Naked Beirut

Creator of the first Middle Eastern erotic magazine, Joumana Haddad flirts with danger, and danger flirts right back. Ten seconds with her and you’ll see why.

Quick; what’s the craziest thing you’ve done?

I’ll tell you, but that certainly can’t go to print.

Wow, that certainly can’t go into print; something less saucy perhaps?

Well, I guess that would be starting this magazine [Jasad]. Everyone around me thought I was crazy, at least; it wasn’t the right time, and it wasn’t the right place, they said. I’m already juggling so many things: I’m the cultural editor of Al Nahar, I administer the Arab Booker prize, I’m a writer myself [six books], I travel continuously and I have two kids, a 16 year-old and a 9 year-old.

So was it the right time for it?

You have to invent the right moment, you can’t just sit around and wait for it to happen. You invent the moment, you make the time.

Well, do you feel that people want a local magazine with nudity?

I have to insist that Jasad is not about seeing naked people. Get online, get on Google, go to Youporn; it’s far too easy to see nudity if you wanted to.

But you must admit that the nudity is part of the appeal…

Definitely, but it’s not only that. People say we have too many issues in the Arab world, and some believe we’re going backwards rather than forwards. I’m a Lebanese woman, and I’ve been part of Lebanon’s nightlife for a while. I know what goes on, and I think it’s time we got rid of the hypocrisy of it all. I think people are ready. I realize a good part of the sales is a result of curiosity, but I’ve been getting good feedback, and it’s wonderful that I’m getting so much support. I was expecting worse.

Yeah, I did see that interview…

That Saudi guy on LBC? God. He was pathetic – glossy, modern western clothing with a mind stuck in the middle ages. I remember one question that shocked people; the interviewer asked me: ‘Why do you and your husband live in separate houses? Is it a way to let him have a sex life outside your marriage?’ I was about to ask him: ‘Why didn’t the opposite cross your mind?’ It is unfortunate and frustrating to see how so many Arab men are still entangled with patriarchal complexes; for me it is always a sign of low self confidence. Anyway, whatever that poor guy was trying to do, he only succeeded in marketing my magazine in Saudi Arabia.

I heard; so why do you live in separate houses?

We’re both writers and we need our space. Freedom and oxygen are quintessential in any relationship. I’m crazy about him, he’s crazy about me and we’ve been together for eleven years now, and a good part of that is because we never lived together. We have a very nice village house where we both stay in over the weekend though, and we travel together a lot.

Fair enough. So, villages for you?

Batroun, seaside. My dream is to have a house by the sea, and I don’t mean overlooking the sea I mean right by the sea. I want to step out of my house and onto the beach.