Sheima Benembarek - Writer | Magazine Publishing Professional

Halal Sex

Available now!

An unprecedented glimpse into the sex lives of female and gender-expansive Muslims living across Canada and the United States.

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Praise

“About halfway through this extraordinary book, one participant reflects on what it was like growing up in a traditional and religious household, where topics such as sexuality, desire, and her changing body were never discussed. ‘Imagine if we talked about it rather than me having to Google things,’ she says. Through these six often hilarious and always inspiring stories, Halal Sex does just that: it pulls these vital conversations into the open. I loved every minute I spent reading this book.”

Robyn DoolittleInvestigative reporter and author of Had It Coming

“Halal Sex is an inspiring portrait of intimacy built on a remarkably intimate process. Through empathetic reportage and meticulously cultivated trust, Sheima Benembarek has made possible a frank, generous conversation about the pursuit of pleasure. The many voices in this book—including Benembarek’s own personal reflections—emerge distinctively, playfully, and joyfully as they name their desires. Halal Sex is a thrilling collaboration between writer and subject and a testament to the liberatory power of listening.”

Tajja Isen Author of Some of My Best Friends

“Sheima Benembarek’s Halal Sex gives voice to engaging and rarely divulged stories from diverse Muslim women about their fantasies, fears, and desires. It is a brave book, and a feat of reporting considering the sensitive nature of topics covered. Each tale is riveting and earns the reader’s complete attention.”

Zarqa NawazJournalist, filmmaker, and creator of Little Mosque on the Prairie

Halal Sex is by turns captivating, heart-wrenching, laugh-out-loud funny, surprising, and deeply relatable. Benembarek contextualizes her and her participants’ stories through discussions of family relations, cultural expectations, and the realities of living as immigrants in non-Muslim majority societies. Her participants leap off the page as fully realized people, and reading Halal Sex feels at times like chatting over tea with new friends who are not only incredibly interesting, but generous and patient with the limits of your cultural and religious understanding. It is both an engaging read and a compelling intellectual work for anyone interested in feminist storytelling and scholarship on sex and sexuality.

JurorsThe QWF Concordia University First Book Prize

About Sheima Benembarek

I am a Moroccan Canadian writer and magazine publishing professional. I have worked as a special reports editor at Strategy, a senior editor for Toronto Life, an events manager for The Walrus (where I focused on developing programming for The Walrus Talks series that featured underrepresented voices), a business development and brand communications lead at Corporate Knights, and as an associate editor at Broadview. Currently, I am a freelance journalist and a contributing writer for The Walrus. I write about social justice, immigrant narratives, and intersectional feminism. My writing has appeared in print and online publications including the Literary Review of Canada, Maisonneuve, Corporate Knights, The Walrus, Quill & Quire, Chatelaine, Broadview, Vogue Arabia, and Strategy. I was named one of the five RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Writers in 2020.