Eva Hilskamp

A Socio-Political Analysis of Homosexuality in Jordan Eva Hilskamp

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Sociology - Gender Studies, grade: 1,9, University of Manchester, course: Homosexuality in Jordan, language: English, abstract: This paper will give a general socio-political analysis of homosexuality in Jordan in order to raise awareness of the universal need for LGBT rights. It will be examined how, despite the attempt of Professor Joseph Massad to claim otherwise, there are indeed homosexuals in Jordan and they are oppressed. It will be shown that despite Jordan being the most gay-friendly country in the Middle East, and the only Arab country where homosexuality is technically legal, the situation is less than ideal. Honour killings are still common and only lightly prosecuted, police crackdowns are common, and the pressure from family and society is massive. The coverage of homosexuality in the Jordanian press is almost entirely negative, associating homosexuality with moral decay and perversion.