Queer Arab Salon: Masculinity and Effeminacy / الرجولة و الخنوثة
📅 Sunday 20th September
📍 St. Margaret’s House
⏰ Doors 3:45 PM, start 4:00 PM SHARP, 90 min
🎟 Free Entry
♿ Step-free access and accessible toilet facilities
⚠️⚠️⚠️ IMPORTANT ⚠️⚠️⚠️
Plans changed? Let us know or cancel your ticket. No-shows aren’t sexy and stop others from joining. Repeat no-shows won’t get future bookings.
What does Arab masculinity look like when examined from within our own communities? Join facilitator Omar for a grounded, facilitated salon diving deep into the lived experiences of gay and queer Arab men - exploring identity, expression, and belonging beyond Western gazes.
The session will open with 2-3 short pre-recorded video provocations: filmed questions put to the panel by diverse figures from across our wider community. These provocations will raise core questions surrounding Arab masculinity and takhneeth (effeminacy/queerness) in Arab culture, grounding the conversation in authentic cultural nuance and lived reality.
Rather than simply speaking to each other, the panel will respond directly to real, submitted questions and discussion points gathered directly from the community in the weeks leading up to the event. This creates a truly collaborative and responsive space to unpack the complexities of gender, cultural expectations, and desire together.
Whether you want to listen, reflect, or engage with these vital community conversations, come through for an insightful and powerful afternoon! Join us to celebrate, unpack, and reimagine Arab queer identity on our own terms!
This event is part of Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest and Love Hub – two festivals collaborating to create one big queer East London celebration from 11th - 20th September.
📽 Explore the full Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest programme here
🌈 Discover the full Love Hub programme here
Our House Rules (and Why They Matter)
The Love Hub is brought to you by The Love Tank, a non-profit organisation promoting the health and well-being of underserved communities.
We’re a lived experience organisation: we’re queer, pro-trans, and believe that migrants make our worlds richer and more joyful. We’re proudly anti-racist and believe access to health care - including abortion - is a human right. We stand for bodily autonomy, including reproductive justice, the decriminalisation of drug use and sex work, and access to gender-affirming care.
A lot of our work focuses on sexual health, so please expect conversations that include sex and sexual well-being.
If you’ve just discovered The Love Tank and are thinking of booking a Love Hub ticket, but find our values challenging, this is a great moment to ask yourself: “Is this space right for me?”
Some sessions will have an official photographer present. If you do not wish to be photographed, please let us know when you arrive at a session. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, photography, video, or audio recording of panel members or audience members is not permitted. Anyone who records or photographs without consent will be asked to leave the session.
Our events are fun, joyful, and supportive. It takes courage for presenters and facilitators to get up and share their work, so please be respectful: clap in the right places, don’t heckle, and help create a welcoming environment. If our values don’t align with yours, that’s okay - please don’t attend. We won’t mind.
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About our FREE events
💜 Our events are free to ensure they remain accessible to our communities. However, organising them comes with costs. If you'd like to support our work, please consider donating via this link.
💜 To make sure as many people as possible can attend, we ask that you cancel your ticket if you can no longer make it. Failing to show up without prior cancellation takes a spot from someone else and wastes resources, including food and venue costs. We track attendance, and individuals who miss three events without cancelling will be unable to register for our future events. Please be considerate and let us know if you can’t attend.
💜 To ensure a smooth and respectful experience for everyone, please arrive on time. Our events are not drop-in sessions, meaning attendees must arrive at the start time and stay for the duration. We allow a 10-minute grace period for late arrivals - after that, entry will not be permitted as it can be disruptive to the group. Additionally, the entrance is not monitored after the grace period, so there will be no one available to let latecomers in. The event hours are clearly stated in the description, so please plan accordingly. Thank you for understanding and helping us create a welcoming space for all!
💜 Alongside this, we appreciate it if you could respond to any communication by the given response deadline so we can make the necessary arrangements for the event.
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