“How did I come into this world?” is a very common question that pops into every kid's mind and it’s also parents' single most dreaded question, especially if you’re an Arab. The answer usually ends up being an attempt for parents to wiggle their way out of the situation. Sadly, this avoidance seems to continue even when the kids have grown much older and sex remains a taboo that is excluded from the list of topics that are up for discussion.

In a culture where sex has been a taboo for ages, the inevitable desire to answer so many questions about this topic often takes very misleading paths. According to a recent study by the Ford Foundation, 86 percent of online content in Arabic that discusses sex contains inaccurate information.

To address this issue and fill the gap caused by this lack of sexual education in schools and at home, Love Matters Arabic has popped onto the scene. It is an innovative multimedia platform that encourages young people to discuss and learn about love, sex and relationships in an open and non-restricted atmosphere with regards to the religious and cultural context. Love Matters Arabic is the first attempt in the Arab world to address matters of sexuality and sexual health on such scale.

Based in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, the website has been up and running since January 2014, and in its first couple of months alone succeeded in attracting a traffic flow of 50,000 unique visitors per month. “The website is for the entire Arab world, but we chose Egypt as a starting point” explains Abir Sarras, coordinator of Love Matters Arabic to Egyptian Streets .

This website project is run by the Dutch RNW, and yet all of the content is provided by Arab contributors, doctors and researchers. It is also brought to life by personal stories from the Arab region. “From a Dutch perspective, or RNW’s perspective, it is a simple formula. [Our] main mission is to promote free speech in targeted countries, like Egypt…RNW has to focus on where can there be an impact that promotes free speech in areas where there are restrictions or limitations on information that is available” says Sarras and Ruth Vandewalle, researchers on sexual health issues for Love Matters . “At the end of the day, what we hope to achieve is to make a difference in people’s sexual education.”

With clear educational goals, the Love Matters team is keen to build on the target audience’s needs, and so they conduct regular focus groups and encourage people to share their feedback.  “A lot of Love Matters is guided by this feedback,” Sarras and Vandewalle shared.

While the project pays a lot of attention to the clarity of the information provided, the people behind it are finding a great challenge in striking the right balance between accurate sex vocabulary and proper Arabic vocabulary while ensuring readers feel at ease and in their comfort zone. “Presentation is very important. Certain websites represent love making acts in terms that are derogatory or do not accurately represent the act…the vocabulary certain resources use makes you want to puke and reject the whole thing!”

Instead of passing on clear knowledge about sex, sexuality, and how to deal with our own bodies, generation after generation has simply passed on ambiguous silence. Nevertheless, the team can spot a silver lining in the younger generation's comments on how they don’t want to repeat the way their parents and teachers addressed their questions and curiosity. “A lot of people who already have children want to know how to teach their children about sex issues,” Sarras and Vandewalle elaborated.

While some of us may think that addressing sex health and education is only a challenge in the Arab world, this project actually has global appeal. It was first implemented in Hindi, followed by English, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic. It's worth noting though that each country deals with the sensitivity of sexual topics differently. This means that different approaches are required and topics need tackling. Because of this, Love Matters does not simply copy and translate content across regions. It adapts to suit the readers.

“A lot of people have had a lot of admiration and were happy about Love Matters, specifically the language we use which allows you to feel at ease…Love Matters is a website that people will follow in their own time, in their private sphere, secretly maybe…let it be secretly [if it has to be], as long as the information is there.”

To learn more about the project, check out these links:

Love Matters Website: lmarabic.com

Love Matters Twitter: https://twitter.com/LoveMattersAR