Arabs as Hypersexualized Others in Ancient Rabbinic Literature

The rabbis also deploy Arabs as models of hypersexualized Others. In b. Kiddushin 49b they characterize the nations of the world by associating each with a primary characteristic, including negative attributes or failings: the Babylonians with poverty, Elam with presumptuousness, Egypt with sorcery, Mesene with insolence, and Arabia with sexual immorality. The association of Arabs with promiscuity appears in several other talmudic texts as well, and b. Avodah Zarah 22b describes a male Arab using a dead animal in an act of public masturbation.

With its repetitive motions and phallic spindle, the act of spinning thread was understood to be particularly sexually suggestive. In addition to viewing the very public nature of this task as suspicious, in b. Ketubbot 72b the rabbis consider an Arab weaver’s behavior to be fraught with sexual immorality.