The History of Sex: Istanbul -- The 24-Year Orgasm -- (Chap. II, Pt. 4)

Men, on the contrary, had heaven all mapped out for them—in every last horny detail.

One authority on the matter assured his brethren that there would be an endless supply of food and drink in paradise, but no backsides—or farts, urine or pubic hair, for that matter.

Every (male) Chosen One would be entitled to seventy dark-eyed houris with a thousand Negress servants each.

What's more, each wife would be a renewable virgin, while impotence would be unheard of ('the erection is eternal'), and orgasms would last for twenty-four years a pop.

Or as another expert summed up: 'The Christian will be asexual in paradise, whereas the Muslim will experience infinite orgasm.'

And when you put it like that… 

It's easy to see why Islam was a hit with men, but it's not so clear what was in it for women.

WHAT WENT WRONG?

Modern defenders of the faith usually argue that Mohammed was a pioneer of women's rights, allowing them to divorce, get an education and own property.

That may be, but Islam was also the only religion among the Semitic Big Three to sanction wife-beating.

Rather than waste time arguing the issue—I'll leave that to the folks who claim that burqas are actually liberating—it's probably true that the new religion improved women's lives initially, particularly by the standards of the pre-Islamic Arabs who buried baby girls alive in the desert.

But accepting that Islam was an early defender of women's rights raises an obvious question: What went wrong? 

To find out, I'm going to the city where Europe meets Asia, home to the former Caliphate of Islam and the most successful Muslim empire the world has ever seen.

In modern times, Turkey has also been a trailblazer of women's rights.

And although the Ottomans viewed their base in Istanbul as a steppingstone to conquer Europe, I'm hoping that modern Turkey might help keep the East and West from tearing each other apart—as a kind of giant, geographical Band-Aid.

A Band-Aid between Asia and Europe?

Against the backdrop of the 'War on Terror' and Turkey trying to break into the 'Christian club' of the EU, as well as the massive population growth in the Muslim world and resulting migration to the West (in 2009, 'Mohammed' overtook 'Jack' as the most popular boy's name in Britain)—against all of that, I'm keen to find out what if any influence Islam has had on sex in the West and whether there's any chance that Turkey might be a template for Muslims living in secular democracies.

That, and I really want to get the lowdown on the Harem.