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Guatemala's Gay Porn Uproar

David Sasaki · 18:40

Commenting on the political uproar which has followed the shooting of a series of homosexual pornographic films in Antigua, Guatemala, El Blog Diablogico writes from the colonial city:

It's not exactly clear what most disturbs the Guatemalans about this piece of news. It's as if an apparent act of disrespect towards one of the few things of global cultural value in their country has started all those partially-healed wounds of national indignation bleeding all over again. (Yet can we be so sure that even the Germans wouldn't bat an eyelid if someone made an S&M flick in Beethoven's old house in Bonn?)

He calls the upheaval a focused expression of the country's persistent homophobia and ends the post with five rhetorical questions including, “Would anyone have minded so much if the film had been about lesbians?”

Andrés Duque sums up the irony of the controversy in his well-hyperlinked post:

So, while the Guatemalan gay rights organization has suffered the loss of eight of its members to violence just this year, a US-based gay porn producer uses a Central American city for profit (reminds me of something else) and Guatemalan authorities seem to care more about the sex that aparently never took place in a temple than the rash of killings that has plagued OASIS over the years.

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From the Jordanian Blogosphere

Roba Al Assi · 06:37

“No Comment” caricature by Wael Attili

The Jordanian blogosphere is discussing more traditional aspects relating to our culture and language this week. Khalidah writes about Jordanian traditions when it comes to marriage, this time discussing why she doesn't think the traditional method of arranged marriage works, “heck the chat rooms and see for yourself how many married men are seeking discreet relationships with other women because they are not happy and feel that they made a mistake when they married someone they did not know. You would be shocked to learn that these men are willing to have affairs just to feel good about themselves, and when asked why they don’t communicate with their wives; mostly the answer is: she does not understand me.” Naseem Tarawneh meanwhile rants about his dislike for Valentine's Day, “This is about culture people. The preservation of whatever it is we have left that has not been completely destroyed by goliath western machines that go by the name of ‘Hallmark' and ‘Hersheys'.”

Lina Ejeilat has several posts about the Arabic language, discussing how it has recently come into the limelight; “It saddens me to think of the motive behind this recent emphasis on teaching Arabic abroad, but I still think we can take advantage of that from a different angle… Understanding cultural aspects is just as important as language translation, and this is where we cannot count on the US government to ensure this education.” Naseem Tarawneh also writes about the Arabic language, this time posting a short movie on the new phenomenon of Arabizi, a form of speech that mixes Arabic with English and that is widely used among Jordan’s Western-educated elites.
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Eastern & Central Europe

Eric Gordy at East Ethnia writes about a Croatian documentary on the experience of women in the folk music industry, to be shown at Zagreb Dox Festival of Documentary Film on Feb. 25.