Mawadda: The digital platform helping Arab women conquer sexual health myths and embrace their bodies with confidence

Twenty-six-year-old Taqwa had never been in a relationship when she got married in late 2024. "I was traumatised," Taqwa tells The New Arab, preferring to use only her first name. 

She recalls both the physical and psychological pain of intercourse in the early days of marriage. "I thought I was frigid," Taqwa continues.

Then she discovered Mawadda, a platform, she says, that changed everything. 

Taqwa attended training sessions and signed up for counselling and discovered that she suffered from a case of vaginismus, an involuntary tightening of the vaginal muscles, often triggered by the fear or anticipation of pain during penetration.

Through counselling, Taqwa learned that she was not alone, that she was not frigid, and that there are scientifically tested techniques to overcome this fear.

"We live in societies where mothers are too embarrassed to talk to their daughters about sex, or lack the necessary knowledge," says Taqwa, "so I turned to the internet and found answers about sexual positions that can help with vaginal spasms, which I shared with my husband."

Within weeks, her marital life had turned around, and Taqwa started sharing her newfound source of information with friends, whom she gathered at her home and introduced to Raneem Hijazi, her counsellor, who met them online.

"I also began sharing training materials with friends who were about to marry to raise awareness about sexually transmitted diseases, secretions, reproductive organs, and other aspects of marital relations," she says.

Confronting taboos

"The idea of Mawadda came from a real need for a safe and open space enabling young people to access reliable information without judgment or shame," Raneem Hijazi tells The New Arab. 

"I want to reach conservative communities that do not discuss such issues openly."

Driven by her passion for digital media, youth and women's issues, and a belief that real change begins with awareness and knowledge, Raneem, a community activist and project manager at the Jordan-based Hikaya Center for Civil Society Development, launched the Mawadda platform, an online hub for Arabic-language information on sexual and reproductive health.

Featuring stories about everything from the impact of a mastectomy on a woman's sex life, the signs of a toxic marriage, condom myths and sex after menopause, Mawadda confronts societal taboos head-on with multimedia content and articles. 

Like most of the Arab region, limited accurate information in Arabic about sexual and reproductive health has fueled many myths, which Mawadda has been debunking since its launch in 2022 through rare scientific and culturally sensitive content in the Arabic language.

"The biggest challenge the platform faced was how to broach such topics in a conservative society and to present content boldly, yet respectfully," Raneem tells The New Arab. 

This challenge guided her small team to use an inclusive approach, working step by step to build trust with the audience.

Mawadda targets married couples, those about to marry, and parents. The platform provides information, studies, health and medical articles, and research prepared by experts and specialists, presented in a variety of media formats. 

It also provides channels of communication with a significant group of experts specialised in sexual, reproductive, and family health.

"We appealed to our audience because we avoided clashes with society, using the appropriate language, respecting privacy, and opening a door for dialogue," says Raneem, who designed the platform to be a bridge between science and local culture, "bringing concepts closer to the culture and traditions instead of imposing them."

Over three years, the platform grew a broad audience base of over two million followers across all social media platforms. To date, the platform has published more than 700 articles, over 100 podcasts and video episodes, attracting thousands of monthly visitors from various Arab countries.

But Mawadda's work is not limited to digital publishing; it also extends to direct training for youth, couples, and parents.

Through the Higher Population Council and in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Jordanian government launched a national strategy for 2020–2030 on reproductive and sexual health, confirming that Jordan has achieved "significant progress in reproductive health, especially in reducing maternal mortality rates."

Yet reports indicate that sexual and reproductive health services remain "insufficient" due to information systems, access disparities, and challenges specific to youth and humanitarian contexts.

Platforms like Mawadda, which confront a culture of "shame" around sex and understanding our bodies, are part of the solution, says Mayada (not her real name), a mother of two in her early forties, who has one teenage son.

"I discovered Mawadda through friends and turned to it to understand how to deal with teenagers regarding sexual matters and their changing bodies," Mayada tells The New Arab.

She explains how Mawadda taught her how to respond to her son's questions and thoughts about sex. 

"It was difficult at first, and my son struggled open up about these private issues, but gradually, he trusted me and spoke without embarrassment after realising I understood the changes and fluctuations he was going through," says Mayada, who shared her experience with other mothers, emphasising the importance of learning, talking to their children, sharing information, and building trust. 

"It's important to break the stereotypical image of the shy mother who avoids conversations about sex with her children," says Mayada.

Raneem's goal is to help cultivate generations that know and understand reproductive health without anxiety or fear. 

"Combining cultural sensitivity with a scientific approach in Arabic opens the door for dialogue," Raneem concludes, noting that such knowledge "is a basic right, not a luxury."

Shefa'a Qudah is an independent journalist based in Jordan who specialises in human rights and freedoms. She has previously worked with the International Journalists Network, Raseef22, My Kali, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, and others and has won awards for her human rights reports from Journalists for Human Rights and Tamkeen for Legal Aid

This article is published in collaboration with Egab