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On a theoretical level, the article investigates sexually orientated discourses as a means to censure and demonise other religious communities than one’s own whilst staging one’s own religious community as the most “natural” and “liberal” example. With reference to the works of Michel Foucault and Edward Said it is thus argued that seemingly liberal and lenient attitudes towards sexuality can be exploited in an intolerant and hegemonic fashion. On an empirical level, this paradoxical dynamic is investigated in relation to Islam, Judaism and the so-called Western world. In terms of historical periods, late antiquity and (late) modernity are adduced. It is demonstrated that early and classical Islam styled itself as sexually liberal and easy-going over and against an alleged puritanical and rigid Judaism. In late modernity, in a Muslim European diaspora setting, it is demonstrated that Islam has fallen prey to the very same sexual “liberal” tactics as was perpetrated in late antiquity; that is, being castigated for being puritanical and rigid. However, contemporary Muslims are caught in a double bind since the charges against their alleged puritanism and bigotry runs parallel with charges against an alleged excessive and transgressive patriarchal sexuality.
While in theory the great didactic benefits of teaching comparative private law in legal education have generally rarely been denied, the implementation of comparative private law in academic curricula has proven to be a persistent challenge—both in terms of the mode and the degree of implementation. In Central and Eastern Europe, the comparative private law boat has recently been bouncing on especially rough seas: although comparative law formally is still included in the curricula in many places, it is in fact being avoided more and more by both teachers and students as a subject in post-socialist states. The reversion of this development may not be easy, but it is far from impossible, as there are—to my mind—far more tools enhancing the teaching of comparative law (be it in didactic, structural or financial terms) than generally assumed. In this article, I would like to present some of them.