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A female Muslim sexologist named Heba Kotb now has a TV program called 'Big Talk,' where the courageous pioneer discusses sex in as normal and healthy a manner as she can dare to in her excitable part of the world.

A conservative Muslim herself, the irrepressible Egyptian lady actually has Muslims talking about such taboo ideas as sexual positions, female orgasm, and oral sex, which, she says, is permitted "since there is no religious text banning it."

Her program has apparently become the talk of her sexually veiled society. She has, in fact, proved to be even more popular than Al-Qaeda, as usually represented by one madman or another ranting about murdering innocent people as a perverse means of persuasion.

"It's a beautiful thing what she is doing," commented Abier El-Barbary, a woman who is a psychotherapist and a faculty member at the American University in Cairo. "It's a long overdue topic tastefully done.'

Let's wish her luck. When sex is part of the discussion, it appears that the injunction to 'make love, not war' may have, even in the Middle East, a fighting chance.