Tourism, Sexuality, Violence, and Religion – Changes in Islamic Beliefs between the 19th and 21st Century

Since the inception of the discipline, sociologists have been concerned with power, violence and justice.

In a former paper I compared the attitude of six world religions towards tourism (Te Kloeze 2012), focussing on violence. Groups and individuals referring to Islam show being the most violent towards tourists.

On the other hand, Islamic societies and (sub-)cultures are well-known about their hospitality.

Although I found little reference towards a dramatic change in beliefs, attitudes, and utterances in the 19^th century, the question remained whether this change was limited to sports, play and tourism (in the course of the 20^th century).

Interestingly I found a possible similarity in sexuality (Leezenberg 2017). This author states Islamic past showed less taboos in sexualibus than nowadays. He pointed to the role of politics. A picture of the 1960s (about “boyhood prostitution”): “Compared with Tanger Sodom is a church picnic and Gomorra a meeting of girl scouts”.

Which theoretical approach would be most fruitful? For now I believe the cultural imperialism and the colonisation theses are promising (Raponi 2014).

The following questions will lead my essayistic research:

1. Do changes in attitudes towards sports, play and tourism have the same roots as the changes in attitudes towards sexuality and the position of women in Islamic beliefs?
2. How far are the cultural imperialism thesis and the colonisation thesis helpful in order to make the reasons of these changes clear?
3. Which indications can be found regarding the more specific question whether (perceived) humiliation by (representatives of) the western world plays a role in this respect, ending in hate to all what is western, including tourism and sexuality, both being perceived as perverted products and utterances of the western world?