March 8, 2012, the LBCI television channel broadcast shocking footage of the young Ethiopian woman, Alem Dechasa-Desisa, as she lays on the ground in front of her country's embassy, weeping and saying that she does not want to return to Ethiopia. A man is then filmed dragging her forcefully into a car. We later learned that the woman in question had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital, and that Ali Mahfouz, her employer, had been charged. Finally, we learned that she had committed suicide on March 14 by hanging herself.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Sunday, October 17, 2010
عن خطورة "تسييح" القضية
عن خطورة "تسييح" القضية
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Crossposting: عن الذاكرة الذكورية والنسوية الحلزونية
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Crossposting - وقفت غلامة وقالت
الحق بالحياة
الحق بالإحترام
الحق بالخصوصية
الحق بالإيمان
الحق بالزواج
الحق بتربية الأطفال
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Specially designed office for "Servants' sale"
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Crossposting - السوق “المثلي”: أموالنا مقابل ماذا؟
بيروح عليها المثليين/ات، والاماكن المثلية بتفتش على حجة تتشحط النساء الترانس. ليش؟ إذا منشوف قشور الموضوع منقول انو النساء الترانس عندن صيت انن لما بيضهروا بيكونوا رايحين يلقّطوا زبونات.Saturday, April 17, 2010
A Tad Bit More Lebanese Racism
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| Photocredit: Farfahinne's photostream |
I was coming back from the office today... omg! the latest work updates are totally gossip material, but not in this post... so it's and the bus, taking out Maya Agelou's The Heart of Woman. And before I get the book out of my overcharged lovely backpack, I notice a scribble on the back of the seat in front of me: Don't sleep with Black you have AIDS
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
I am a 24/7er are you?
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Commencing Operation Cross-posting - عن الصدور النسوية و”السوتيان” الذكورية
And to start, please welcome my first contribution to Bekhsoos.com: عن الصدور النسوية و”السوتيان” الذكورية
Friday, February 19, 2010
It's time for some life updates
So I started writing at 9:57PM, February 13, 2010. I am sitting at starbucks cafe (yeah yeah, I know a true leftist elistists, Queer Lebanese should be too proud to sit at starbucks and sip her coffee... Bite me. It is valentine's eve, in other words, it's my birthday. Today I turned 25 years old. I celebrated my birthday by cleaning all day, trust me, cleaning, masturbating, cooking, drinking, and smoking are the greatest pleasures in life.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Google, Gmail, security and China
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Three years in prison for sexual harassment in the work place
Sexual harassment is a global problem. No matter where you go, you will find women struggling with sexual harassment. The burden becomes easier to tolerate when women get to speak up about it. Unfortunately, women are rarely encouraged to do so, most of the time, the "don't ask, don't tell" strategy seems to be the preferred option.
Not that society doesn't know, in fact sexual harassment is such a common fact in a woman's life that parents often advise their daughters not to go around at any time, to avoid harassment, and husbands believe their wives should work only if that is a necessity, to avoid sexual harassment in the work place.
In Egypt, a pioneer study was made a few years ago, by the Egyptian Center for Women Rights. Where they surveyed 2500 women (Egyptian or not) and men in the streets. The result was a report stating that about 98% of women in Egypt have been victims of Street Harassment. Now the situation in Egypt tends to be extreme, but if you look at the situation in the rest of the Arab World (at least the Arab world that I know), it isn't any better.
No one can really tell why sexual harassment is very frequent in one area and not the other. There are certainly some obvious theories. The first argument presented by most Arabs is that "the girl's outfit was provocative. The first argument that is repeated in the west is "sexual frustration". Sometimes feminists scream "OBJECTIFICATION". Parents on the other hand, often just shake their heads "it's just the way things are, we have to deal with it". A disturbingly common answer I've heard over and over again from sexual predators (and just because the name hints that they may be an awkward minority, in fact they are the majority) is that the girl wants it, she enjoys it.
It scares me to think of all these theories. Street harassment is very complicated and difficult. But still Egyptian sisters managed to make a breakthrough by pushing mainstream media to talk about it. And now Pakistani sisters have managed to at least make the first step to introducing a law that protects from sexual harassment at work. As far as I know, that is a first for most countries in the region.
It kind of makes me dream of the day when my little Lebanon will make its breakthrough also.

Monday, July 20, 2009
International Gay and Lesbian Rights Commission Expresses Outrage at Human Rights Abuses After Military Coup
It is not that we don't cooperate with International organizations, or that we don't want to cooperate with others. Now some activists on controversial topics are often afraid to shake hands with internationals. It's always safer not to, just pretend that you don't know them.
And really it is the safest thing to do. After all, International LGBT organizations will not take a bullet for you. They will just wait for you to die and then lament your death or wave their american fingers in the face of your government. And then your beloved government will go giggle with your murderers (if it didn't kill you in the first place). And no, I am not exaggerating.
I always was the devil's advocate and thus, in my Lebanese LGBT community I was the one that would defend the "international aid efforts" after all we do need to cooperate with them so why not give them credit for it?
Until one day, I was cornered. I was indirectly involved with a case of un-official assylum. Lebanon does not provide political assylum to anyone (it usually usually exports war criminals to enjoy a nice asylum life in Europe). But an Arab LGBT activist was threatened with death among other things. So we, as individuals helped her leave her home to come to Lebanon and then to go somewhere else.
Of course she asked for help from "International organizations", be it organizations that specialize in LGBT rights, emergency cases, or both. They didn't move a finger. Not only did they not attempt to garantee an asylum case to some place where thugs didn't run after her to kill her. They also "ignored" our calls for financial aid to help her leave the country and get settled anywhere else.
Nothing I tell you!
That is what I know of "international help". It's more like "please die so we feast on your corpse" kind of thing. This woman's story will be forgotten, she doesn't want to be remembered though she was a pioneer in her own country and region. She will be forgotten, because she did not give "internationals" the media attention that they wanted. She preffered to save her own life instead.
A similar thing happened with the case of gays in Iraq. Reporters have been covering "heart breaking" stories about the poor effeminate iraqis that are just waiting to get kiled by virtually anyone on the streets of Iraq. And then what? Yes, of course the Human Rights Watch sent a commission their and published a report. Thank you very much, we will glue that to their corpses, right next the famous hate messages that the murderers carved on their skin.
Which brings me to the latest invention, of IGLHR's outrage that was expressed over the transphobic attacks on LGBT individuals in Honduras. Oh wow, thanks, I bet that was so painful to write, and oh so dangerous! I salute your courage, looking for people struggling for their existence in order to write reports about them that not many people read and don't inspire the few who read them to move a finger.
Wait there's more. IGLHRC even allowed themselves to preach about democracy. Of course they know who has been elected fairly and who wasn't. Ah, the label of democracy, it can justify anything. Of course, IGLHRC knows what's best, they live in a democratic world after all. We the LGBTs of third world countries wouldn't know shit about it. Even if we invented "democracy" as it is applied today a few thousand years ago, but still we are not as democratic as people writing their outrage in NYC.
Thank you very much, when we published Bareed Mistajil, you were on our minds, when we ran from one hospital to another to get treatment for those who tried to kill themselves, you were on our minds, when we organize parties to pay for someone's ticket, we'll be thinking of you, when our mothers cry their eyeballs out when we make our glorious coming outs, we'll be thinking of you. Really you make our miserable lives worth living :)
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Egypt 'torturing HIV sufferers'
But I am above all against the abuse that we suffer from in our own societies, international media might be insulting in the way they take advantage of us, but our own people TORTURE and PERSECUTE us, for no reason, be it apparent or not.
But I speak of discrimination because of this case where an Egyptian guy states that he is HIV positive, a sort of social crime in our society exactly like lesbianism is, as we all know. So… notice the chain of events:1. The police arrests him
2. Arrests the male friend that was with him
3. Handcuffs both of them 23h/day on the hospital bed
4. subjected to anal tests to "prove" their homosexual conduct (against their will)
5. beaten for refusing to sign statements written by the police
6. Two others were arrested when police found their photographs and contact numbers in the wallets of those detained
7. Then four others in November when police raided the flat of one of those being held, which had been placed under surveillance
Now the first four are being convicted of "habitual debauchery"… Which is one of several ways an Egyptians could be legally punished for being Homosexual, other pretexts may include obscenity or prostitution…
What is sad and pathetic and heart breaking is that these people, may or may not be Homosexuals, the only thing that is known for a fact is that one of them is HIV positive… A person that is not even sick but the requires and might require in future medical assistance and support, I guess being tortured and inhumanly treated will force them not only to snap out of homosexuality but also snap out of HIV, right?
Sources:
PinkNews: Egypt accused of criminalising HIV positive gay men
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Thank God for the rain
I bet you’ve all seen it all a million time on TV. What’s funny about it is that personally I was in a retreat, organized by IndyAct in order to put a five years plan to save the world, one way or the other… No wait WAIT! Don’t close the window just yet. You see, The retreat started on Friday and ended on Sunday.
On Friday morning I was gracefully sleeping in my bed, I planned to wake up early that day, I had a course at 10. However, at 9:55 I wake up at the sound of a powerful blast that actually pressured my ears. Taking in consideration the fact that I have miraculously never been close to any explosion, I was consumed by the frightening idea that the explosion was right next to me or something. I was shocked that my room is safe and everything. I jumped to the window in the living room to see where the explosion came from. I certainly didn’t jump to the bedroom’s window cause that one gives a view on the Dahieh, no explosion ever takes place there.
What I see is a column of smoke going up. It was obviously not as close as I had feared, I took a couple of picture for memory purposes! Then the news came on TV and that’s when I really started to get scared. My whole family uses that road to go to work, including my father, two of my uncles, and three of my cousins, not to mention my dad’s cousin! Slowly I was ensured that they were all ok!
A few hours later I was in a small residence in a touristic area. And peace reigned for 48 hours, then in the final meeting on Sunday I get a call from my ex, she’s panicking begging me not to go home to Beirut and go instead to jounieh. She was yelling at me telling me my hometown is in turmoil or something. And before I hung up I receive another call from another close friend of mine repeating the same shit! Then it was my uncle’s turn and the whole family. By the time we were done with the meeting we turned the TV on and no shock was waiting for us. Just a bunch of young men acting like total jerks, burning tires and running around riding small mobilettes…
Then there were shooting and then there were chaos…
Friday, January 04, 2008
October, November, December … and January the come back
As it is the case everytime I disappear, though I never intend to disappear in the first place, I do have a lot going on with my life. Yes on October the winter depression did come back and it’s been difficult to shake it off. But that’s not all, my social life has been more active, and again that’s not all. By the start of this year I broke my dating hymen and dated for the first time in my life! Don’t ask me for details, all I can say is that it was a very happy phase of my life but it is over now and I don’t want to talk about it. Meeming (that’s the verb deriving from meem) has been going very well, we celebrated our first year anniversary and we have many plans. My lab plan didn’t take off yet, because the more I know, the more I know I am lacking, now I am focused on studying how to commercialize and advertize my plan. Plus I need to narrow my project to a very concrete level… Still a lot of brainstorming to do!
But I missed writing not that I wasn’t writing anything. So starting today I will link on this blog everything I write anywhere else on the web and just to keep you folks updated, I have written a few things on the meem blog:
- As I wonder why politics refuse to let us go This one is quite old, back to the time when the Iranian president was bragging about how there are no gays in Iran… I stole the link from Shlemazl :P.
- Be normal, Be different
- Because a woman is undefinable and so irresistable…
- Always look at the bright side
Plus there are entries from all the girls, from all styles and with all sorts of talk… Check them out they are interesting. Et merci Nomade pour avoir pris le temps de le voir. And to avoid any misunderstanding the comments are monitored by the lady in charge of the blog, Shant, any comment is welcome but the first time a person makes a comment, it won’t appear till Shant approves the IP address of the author. So it might take some time.’
Other than this I have been working on a new website: Biologus. It has been a long time I have been working on it, but didn’t have the time to properly take care of it, it’s still under construction, and I will also gradually move some of my science work posted here to that website, the point of the website is to be… a website! Not a blog, in addition to the fact that I have the intention to put its address on my CV so I want to work on it to gradually turn it into a professional website. SO far I have uploaded five articles to it:
- Embryology of the nervous system
- Nervous system's birth defects
- Paranthropus
- The deepest cut
- Myotonic Goats
Let me see… what else has happened? Well two of my articles have been published in the Beirut Marathon magazine, the first was titled “Running and evolution” (or something like that.. I know! I know! I suck! I should get a copy but I don’t have one) and the second was titled “Why running is better than a diet”. It must’ve been 6 articles by now, but the Marathon has been facing organizational problems and stuff… No problem.
And I have one article published in the Haigazian University Herald… Now that was funny thing, I was asked to give an article by a friend of mine, I presented three and gave her the choice. She chose one of them Titled “iro0n Maiden” and in it I talk about the… Iron Maiden! Not the band, but the torture device, pretty cool huh? And that’s not it, when I saw someone showed me the magazine I was shocked to see that I was the least qualified people who posted anything on that page, there were a woman from a famous newspaper in Lebanon ( I don’t remember the title of the magazine) and there were a University Professor and I don’t remember the third… When my friend wanted to write a couple of words under my name to introduce me she wrote “Bio Graduate from the Lebanese University”… She didn’t want to write “Just a no one that no one else than me knows”:P
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
We just believe…
Did I know that people will die? I believe I did, because I repeated it for who ever was willing to listen, I told them that death is around the corner, and I believe they knew what I was talking about.
Do I believe that our struggle is worth the blood of our citizens? I am an adept of life, but I know that nothing will be given, all must be paid for.
Do I believe that’s it’s all right for people like Charles to die? No, but I am only given two choices:
- to accept and give in, thus accepting the death of all those who have died as a mistake made by our society against those who occupied us
- To refuse! And thus keep on resisting … but taking the chance of seeing more blood shed and horror
I refused and will there fore try to answer this call:
Friday, September 28, 2007
Meem and the new changes of my life
Well, I promised to keep you people updated on my situation so far. Well here’s what happened: When I stopped updating a while back, it was because the month was over and I had to pay the internet bill, but back then I had made the decision to move to another provider but needed an additional 75$ for installation and stuff, so I decided to wait a month and then register. Then by the end of the month I realized that there is no need, I could move to my uncles’ place by the start of winter and they already have internet connection.
No, I wouldn’t be moving just to get internet access (that would be funny). In fact I am planning to move for three reasons. The first and most compelling reason is that I have a plan to start a small biotechnology lab and I have so many ideas how to develop it and everything, but I need the space, since my home in Jounieh is too small hopefully my grandparent’s home in Beirut is a better option.
In addition, I have started writing articles in the Beirut Marathon magazine: Running Middle East. Though I have no direct contact with the administration being in Beirut will help me more than staying in Jounieh.
Finally, I have become active in a growing and active society in Lebanon, the LBTQ women society (LBTQ standing for Lesbian Bisexual Transexual and Queer). All our weekly meetings are help is private and secret places in Beirut which makes it much easier for me to move to Beirut.
Now about our LBTQ society… The seed of this activism had started blooming exactly one year ago with the help and support of the helem association (The association for the protection of homosexuals in Lebanon. Quickly our community grew in numbers and in projects. During this summer it finally resulted in the launch the very first Middle East community for Lesbian rights, active on an Arabic soil: Meem.
Meem being a symbolically feminine letter in Arabic, symbolizing everything that the woman is in our community from her identity to her suffering, we had decided that Meem would only have one public aspect, our website: Meemgroup.org. The website is still under construction but some of its main features are already up and running.
Now the community is certainly secretive and private for the obvious reasons, first of all the privacy of our members is a need, considering the difficult situation in which we live and plan on improving. Second, our first goal is not advocacy of Lesbian rights, it is the internal empowerment of the girls to help them overcome the scars of a sexually repressed and repressive environment. Not that we don’t believe in the need to educate the general public on what we are and what we are not, no! Our advocacy will mainly be channeled through our cooperation with supporting organizations such as Helem or Aswat (the Palestinian Gay Women).
In addition to our website and our blog we have been organizing weekly support groups dealing with our communities problems and issues. We do have many other projects summarized here.
Now Meem is still young, it has succeeded in a very short while to gather a significant number of ladies (around 129) who simply appreciate other ladies but in order to sustain the ongoing effort we do need support, though financial support is certainly needed we most of all need recognition inside Lebanon and outside to ensure additional protection and additional efficiency.
So if you are interested in supporting, helping, encouraging, bashing us feel free to contact either me in person on my gmail account: Xie.medusa.stheno @gmail.com or directly contact the big bosses on the email: meem@meemgroup.org. And spread the word for others that I cannot contact myself.



