Saudi Researcher: Gender Segregation Makes Men Gay

JAFFA, Israel – An article arguing that gender segregation causes homosexuality has sparked an uproar in Saudi Arabia. 

In the article, entitled “Puberty, Gender Segregation, and Homosexuality,” Saudi author and researcher Suaad Alureifi wrote that her studies show that sexual orientation is situation-based, and therefore “the right intervention could save confused adolescents who are drawn to homosexuality.”

“If an adolescent is prevented from getting to know the other sex, his only option would be to explore his sexuality with members of his own gender, which will in turn determine his sexual identity,” she posited. “Then he’ll mature to be a homosexual, and then this social ill surfaces, as it has done in Saudi Arabia.”

Some readers of Alsharq, the Qatar-based pan-Arab newspaper that published the article, were uncomfortable with Alureifi’s assessment. “When Allah banned mixing genders, he didn’t mean that the result would be homosexuality,” someone wrote in the comments section.

Another reader praised Alureifi for her “courage,” and asked her to write another article about “dealing with the phenomenon of masturbation that has enthralled so many young people.”

Others criticized her for suggesting gender segregation leads to homosexuality.

“There’s no relation between gender segregation and sexual orientation,” one reader wrote. “Allah sanctioned it, and we must follow his word and not listen to heretical studies. Even though homosexuality exists here, thankfully it is much less prevalent than in morally corrupt countries.”