Posted on 01/14/2006 4:31:37 AM PST by martin_fierro
Sex and the electricity in Baghdad
Fri Jan 13, 10:08 AM ET
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Ahmed Hadi and his new wife Tiba Mohammed, like many young married couples in Baghdad, are not getting enough sex. The problem, they say, is not a lack of desire but of power -- electrical power.
Making love for many of Iraq's Muslim population not only requires a willing partner but also a sure supply of water -- preferably hot in the winter -- to enable the participants to take a shower afterwards before going to pray.
No hot water means no hot shower and therefore prayers, which take place five times a day for devout Muslims, can become a problem.
Either a couple avoids sex or they are forced to take a cold dip, not a pleasant prospect during the winter months.
"I have less sex than I want because there is no hot water to wash with afterwards," moaned Hadi, 25, a Baghdad local who works in the water sector and has only been married for two weeks.
"Sometimes, when we are in the middle of making love the electricity turns off so we have to stop. I get out of bed to put a generator on and then we have to wait for the water to heat up," he told AFP.
On the evening of the Eid Al-Adha (Muslim feast of the sacrifice) holiday which started on Tuesday, Hadi had hoped for a night of romance.
"Unfortunately, the electricity cut out from 5 pm until 11 pm. There was nothing for us to do other than sit and look at each other. I did not get married just to have conversation," he said.
In contrast to the situation in Iraq, power cuts in Western countries often lead to a spike in births nine months later as couples abandon watching television to share a warm bed.
Baghdad and much of central Iraq is suffering its worst ever electricity shortage, said a Western diplomat with expertise in the electricity sector. The power is on for just two to six hours per day in the capital.
In contrast, southern and northern Iraq -- where most of the power stations are based -- have more energy then before the US-led invasion when Saddam Hussein used to divert most of the power to Baghdad, depriving everyone else.
Following his downfall in April 2003, US-led and Iraqi projects have been launched to generate permanent power for all of Iraq, but so far they have failed to make much impact.
This is because the US-led coalition underestimated the dilapidated state of Iraq's electricity infrastructure following a decade of international sanctions, the diplomat told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In addition, repair work has been hampered daily by insurgent attacks against transmission lines and power stations.
For normal Iraqis, especially those living in Baghdad, this has resulted in further hardship.
Yasser Mohammed Saffar, a 26-year-old shop owner, and Tamara Shimary, 20, his wife of one year, live together with Safar's parents and two sisters in an apartment in southeastern Baghdad.
He too said the lack of electricity has affected his sex life because there is no hot water in the winter months and no air-conditioning in the summer -- another major impediment to a person's libido.
When Safar got married in the summer of 2004 he was so worried about the electricity cutting out in the flat on his first night with Shimary that he decided to bribe an official from the local grid to keep the power flowing.
"However, I then realised that it would be cheaper -- and more private -- to book a night in a hotel for my new wife and I," he recalled. "We had plenty of electricity, air-conditioning and water, it was great."
Major hotels try to secure a constant supply of energy for their guests.
One such hotel is the Al-Mansour in central Baghdad, which is conveniently located close to the well-powered Green Zone, where the Iraqi seat of government and a number of embassies are based.
Mohammed Jabbar, assistant manager for house-keeping at the hotel, agreed that guaranteed electricity and hot water were an attraction for newly-weds.
Safar said the lack of electricity in Iraq was definitely preventing people from having as much sex as they would like, but he also blamed other stress factors such as the deadly violence.
"Each kind of disorder you face -- such as the security problem and the lack of electricity -- reduces your sex drive, eventually down to zero," he said.
"Fortunately I am still going, thank goodness."
An Iraqi man walks away with a new electricity generator used in private homes when there is a power outage in central Baghdad, December 2005. Many young married couples in Baghdad are not getting enough sex and the problem, they say, is not a lack of desire but of power -- electrical power.(AFP/File/Karim Sahib)
Nope. Not goin' there.
L
I have something to say,
NO MORE SEX FOR OIL! !
So... I gues yelling 'Oh God!!!' during sex is right out.
What a stupid religion. Who needs that baggage in their life?
They dont have AA batteries in Iraq?
Um, don't you mean 'C' batteries?
No sex for you!
I find this story hard to believe. What did Muslims do for all those centuries before electricity was invented?
In this case, it's a 10th century religion which relies on modern plumbing. Unbelievable.
>I find this story hard to believe. What did Muslims do for all those centuries before electricity was invented?
There used to be something called fire that people used I heard once.
Of course, doesn't resistance increase as current drops?
There Iraqis brag how they have been civilized for what, 4000 plus years? And electric power came into existence oh, about 1900?
So what did these jokers do about bathing for the first 3900 years?
This story defies reason. Are we to believe that electricity is the only way the Iraqi's know to heat water? It's like a 120 in the shade over there. Put a pot on the sand next to the mud hut and it will be ready by the time they are done.
This is clearly a case of BUSH'S FAULT.
Wonder what the terrorists are doing? If all we have to do is cut the electricity off, they can't have too many kids, so there would be fewer terrorists in the future. Hmmm.....not a bad idea. Keep 'em in the dark, so to speak!
IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT!!!!!
Couldn't this article have managed to say that the amount of electricity generated has more than doubled since pre-war?
Perfect? No. A heck of a lot better for most Iraqis? Yes. A little worse for Saddam's priveleged few, ie those with secure state civil service jobs in the 'water sector'? Yes, and I can quite comfortably live with that.
"Ah, for the good old days when Saddam could barge into your house, rape your woman in front of your eyes, and cut off your thumbs. At least there was plenty of juice!"
Why the hell is it taking so long to restore basic services? I mean it. IF our goal is to change the ME, then this must be our FIRST priority, above other showy stuff.
We have a Paloma on demand LP fired water heater. We never run out of hot water and we're newlyweds.....Just sayin'......
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