Violence against women is still happening around the world, generating physical and psychological pain and disability for many of its victims. Violence in premarital relationships is an implicit aspect of violence against girls and women in Iranian society. Young girls who get involved in premarital relationships are very vulnerable to all forms of violence due to the lack of socio-cultural and legal support.
Premarital relationships are legally and culturally forbidden and considered unacceptable and sinful, especially for young girls. Cultural emphasis on female values such as virginity and chastity prohibits any kind of heterosexual relationship before marriage. Nevertheless, dating is a common and secret part of the lives of Iranian youth. In this chapter, physical, sexual, psychological and
social violence against female dating partners is investigated in urban Iran, as a common aspect of premarital dating relationships.
Fear of stigmatization and losing marriage prospects, fear of facing more violence by male family members, and not getting any support from family, society, police, and the legal system has made young girls easy targets of victimization in premarital relationships. By using a qualitative approach, and semi-structured interviews with dating victims, this chapter will explore their experiences of violence, addressing the very cultural factors that lead to their victimization. It will also be mentioned that the cultural mechanisms lead to the victims’ inability to end such abusive relationships and ending up in a cycle of violence.
Violence in the contemporary world: an interdisciplinary approach is a collection of seventeen chapters, organized in four sections: Sexualised and Intimate Partner Violence: encouraging disclosure; Urban Violence: crime and fear in the contemporary world; representing violence: a critical analysis; Violence and Political destabilization: war, elections and corporations. The chapter’ Violence in Premarital Relationships in Iran’ is an original paper which gives the results of a qualitative research with dating victims. In this paper, Rahbari gives an insight into a society where premarital dating is ‘legally and culturally forbidden.’
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Published by Ladan Rahbari
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