Abstract: This article explores perceptions of Iranian academics of the relationship between women’s physical appearance and academic achievements. The research is conducted using interviews with academics working in different universities in the field of social sciences. Results included individual and structural explanations of the relationship between women’s physical appearance and academic achievements. Data showed a […]
I am often asked about Iran and the lives of Iranian women, especially why they are overeducated when compared to Iranian men. Seems to me that what surprises people (mostly in the West) about women’s situation in Iran, is not because the facts are so fabulous or astonishing per se; it is more because they […]
In contemporary Iranian society, sexuality is regulated by traditional cultural restrictions, prohibitions, taboos, and indirect regulations due to the country’s traditional and highly religious culture. The traditional restrictions on cross-sex associations are one of the many limitations that regulate the relationship between the sexes. Socialization processes are gendered as a consequence of there being different […]
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 […]
Months ago, in a class of my doctorate program, a male classmate and the professor started a discussion about educated women’s relative ugliness claiming that women who enter higher education are uglier than the less educated. After participation in this debate, I wondered if women are always judged by their appearances regardless of their accomplishments. […]
Many young women in Iran experience sexual disturbance and molestation in urban public spaces. Still, they usually do not refer to the police to report the abuse or ask for help willingly, even in critical cases like acute sexual attacks. This research was conducted among 47 young women sexually victimized in Tehran. Semi-structured interviews were […]
The right to the city is a concept introduced by Henry Lefebvre in the 1960s and further developed by David Harvey. It refers to the freedom to construct and reconstruct the city and us all together; it consists of the right to entirely appropriate spaces and participate in all processes therein. Appropriation is referred to […]
The difference between death and Martyrdom in Iranian-Islamic culture is an irrefutable fact. Death is considered to be an inevitable fact, while martyrdom is considered to be a passage to the highest stages of human accomplishment. Devotion and self-sacrifice are critical concepts for understanding the discourse of martyrdom in Iranian culture. Although the concept of […]