Apparently this concept remains easy to accept. It is known to many as “witchcraft” to deprive a male of his virility unjustly, aggressively, or in revenge. But, not only that, it is “magic” that turns the lives of its female victims into a tragedy, and destroys their desire for normal sexual intercourse. Is this true in the language of medicine and science? Is “stopping” exactly what we think we understand?

What does “stopping” mean? 

The psychologist and sexual specialist, Abu Bakr Harakat , explains to us that “the concept of ‘cessation’ relates to erectile dysfunction, that is, sexual dysfunction. Let's say that this is the mythical, popular, and unscientific explanation for losing the ability to have an erection, either partially or completely. The scientific causes are mostly psychological, such as fear of failure, lack of confidence in the size of the penis, or what is scientifically known as “performance tension syndrome.”

Harkat added, in his statement to Mirayana, that “there are also organic factors such as diabetes, which decisively affects erection and sexual ability, as well as blood pressure or heart and arterial diseases, cholesterol, etc. However, popular society ignores all of these causes and considers that erectile dysfunction is due to sorcery, the results of which are “cessation . ” “All of this is just nonsense, reflecting the extent to which irrationality nests within us.”

The question remains: Does this concept mean exclusively men?

Psychology researcher Shaima Ashshah responds by confirming that a woman who believes that she is a victim of abstinence, due to her inability to have intercourse with her husband or partner, is scientifically suffering from “acute vaginismus.” This spasm leads to contraction of the vaginal muscles, due to intense fear that reaches the point of phobia of the sexual process. This makes penetration difficult and difficult, and every violent attempt may cause health problems or wounds.

Ashshah stresses that, in the past, there was intense fear of sexual relations, due to the mystery that surrounded it, and its construction in the worlds of narrative only. But the phobia has diminished in our time due to these generations becoming acquainted with the body and sex, through sexual culture videos, and sometimes even through pornographic videos, despite the latter’s distortion of the meaning of the sexual relationship in the mind of the recipient, due to the absence of parallel sexual education.

But the majority of society members, according to the speaker, live in traditional circles. Therefore, when a man or woman suffers from objective symptoms that suggest their inability to have “intercourse,” the “jurists or charlatans” are better than doctors for many simple people.

Ashshah concludes that “jurisprudence and charlatans sell only illusions, and trade in matters that are far from their specialty. While scientifically, medically, and psychologically, there is no such thing as “convergence.” Those who say that they went to the jurist and were treated for “takaf” confirm that their illness was only psychological, and that it was treated with a little Qur’an and the comfort it creates for Moroccan Muslims. In addition to psychological preparation for treatment in this way, which has a positive impact on the patient. But, can “jurisprudence” address the problem if it were organic? Absolutely and definitively impossible.”

Myth: Treatment is incurable 

Among the biggest problems that characterize the issue of “takaf” in our current time, according to Abu Bakr Harakat, is the fact that “these perceptions are not something specific to conservative areas as is promoted, but rather they are more and more severe in major cities, and among educated people as well.” Our backwardness has spread to social networking sites, which have revealed that the superstition that simmers within us coexists with us, generation after generation. The “Zenati script” in turn is now digitized. The virtual space, in turn, has become a practical space for disseminating superstitious discourses, such that sorcerers and charlatans are also present on their propaganda and communication pages on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.

All of this indicates, according to Harakat, that our irrational part is still fertile and dynamic, otherwise myth would not have strengthened until it became something circulated in the digital world that we were counting on to transport us to a contemporary world at all.”

However, all of this, Harakat continues, “does not make us ignore that the only party that has the responsibility to solve the problem of “attack” is the psychologist and sexual specialist, as we receive many cases, for males and females, and we know how to treat them and how to deal with them, according to the nature of the sexual problem. Only doctors bring hope to everyone who sees that they need it.”

But, how do we explain the continued insistence on visiting the jurist or “charlatan” instead of the doctor?

A question we have for sociologist Ahmed Al-Siddiqi, who considers that turning to jurisprudence and charlatans to solve a psychological or physical problem, such as “sexual impotence” in men, or “shrinking vaginal muscles” in women, is an embodiment of the fact that “traditional medicine” has remained “more trustworthy.” Among the popular groups, both illiterate and sometimes educated, alike; But to varying degrees. The Moroccan often, in accordance with his traditions, resorts to the jurist or the sorcerer instead of the doctor, because he believes that the field of “takaf” relates to the supernatural, the unseen, and the world of the jinn, which the doctor will not treat, and will not even know how to decipher.

Al-Siddiqi believes, in his interview with Mirayana, that there is an old, but renewed and strong, awareness within traditional society in particular. Some Moroccans have misconceptions about psychiatry. Some of them believe that it is shameful to visit a psychiatrist, and that the one who visits him is necessarily “crazy” and abnormal, given the dominance of stereotypical ideas about psychiatry. Therefore, there is no need to follow the path of society and go on a path that has nothing to do with science, rationality, thinking, logic, medicine, etc.

According to what the speaker explains, “If, for example, a person suffering from symptoms of impotence goes to a doctor specializing in psychological and sexual medicine, that is much better than going to a jurist. But the hidden authority of society imposes the opposite on him. how? Because the “patient” in his subconscious thinks that by going to the doctor, he is admitting that the reason for his “inability” is due to him, that is, he is looking for treatment, but when he goes to the jurist, it is as if he is evading the matter, as if he is saying that he is a victim of the magic of “al-Taqaf,” and thus his “virility.” “A victim of an unseen conspiracy or a desire by opponents to deliberately destroy his sexual map.”

In general, Al-Siddiqi considers that the issue of virility among Moroccans is a sensitive one, and saying that a person is a victim of sexual intercourse is more merciful than saying that he is unable to complete a sexual relationship normally. The issue becomes more current and acute when we know that the issue no longer only includes couples, after the value shifts that affected the institution of marriage, and therefore is no longer a discussion exclusively related to the wedding night. The topics of “coming together” include spouses and others. The shape of society changes, but the fortresses of myth know how to maintain their existence.

Besieged sexuality

Usually, it is said that these cultural phenomena are widespread in “conservative” areas within society. Therefore, we communicate with a sixty-year-old woman in the vicinity of the city of Erfoud in the Errachidia province. This woman asserts with astonishing ease that “stopping” is an effective mechanism that protects females from “vice” or from being “exploited” by any male. “Stoping” is something inherited and effective, and it is preferable to do it with girls, and there is no need for us to “stop” a man.”

For this woman, “the popular information about “takaf” and that it is sorcery are fallacies, because it is not always practiced by sorcerers. Rather, we only know how to handle it, and we do not follow the forbidden paths at all.” Our mirrors make this statement only to convey to their readers the extent of belief in superstition... and the extent of the transformation of superstition into a given.

On the other hand, Hayat, 26 years old, tells us that she knew from a young age that she was protected by taqaf, according to what her mother told her, and this “truth” remained with her until she was eighteen years old. Hayat says: When I went from Agadir to Rabat to pursue my university studies, I found greater freedom, and with the passage of time I wanted to live my sexual life comfortably. However, the idea of ​​“stopping” still terrified me. If my mother hadn't told me, I would have been more relieved.

Hayat talks about the first time she will sleep with a male. She recalls it with amazement: I met a young man and we started dating. One time, I went with him to his house of my own free will. I went knowing, and he too, that he would not even approach my reproductive system, meaning he would not deflower me. However, the problem was that his erection was defective, and he did not remain erect for a long time. We were both confused, and he kept saying it was the first time this had happened. I was afraid that I would tell him about “stopping” and he would blame me or accuse me. I said, "Maybe it really is a matter of what I carry with me," but I wondered: How could this happen when he did not even try to insert his penis into my reproductive system?

Hayat sums up, saying: I lived in a kind of fear, because I thought this would be my life. However, later this did not happen again, and I knew that “stopping” did not exist. It's the biggest myth, and it's down to my partner's fear. Until now, I keep my hymen by choice. However, what happened to that young man did not happen again. I do not think that stopping is a “protection” for me, but rather it depends on my own desire. For example, I don't want to give up my hymen right now. But, what if I change my mind? Will the “stopping” that my mother talks about prevent me when I want to? unbelievable