Sexuality and Marriage Reform: How Gender Shapes Status in Iran
Tabitha N. Noel
Oklahoma State University
Abstract
This paper focuses on the different rights of men and women in the areas of marriage and sexuality in Iran. The terms sex, gender, sexuality and transsexual, appropriately defined by Bucar (2010), will be used to mean the following; Sex refers to the “biological category of a man or woman”; Gender will refer to “maleness or femaleness”; Sexuality will refer to “the range of erotic urges and behavior”; Transsexual will refer to an “individual who feel[s] trapped in the wrong sexed physical bod[y].” Women in Iran, while perhaps more progressive than women under similar Islamic regimes, are still being treated and classified as unequal to men in many aspects of life, one of the more detrimental areas being marriage and family law. On the other hand, I will explore why Iran has the second highest rate of transsexuals and sexual reassignment surgeries (SRS) and why it is legally and perhaps socially acceptable in the Islamic Republic, along with how it relates to marriage laws in Iran.
Women’s Rights in Iran
Women are not equal to men in Iran. Women must rely and ask permission from their husband for simple tasks many women in the west take for granted. Applying for a passport, traveling out of the country, applying for a job, and even emergency surgery requires the written permission of a woman’s husband. A woman is literally and legally equal to half of a man, and a husband is legally the head of a household. Women who do not wear their hijab in public are subject to lashes. While stoning is done to both men and women, women are more commonly stoned to death, and are buried in a pit up to their chest rather than the waist of a man. Who do you think is more likely to escape from that situation? In all, rights in Iran are overwhelmingly slighted towards men.
Sexuality in Iran
Homosexuality along with sodemy, oral or anal...
