Female Bodies and Sexuality in Iran and the Search for Defiance

ISBN-13: 9783319609751 / Angielski / Twarda / 2018 / 197 str.

Nafiseh Sharifi

Opis

This book uses storytelling as an analytical tool for following wider social attitude changes towards sex and female sexuality in Iran. Women born in 1950s Iran grew up during the peak of secularization and modernization, whereas those born in the 1980s were raised under the much stricter rules of the Islamic Republic. Using extensive ethnographic research, the author juxtaposes narratives of body and sexuality shared by these different generations of women, showing the intricate ways in which women construct and convey meanings and communicate their emotions about the unspoken aspects of their lives.

Spis treści

1. Introduction

Background of the Context: The Two Generations

Youth, Sexuality and the Islamic State

Research Method and Fieldwork Encounters

The Interview Process

The Issue of Trust and Confidentiality

Positionality

Mapping the Fieldwork

2. Conceptual Framework

Introduction

The Emerging Concern: Demystifying Women’s Passive Subordination

Power and Resistance Framework

The Limits of Binary Analysis: Redefining Resistance and Agency

3. Learning Sexuality

Introduction

Population Policies and the Topic of Sex

Globalised Media: New Sources of Learning Sexuality

The Question of ‘Normality’

The Post-Revolutionary Discourse of Sexuality

The Religious Discourse and Women’s Perception of Sex

Combining Hadith with Science

Conclusion

4. Narratives of Virginity

Introduction

Socialising Women about Virginity

The Social Aspects of Virginity

Virginity as a Bargaining Tool

Losing Virginity: The Younger Generation’s Experience

Confirming Bride’s Virginity and Changes in Social Customs

The Blood-Stained ‘Dastmâl’

The ‘Bride’s Health Certificate’

Hymen-Repair Surgeries and Fake Virginity

Conclusion

5. Narratives of Menstruation

Introduction

Menstrual Body

The Construction of Shame

Medicalizing Menstruation: Knowledge versus Tradition

Menarche and the Ritual of Slapping

Naturalizing Menstruation

Keeping the Secret

Appropriating Restrictions

Conclusion

6. Narratives of Marriage

Introduction

Different Approaches, Different Expectations

Marriage in Time of the Revolution

Politicised Widowhood and Marital Relations

Family and Marriage Arrangements

Marriage for Post-Revolutionary Generations

Temporary Marriage

Divorce

Conclusion

7. Conclusion

Contextualising Women’s Narratives of Sexuality in Iran and its Theoretical Implications

Moving Beyond the Binary of Resistance/Subordination

O autorze

Nafiseh Sharifi is Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Gender Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK. 

Blurb

This book uses storytelling as an analytical tool for following wider social attitude changes towards sex and female sexuality in Iran. Women born in 1950s Iran grew up during the peak of secularization and modernization, whereas those born in the 1980s were raised under the much stricter rules of the Islamic Republic. Using extensive ethnographic research, the author juxtaposes narratives of body and sexuality shared by these different generations of women, showing the intricate ways in which women construct and convey meanings and communicate their emotions about the unspoken aspects of their lives.

Nafiseh Sharifi is Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Gender Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK.