CAIRO, Egypt - Heba Kotb is a conservative Muslim, wears an Islamic head scarf, and goes on television once a week to talk - frankly and in great detail - about sex.

Muslim sexologist Heba Kotb, who on her weekly television show answers questions from Muslims across the Middle East about the most intimate bedroom issues with an openness that is shocking to some and revolutionary to others in a society where talking about sex remains taboo, speaks to an Associated Press reporter in Cairo, Egypt Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006. [AP]

On her show, "Big Talk," Kotb answers questions from Muslims all over the Middle East about the most intimate bedroom issues with an openness that is shocking and revolutionary in a society where discussing the subject is taboo.

"How do I talk about these issues? Very seriously," the Egyptian sexologist says. "I put on a mask-like face and make sure I speak in the right tone of voice."

She also does it by talking about sex in an Islamic light, arguing that the faith is in favor of pleasure for both men and women, with one important caveat - that it be only in the context of marriage.

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