Largely kept suppressed by the communist system, and exaggerated by the exodus of many who might have formed the middle classes during the economic collapse of the s, gender and issues of sexuality were particularly affected. Nevertheless, if talk about sex was once taboo, although male bloggers still disrupt Women's Days marches to change prevailing attitudes on female virginity and domestic abuse , there is at least now the possibility to discuss matters more openly.
LGBT groups can operate more openly, and have especially empowered themselves through blogs , while, as recently seen in Georgia , discussion has gone online. In the first post, Micael Bogar says that there isn't even a word for it in Azerbaijani. As is also true for the entire region, attitudes towards sexuality are usually not only gender-biased, but also arguably hypocritical to the extreme.
You can learn a lot about a culture by learning its language. After class, I pulled my young modern language teacher aside to clarify. She detailed the custom of dating as a furtive awkward attempt for two people to get to know each other through secretive phone calls and quick exchanges in parks or on the street. To be alone in a room with a person of the opposite sex without a marriage license was strictly forbidden.
If word got out that such a thing was happening the girl would be labeled a whore and the boy scolded. Frankly, I was shocked.
Everyone knows that Ferid loves Sevinj and he would never take Aysel as a bride. Aysel is just a whore. In the second post, Bogar details her own experiences in Azerbaijan when she started to get close to a local acquaintance. In Azerbaijani culture I was being a qehbe whore.
