Skip to main content

Lebanon's first sexologist

Sandrine Atallah is working to raise awareness of sexuality and sexual health in a country that often shies away from such topics.
A couple sits over ruins in Sidon, south Lebanon, June 22, 2014. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho (LEBANON - Tags: SOCIETY) - RTR3V57S

In most of Lebanon’s obstetrics and gynecology clinics, a single question, only allowing for one of two ostensibly unambiguous answers, is used to elicit a woman’s sexual history — married or single?

A seemingly benign question, it alienates scores of women for whom marriage is not necessarily a prerequisite for engaging in sexual activity — creating an uncomfortable clinical environment in which patients might feel incapable of being forthright with their doctors about their needs and concerns. For not even the Lebanese medical community is free of the stigma shrouding the public discussion of sex in the country. But a handful of professionals such as Sandrine Atallah, the country’s first sexologist, are trying to remedy the lack of sexual health awareness that this reluctance has facilitated, and which has bred detrimental misconceptions about sex.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.