Men Sharea El Haram: The Ethics of Masculinity and its Vernacular discourse in Kuwaiti Television

Abstract

This paper provides a cultural analysis of the popular Kuwaiti TV series Men Sharea El Haram (translated as From Haram Street). Combining religion, class, race, nationality, and patriarchy, Haram Street showcases pertinent issues that today’s Kuwaiti society has to face. Attending to the scarcity of previous research on vernacular communities and their salient concerns, this paper explores the following research questions: How does Men Sharea El Haram capture the intersecting nature of women’s resistance? What does a feminist Kuwaiti vernacular look like, and how does it intersect with privilege? The analysis outlines how Men Sharea El Haram touches upon several silenced themes in the conservative Kuwaiti society of Kuwait, showing the many and varied ways in which Kuwaiti women are oppressed and showcasing the ways in which women can—and do—resist. Together, the findings provide a deeper understanding of several central issues in Kuwaiti society, especially around masculinity.