Writing articles used to be my living, when I was a journalist with The Economist. Then I wrote Sex and the Citadel, and that left me with little time for anything else. Now the book is out for you to read, and I am writing other publications again. Here is a selection:

World AIDS Day: Forget politics, HIV could be the deadliest Arab up-rising yet  (The Independent, 1 December 2013)
HIV is gaining ground in the Middle East and North Africa

Sex and the Citadel by Shereen El Feki (The Guardian, 15 November 2013)
Guardian First Book Award shortlistee Shereen El Feki…introduces an extract from her book and explains what inspired her to write it 

In the flesh: Female sex work and HIV in the Middle East & North Africa (Muftah.org, 12 November 2013)
As my Egyptian grandmother used to say: “I am not a prostitute, and my husband isn’t giving me money, so where am I supposed to find the cash?”

Egypt’s High Value on Virginity Fuels Hymen Fixation (Women’s eNews, 24 April 2013)
From artificial hymens to restoration surgeries, various methods have popped up to underscore the significance placed on virginity in the country–and Arab world–says Shereen El Feki

A Thousand Years of Sex Talk in Arab Culture–in 1 Paragraph (The Atlantic, 24 April 2013)
Language doesn’t necessarily get less prudish over time.

Why Arab world must learn to talk about sex (CNN.com, 21 March 2013)
For all our constraints, the Arab world is neither hopeless, nor helpless, when it comes to sex. 

International Women’s Day: In the Arab world, women aren’t supposed to talk about sex – let alone enjoy it. But that might be changing (Independent Voices, 8 March 2013)
The drive to control female sexuality is alive and well in the modern Arab world.

A Legal Remedy? (The Huffington Post, 24 July 2012)
How good laws help, and bad laws hamper, the global response to HIV.

Vote like an Egyptian (The Huffington Post, 29 November 2011)
Egypt’s new democracy is off to a confusing, but calm start.

Arab Democracy: A Family Affair (Prospect Magazine, 23 February 2011)
Getting rid of the head of state is one thing, standing up to the head of your family quite another.

Egypt’s Rage: A Tale of Two Neighbors (The Huffington Post, 7 February 2011)
Pitched battles in Cairo’s Liberation Square aren’t the only place where Mubarak supporters and opponents have been fighting it out over the past week. In her old neighborhood, writer and academic Shereen El Feki found family friends feuding over the future of their president and their country.

Desert Storms (Prospect Magazine, 17 January 2009)
The prophet Muhammad’s love life is a sensitive subject. But was the book Random House decided not to publish worth all the fuss?

Banlieue Blues (Prospect Magazine, 26 May 2007)
Few residents of the French tower-block estates believe the result of the election will make any difference to their lives.