Sex, Drugs, and Rock n Roll in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Spatial and Temporal Framings of Sexuality and Sociality in Post-Revolution Iran
Lecture by Pardis Mahdavi, Pomona College
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
2125 Rolfe Hall
UCLA
Perhaps there is no place in the world where the stakes of “having fun” are higher than in present-day Iran. But even under the threat of
harsh punishment, a sexual revolution is taking place. Sex and sexuality has become both a source of freedom and an act of political rebellion
for urban young Iranians who are frustrated with a theocratic regime that restricts their sociality. Young people, who are now turning
away from an Islam that has been interpreted for them as repressive, seek to organize public and private spheres in alternative ways as a
symbol of protest. This paper will explore the spatiality of sexual encounters amongst urban youth in the Islamic Republic of Iran, from
public locations such as parks and mosques where young people and sex workers congregate, to natural outdoor spaces such as the
jungles in the north of the country and the mountain areas just outside of Tehran which play host to large parties and raves, to the dating
scene at religious gatherings during the months of Moharram and Ramadan to underground dance parties in private homes. This presentation
maps the spatiality of sexuality with particular attention to questions of heteronormativitiy, sigheh (temporary marriage), sex work,
heterosociality, homosociality and the construction of alternative sexual identities.
Pardis Mahdavi is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Pomona College. She is the author of Passionate Uprisings: Iran’s Sexual Revolution
(Stanford University Press, 2008).
Cost: Free
For more information please contact
Amy Bruinooge, Center for Near Eastern Studies
Tel: (310) 825-1181
cnes@international.ucla.edu
http://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes
Sponsor(s): Center for Near Eastern Studies, Gender Studies, Department of Gender Studies, UCLA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Program, Cosponsored by the O ce of the Dean of Social Science,and the O ce of Faculty Diversity
