What are these club members looking at? No, wait, don’t tell us. Alas, in any event, it looks like there will be no more “Islamic Sex, Fighting Jews to Return Islamic Sex to the World.”
“Malaysia bans Obedient Wives Club sex manual,” by Sam Jones for the Guardian, November 3:
The Malaysian government is to ban a sex manual written by the head of an Islamic sect that teaches women to “be submissive and keep their spouses happy in the bedroom”, for fear it could cause religious confusion.
In the 115-page book — entitled Islamic Sex — the founder of the Obedient Wives Club outlines her experiences of, and opinions on, marriage. It has passages on how couples should physically and spiritually approach sex, and claims that most women only satisfy 10% of their husbands’ sexual needs.
Club leaders, who argue that a wife should serve as a “good sex worker” and a “whore” to her husband, showed the book to journalists last month in an effort to dispel what they called misconceptions that it was obscene and demeaning to women.
They said the book, which contains no explicit photographs, was intended to be a spiritual guide read exclusively by club members to help them better understand sex.
Many Malaysians have denounced the club, saying it makes a mockery of modern gender roles in a country where women hold prominent posts in both the government and the private sector.
A spokesman for the home ministry said the government’s Islamic affairs department had studied the manual and recommended a ban on the grounds that it may confuse Malaysian Muslims about what constitutes acceptable religious teaching.
People caught in possession of it could be fined up to 5,000 ringgit (£995), the spokesman said, and anyone who makes copies for sale could be imprisoned for three years and fined 20,000 ringgit.
Representatives of the club did not respond to calls made to them on Thursday. The club is believed to have at least 800 members in Malaysia and has branches in Indonesia, Singapore, Jordan and Britain. Many members are in polygamous marriages, insisting the practice helps husbands to avoid committing adultery.
The club’s international vice-president, Rohaya Mohamad, explained the club’s provocative pronouncements in an interview with a Malaysian paper earlier this year. “Eve was created because Adam had needs,” she told the Star. “Men have [sexual] needs which they can’t control. And if the needs are not fulfilled, men will find another woman. God created them like that.”