Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

“Men’s Power can be Overridden by Women’s Sexual Power”: Married Women’s Talk About Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Iran

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Sexuality & Culture Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Social and cultural contexts, as well as religious ideology, shape sexual knowledge and beliefs. At present, the Islamic Republic of Iran is going through social and cultural shifts with regards to sexuality. Yet, very little is known about the contours of these shifts. This paper reports on a qualitative study that explored the sexual beliefs of 15 young Iranian women (aged 23–33), in Tehran and Qom. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Four themes were identified as encapsulating the women’s ideas, experiences and beliefs about their sexual lives: (1) sexuality as a cultural and religious behaviour; (2) conservative sexual beliefs; (3) sexual objectification versus sexual power; and (4) the importance of sex within marriage. These findings are discussed in relation to recent shifts in sexual mores in the Middle-East/Iran and their implications for identity, relationality and practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbasi-Shavazi, M., McDonald, P., & Hosseini-Chavoshi, M. (2009). The fertility transition in Iran: Revolution and reproduction. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3198-3

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Abraham, M. (1999). Sexual abuse in South Asian immigrant marriages. Violence against Women, 5(6), 591–618. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778019922181392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Afary, J. (2009). Sexual politics in modern Iran (p. 442). Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Askun, D., & Ataca, B. (2007). Sexuality related attitudes and behaviors of Turkish university students. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36(5), 741–752. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-007-9186-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azad-Armaki, T., Sharifi-Sai, M. H., Isari, M., & Talebi, S. (2012). Cohabitation: Emerging new family form in Tehran. Cultural Research, 3(1), 43–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Azam, H. (2014). Sexuality in Muslim contexts: Restrictions and resistance edited by Anissa Hélie and Homa Hoodfar. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 10(2), 163–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, L. R. (2005). Women, Islam and modernity: Single women, sexuality and reproductive health in contemporary Indonesia. In Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by RoutledgeCurzon 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016.

  • Blackwood, E. (2000). Culture and women’s sexualities. The Journal of Social Issues, 56(2), 223–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brotto, L. A., Chik, H. M., Ryder, A. G., Gorzalka, B. B., & Seal, B. N. (2005). Acculturation and sexual function in Asian women. Archives of Sexual Behaviour, 34(6), 513–626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cinthio, H. (2015). “You go home and tell that to my dad!” Conflicting claims and understandings on hymen and virginity. Sexuality and Culture, 19, 172–189. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-01409253-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, M., & Popp, D. (2003). Sexual double standards: A review and methodological critique of two decades of research. The Journal of Sex Research, 40, 13–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Essamuah, C. B. (2005). Book review: Breaking the conspiracy of silence: Christian churches and the global AIDS crisis (Vol. 33, pp. 241-242).

  • Fahs, B. (2011). Performing sex: The making and unmaking of women’s erotic lives. State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farvid, P. (2012). Locating the historic emergence of contemporary heterosexual ‘casual sex’. In Walking the talk: AUT School of Public Health and Psychosocial Studies. Auckland, New Zealand : Auckland University of Technology.

  • Farvid, P., Braun, V., & Rowney, C. (2017). ‘No girl wants to be called a slut!’: Women, heterosexual casual sex and the sexual double standard. Journal of Gender Studies, 26(5), 544–560. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2016.1150818

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farvid, P. & Saing, R. (in press). “If I don’t allow him to have sex with me, our relationship will be broken”: Rape, sexual coercion, and sexual compliance within marriage in rural Cambodia. Violence Against Women.

  • Garmaroudi, G. R., Makaren, J., Alavi, S. S., & Abbai, Z. (2010). Healthrelated risk behaviour among high school students in Tehran, Iran (persian). Payesh, 9, 9–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanassab, S., & Tidwell, R. (1993). Change in the premarital behavior and sexual attitudes of young Iranian women: From Tehran to Los Angeles. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 6(4), 281–289. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515079308254122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, G. (2004). Sex and pleasure in western culture. Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendry, N. A. (2015). Investigating young people’s sexual cultures. Culture, Health and Sexuality, 17(6), 791–793. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2015.1010312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hojat, M., Shapurian, R., Nayerahmadi, H., Farzaneh, M., Foroughi, D., Parsi, M., & Azizi, M. (1999). Premarital sexual, child rearing, and family sttitudes of Iranian men and women in the United States and in Iran. The Journal of Psychology, 133(1), 19–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223989909599719

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hyde, J. S., & Durik, A. M. (2000). Gender differences in erotic plasticity—Evolutionary or sociocultural forces? Comment on Baumeister (2000). Psychological Bulletin, 126(3), 375–379. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.126.3.375

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaivanara, M. (2016). Virginity dilemma: Re-creating virginity through hymenoplasty in Iran. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 18(1), 71–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2015.1060532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalantar Hormozi, A., Maleki, S., Rahimi, A., Manafi, A., & Amirizad, S. (2018). Cosmetic surgery in Iran: Sociodemographic characteristics of cosmetic surgery patients in a large clinical sample in Tehran. The American Journal of Cosmetic Surgery, 35, 074880681876473. https://doi.org/10.1177/0748806818764734

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khalajabadi-Farahani, F. (2008). Sexual norms, attitude and conduct among female college students in Tehran. Ph.D. thesis, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine London, UK. Retrieved from http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/682381/.

  • Khalajabadi-Farahani, F. (2016). Meta analysis of premarital heterosexual relationships among young people over the past 15 years (2001–2015) (persian). Journal of Family Research, 12(3), 339–367.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khalajabadi-Farahani, F., & Cleland, J. (2015). Perceived norms of premarital heterosexual relationships and sexuality among female college students in Tehran. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 17(6), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2014.990515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khalajabadi-Farahani, F., Månsson, S. A., & Cleland, J. (2019). Engage in or refrain from? A qualitative exploration of premarital sexual relations among female college students in Tehran. Journal of Sex Research, 56(8), 1009–1022. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2018.1546371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khoei, E. M., Whelan, A., & Cohen, J. (2008). Sharing beliefs: What sexuality means to Muslim Iranian women living in Australia. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 10(3), 237–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691050701740039

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lefkowitz, E. S., Shearer, C. L., Gillen, M. M., & Espinosa-Hernandez, M. G. (2014). How gendered attitudes relate to women’s and men’s sexual behaviors and beliefs. Sexuality & Culture, 18, 833–846.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maas, M., Shearer, C., Gillen, M., & Lefkowitz, E. (2015). Sex rules: Emerging adults’ perceptions of gender’s impact on sexuality. Sexuality & Culture, 19(4), 617–636. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-015-9281-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahdavi, P. (2007). Passionate uprisings: Young people, sexuality and politics in post-revolutionary Iran. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 9(5), 445–457. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691050601170378

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahdavi, P. (2012). ‘The personal is political and the political is personal’: Sexuality, politics and social movements in modern Iran. In Understanding global sexualities: New frontiers (pp. 34–48). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203111291.

  • Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1984). Qualitative data analysis. Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moghadam, V. M. (1992). Patriarchy and the politics of gender in modernising societies: Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. International Sociology, 7(1), 35–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/026858092007001002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohammadi, M. R., Mohammad, K., Khalajabadi Farahani, F., Alikhani, S., Zare, M., Ramezani Tehrani, F., Ramezankhani, A., & Alaeddini, F. (2006). Reproductive knowledge, attitudes and behavior among adolescent males in Tehran, Iran. International Family Planning Perspectives, 32(1), 035–044.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Najmabadi, A. (2005). Women with mustaches and men without beards: Gender and sexual anxieties of Iranian modernity. University of California Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ng, M. L., Si, B., & Lau, M. P. (1990). Sexual attitudes in the Chinese. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 19, 373–388. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01541932

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okazaki, S. (2002). Influences of culture on Asian Americans’ sexuality. Journal of Sex Research, 39(1), 34–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490209552117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rahbari, L. (2016). Sexuality in Iran. In Shehan, C. L. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of family studies. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119085621.wbefs235.

  • Raisi, F., Yekta, Z. P., Ebadi, A., & Shahvari, Z. (2015). What are Iranian married women’s rewards? Using interpersonal exchange model of sexual satisfaction: A qualitative study. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 30(4), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681994.2015.1024218

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramezani, M. A., Ahmadi, K., Ghaemmaghami, A., Marzabadi, E. A., & Pardakhti, F. (2015). Epidemiology of sexual dysfunction in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Preventive Medicine, 6, 43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ritchie, J., & Spencer, L. (1994). Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research. In A. Bryman & R. G. Burgess (Eds.), Analysing qualitative data (pp. 173–194). Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Sadeghi, F. (2008). Negotiating with modernity: Young women and sexuality in Iran. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 28(2), 250–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sagebin Bordini, G., & Sperb, T. M. (2012). Sexual double standard: A review of the literature between 2001 and 2010. Sexuality and Culture, 17(4), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-012-9163-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaditalab, J. (2005). Iranian women: Rising expectations. Critical Middle Eastern Studies, 14(1), 35–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10669920500057005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shadpour, K. (2000). Primary health care networks in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 6(4), 822–825.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahidian, H. (1996). Iranian exiles and sexual politics: Issues of gender relations and identity. Journal of Refugee Studies, 9(1), 43–72. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/9.1.43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahidian, H. (1999). Gender and sexuality among immigrant Iranians in Canada. Sexualities, 2(2), 189–222. https://doi.org/10.1177/136346079900200203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shirpak, K., Chinichian, M., Maticka-Tyndale, E., Ardebili, H., Pourreza, A., & Ramenzankhani, A. (2008). A qualitative assessment of the sex education needs of married Iranian women. Sexuality & Culture, 12(3), 133–150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-008-9023-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shirpak, K., Maticka-Tyndale, E., & Chinichian, M. (2007). Iranian immigrants’ perceptions of sexuality in Canada: A symbolic interactionist approach. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 16(3/4), 113–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, W., & Gagnon, J. (1986). Sexual scripts: Permanence and change. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 15(2), 97–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01542219

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Faculty of Human Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran and the School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Western Australia, Australia. We appreciate these institutions for facilitating the study sampling. Last but not least we thank all of the participants.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University, Kent St, Bentley, WA, 6102, Australia

    Atefe Abdolmanafi, P. J. Matt Tilley & Atefeh Dadashi

  2. School of Public Engagement, New School University, New York City, NY, USA

    Panteá Farvid

Authors
  1. Atefe Abdolmanafi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Panteá Farvid
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. P. J. Matt Tilley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Atefeh Dadashi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Atefe Abdolmanafi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Abdolmanafi, A., Farvid, P., Tilley, P.J.M. et al. “Men’s Power can be Overridden by Women’s Sexual Power”: Married Women’s Talk About Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Iran. Sexuality & Culture 26, 136–153 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-021-09882-1

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-021-09882-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation