These days Sajo says he spends a lot of time online, looking for new friends via Facebook pages dedicated to Iraqi emos and also online with his lover, communicating via online cameras.
Sajo says he feels like a normal person in every way, except for his feelings about the standards of masculinity imposed on young Iraqi men – he hates this.
A lot of his socializing is done in private. Often these young men will go to meet others at one of their homes and there, Sajo says, “we will wear the clothes we like, play the music we like and watch movies”.
“But we are still considered a menace to society,” Sajo exclaims. “There are also social media sites that say this, they say we threaten society.”
Another young man at the café, Firas, a science graduate, says he has lots of emo friends but he himself is not one. “Unlike what many people think emos don’t worship Satan nor are they vampires. Nor do they believe in everything that young Westerners do,” Firas told NIQASH.
“It is all so exaggerated. Some of the guys here are attracted to some Western ideas and some may have sexual relationships with other men, but it is all within certain limits.”
*Not their real names.
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