Amer Sahar
Department of Asian Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3267, USA.
J Lesbian Stud. 2012;16(4):381-97. doi: 10.1080/10894160.2012.681258.
After a brief review of the proliferation of newly coined Arabic words to speak about LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and ally) identities, this article interrogates the facile imitation of Western labels and questions their usefulness in the context of Arab societies and cultures. It demonstrates that the assumptions that underlie the creation of new wordlists overlook and ultimately erase the very rich tradition on alternative sexual practices that has been prominent in the Islamicate world at least since the ninth century. Salvaging this tradition and its accompanying terminology on homosexuality challenges the claim that homosexuality is a Western importation, and renders the recourse to English categories superfluous. Moreover, uncovering the forgotten Arabic cultural material on alternative sexualities offers contemporary Arab gays and lesbians a rich and empowering indigenous heritage, as well as home-grown modes of resistance that are poised to challenge homophobic attitudes and policies in the Arab world, and the hegemony of Western sexual and cultural imperialism.
在简要回顾了为谈论女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋、跨性别者、酷儿、双性人及同盟者（LGBTQIA）身份而新造的阿拉伯语词汇的激增情况后，本文审视了对西方标签的轻易模仿，并质疑它们在阿拉伯社会和文化背景下的实用性。文章表明，创建新词汇表所依据的假设忽视并最终抹去了至少自9世纪以来在伊斯兰世界就已突出的关于另类性行为的非常丰富的传统。挽救这一传统及其关于同性恋的相关术语，对同性恋是西方舶来品这一说法提出了挑战，并使诉诸英语类别变得多余。此外，挖掘被遗忘的关于另类性取向的阿拉伯文化材料，为当代阿拉伯同性恋者提供了丰富且赋予力量的本土遗产，以及准备好挑战阿拉伯世界恐同态度和政策以及西方性与文化帝国主义霸权的本土抵抗方式。
