LEBANESE PSYCHO-SEXOLOGIST SANDRINE ATALLAH HITS BACK AT TV INTERVIEW MISOGYNY

Renowned Lebanese sexual medicine consultant and psycho-sexologist Dr. Sandrine Atallah appeared in an episode of popular evening show '3a Gheir Kawkab' [On Another Planet] to talk about some of her recent sex education social media videos. During the interview, two of the show’s male panelists made derogatory comments about the doctor, branding her content as ‘arousing’ as opposed to educational. The comments were quickly deemed misogynistic by social media users and Dr. Atallah herself, who later took to Twitter to address the issue, garnering a wave of online support and prompting the show’s host Pierre Rabbat to issue an apology in this regard. “What happened on Sunday’s episode while talking about sex education videos and debating about their availability for general public, went unintentionally in the wrong way…and on a pure personal level, I would like to express my apologies for what happened with Dr. Sandrine Atallah during this segment,” he tweeted. The apology did not seem to cut it with Atallah who hit back at Rabbat with a reply that kept the debate further heated. “Apologies received but not accepted. You could have: checked your facts instead of sharing fake news about my videos & my previous show. Silenced your anchors instead of encouraging them by saying I was seductive. Given me a space to express myself instead of interrupting me,” she retorted. The incident remained a trending topic on Lebanese Twitter for a few days after, fueling the conversation around patriarchy, misogyny and the lack of sex education in Lebanon and the Arab World.