"PORKOPHOBIA" A Closer Look At Our Culture Of Disgust

From AltMuslim | 24th Nov 2010 | By Jalees Rehman

I found this article to be particularly amusing; many Musims are raised in a culture of only 'haram/halal' mentality where even visuals or sounds of said haram (forbidden) things produce a strange frightened reaction in phobic Muslims. I think I may be a moderate "porkophobic"! Read on::

A puzzling phenomenon in contemporary Muslim culture is that of "porkophobia." Porkophobia describes a syndrome that includes many symptoms such as severe disgust, waves of nausea with occasional vomiting or increased heart rates and sweating when Muslims encounter pork or pigs. Importantly, these reactions do not require the ingestion of pork, they are even observed when Muslims see pork or pigs. In more severe forms of porkophobia, the mere image of a pig on TV or the realization that one has touched (not snacked on!) pig skin leather elicits similar reactions of revulsion. This severe form of porkophobia is not restricted to Muslims growing up in pig-free Muslim countries, but is also found amongst Muslims living in countries where pork is commonly eaten and pigs are used as important farm animals.

I suffer from moderate to severe porkophobia, even though I sometimes have difficulties admitting how severe my ailment is. For example, I tried to laugh it off when some family friends gave us the movie “Babe: A pig in the city” as a present and inquired if it was a problem that the starring role was played by a pig. I have a hard time telling friends that according to the Chinese astrological calendar, I was born in the year of the pig even though the characteristics attributed to this astrological sign include fine qualities such as honesty, diligence and kindness. I also sympathized with a Muslim father who was being asked by his 3-year old daughter what the name of the small pink plastic animal was that she was holding in her hand. He first said this toy had no name, he then tried to kick it under his chair so she could not reach it, and because she persisted, he ended up saying it was a pink goat...

{Read the full Porkophobia article on AltMuslim}