Newsletter: May 2008
Society for Medical Anthropology
Kathleen Ragsdale, Contributing Editor
SMA Notes from the Field: Sexuality as Political Discourse in Iran
By Pardis Mahdavi (Pomona C)
“Could you tell me if I am a virgin?” asks Shohreh, an unmarried 22-year-old architecture student from Tehran, Iran. Although Shohreh now worries less about getting arrested for “bad Islamic dress,” sexuality is still a highly taboo subject and she risks heavy punishment by Islamic authorities should anyone find out she has posed such a question. Like Shohreh, many urban Iran youth (especially members of the non-religious middle class) increasingly reject restrictions on social and sexual behaviors imposed by the Islamic Republic— such as prohibitions against heterosocial contact outside of marriage and family—and state they are enacting a sexual revolution by engaging in prohibited behaviors. Despite appreciable gains vis-à-vis the state, youth—and especially women—who participate in Iran’s sexual revolution face intense social and health risks. For example, although the law is no longer as frequently enforced today as it was 15 years ago, premarital sex remains a punishable offence in Iran. A woman who is a not a virgin at the time of marriage may be spurned by her new husband, exiled by her family and community, and be subjected to lashings or imprisonment. Nevertheless, Shohreh has had what she calls “friends” (doost in Farsi can be used to refer to friends or boyfriends/girlfriends depending on the context of the conversation) since she was 15 years old.
Like many of her peers, Shohreh does not believe in many of the values that underpin Iran’s religious government and seeks to voice her disapproval through sexual and social behaviors that attack the fabric of morality through which the Islamic regime seeks to maintain power. Shohreh and her friends believe that their bodies have become a sociopolitical battleground as Iranian authorities regulate youths’ outward appearance and their social and sexual behaviors both before and after marriage. In turn, youth are responding by using their bodies to rebel. However, for many women, this has many consequences and it is these consequences that make everyday behavior (such as the punishable offence of wearing “too much make-up”) politicized. Though things have changed and young people’s behaviors are not as regulated as they once were, unmarried women who are sexually active expose themselves to a higher risk of disease and pregnancy, given the paucity of basic information related to sexual and reproductive health (including information on how to prevent sexually transmitted infectionsand unplanned pregnancies) and the difficulty in obtaining condoms.
Pregnancy and disease were lower on the list of risks for many of these women who were more afraid of being caught by their parents or neighbors and imprisoned by the religious police. “I don’t care if I get AIDS,” said Leila, a 19-year-old student at Azad University in Tehran. “I mean, I care, but that’s not the main issue for me. If I get it, I get it, I will deal with it then, but for right now, I’m more afraid of being caught by the morality police or punished by my parents.” That is the real fear that many of young people grapple with on a daily basis; for Leila, Shohreh and their peers, social risks often outweigh viral risks. While these Iranian youth want to voice their resistance to having their bodies controlled by the Iranian religious regime, they are especially afraid of negative social consequences. Living at a liminal moment in their lives and in Iran’s history, these youth look to the future with both hope and fear.
AARG Service Award Nominations: The AIDS and Anthropology Research Group (AARG) Distinguished Service Award is given to individuals in recognition of exceptionally meritorious contributions to the improvement of the health of people infected with or at risk of infection with HIV. Nominations are due by October 15, 2008. Please email Ralph Bolton at professorbolton@ aol.com for more information.
Convention on the Rights of the Child Update: Information on the volunteer-driven network Campaign for US Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) can be found at http://childrightscampaign. org. Established in 2002, the campaign works at the grassroots level to raise awareness of the CRC in the US. A list of their partner organizations can be accessed at http://childrightscampaign. org/crcindex.php?sNav=about_snav. php&sDat=partners_dat.php.
To share your field research or submit other contributions to this column please contact SMA Contributing Editor Kathleen Ragsdale (kathleen. ragsdale@ssrc.msstate.edu).