Transing and Transpassing across Sex-Gender Walls in Iran

Najmabadi, Afsaneh

doi:10.1353/wsq.0.0117

Cited by 78 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Most have learned to call themselves kotis (effeminate men, or men who feel like women inside). Gender role, not sexual orientation, is at issue [21-23]. If gay identity depends upon the gender of one’s sexual partner, then these MSM/koti are gay.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexuality, rights and personhood: tensions in a transnational world

Siddiqi

2011

BMC Int Health Hum Rights

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BackgroundThis article discusses what happens when normative ‘global’ discourses of rights and individuated sexual identity confront the messiness of ‘local’ realities. It considers the tensions that emerge when the relationship between sexual and social identities is not obvious and the implications of such tensions for public health and sexual rights activism. These questions are addressed through debates over the naming of male-to-male sexualities and desires in the context of globalization and the growth of a large NGO (non-governmental organization) sector in urban Bangladesh.MethodsThe material in the paper draws on a research project undertaken in 2008-9 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A fundamental objective was to produce a contextualized understanding of sexuality in Dhaka city. Methods used included structured interviews, focus group discussions and informal conversations with a range of participants (students, factory workers, public health professionals and sexual minorities). The aim was to generate a conceptual and analytical framework around sexuality and rights rather than to undertake an empirical survey of any one population.ResultsAs descriptors, globalized identity categories such as Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), used by public health providers, the state and donors; and gay/lesbian, invoked by human rights activists and transnational NGOs, are too narrow to capture the fluid and highly context-specific ways in which gender and sexually nonconforming persons understand themselves in Bangladesh. Further, class position mediates to a significant degree the reception, appropriation or rejection of transnational categories such as MSM and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT). The tension is reflected in the sometimes fraught relations between service providers to MSM, the people they serve and an emerging group who identify as LGBT.ConclusionA simple politics of recognition will be inadequate to the task of promoting health and human rights for all; such a strategy would effectively exclude individuals who do not necessarily connect their sexual practices with a specific sexual or social identity.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexuality, rights and personhood: tensions in a transnational world

Siddiqi

2011

BMC Int Health Hum Rights

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“…For example, the Indonesian Psychiatrist Association classified transgender individuals as mentally ill in 2016 (Moran, 2016). Contrastingly, although Iran developed positive transgender legislation in 1967, researchers suggest that transgender shame persists in Iran despite the affirmative legislation (Najmabadi, 2008; Safavifar et al, 2016; Vafai, 2018). Sociologists and historians have reported similar findings regarding Islamic cultural shame around transgender identities even without parallel legislative transprohibitions in South Africa (Bonthuys & Erlank, 2012), Morocco (Nicholas, 2017), Pakistan (Saeed, Mughal, & Farooq, 2018), Turkey (Altinay, 2008), Thailand (Yadegarfard, Meinhold-Bergmann, & Ho, 2014), and Egypt (Alipour, 2017).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The women were taken to the police station in Labuhan Julung, Sumatra Island for "Islamic guidance" and were then hosed down using water from a fire truck as a form of "mandi wajib," an Islamic bathing ritual required to cleanse one after sexual intercourse (Human Rights Watch, 2018). Iran Shia 1967: Ayatollah Khomeini published a fatwa (Islamic decree) sanctioning sex change (Najmabadi, 2008). 1987: First case of government recognized Male to Female transition (Kugle, 2010).…”

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“At its core, Islam is about standing with the oppressed”: Exploring transgender Muslims’ religious resilience.

Etengoff¹,

Rodríguez²

2022

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality

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Inquiries into positive transgender development are particularly important given the high rates of gender-based victimization and limited mental health resources. Moreover, transgender Muslims may encounter multiple forms of minority stress as a religious minority, gender minority and often as immigrant and ethnic minorities as well. There are few psychological studies at present that address the religious and spiritual lives of transgender individuals. The current exploratory study therefore used a mixed-methods design to explore the religious and mental health experiences of 15 transgender Muslims. Participants completed a series of religious, mental health and identity development measures as well as open-ended questions regarding their religious and family dynamics. Fourteen of the 15 transgender Muslim participants narrated a challenging coming-out event, however the average depression scores for the sample were moderate and self-esteem scores were within the normal range. Although a larger, longitudinal sample is required to conduct a statistical analysis of the mediating factors, qualitative analysis suggested that 8 of the 15 participants used religion and spirituality as important coping tools (e.g., Allah, Quran, liberation theology). The present study’s exploratory and descriptive analyses help build a stronger theoretical foundation for understanding both the positive and negative aspects of religiosity and spirituality in transgender Muslim lives. Furthermore, this study highlights the need for more complex qualitative and quantitative analyses of gender minorities’ religious resilience and identity development experiences.

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“…Some Islamic legal scholars have judged that trans-sexuality should be acceptable and, following a fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1980s, transsexuality is a legal and religiously accepted practice in Iran (Shakerifar, 2011). Iranian press coverage of "trans" phenomena increased sharply in early 2003 (Najmabadi, 2008). Outside Iran, Amir Amirani lays claim to the first documentary about transgenders in Iran, with a short piece for Panorama in 2005.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Representations of Iranian Transsexual People in the Media: A Thematic Analysis

Arbatani¹,

Aqili²,

Labafi³

et al. 2016

IJARBSS

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A trans identity is now available almost anywhere, and to anyone who does not feel comfortable in the gender role they were attributed with at birth, or has a gender identity at odds with the labels 'man' or 'woman' credited to them by formal authorities. These people face widespread prejudice and discrimination and may be at heightened risk for violence because of their gender identities and expression and there is a pervasive pattern of discrimination and prejudice against trans-people within society. Existing researchers overwhelmingly support that the media play an important role in both legitimizing and determining how issues are framed. The main scoping of the current study aimed to shed some light on different themes that are portrayed in the documentaries in order to analyze the social and personal characteristics of transsexual people in Iran. A qualitative study with thematic

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Transing and Transpassing across Sex-Gender Walls in Iran

Cited by 78 publications

References 4 publications

Sexuality, rights and personhood: tensions in a transnational world

Sexuality, rights and personhood: tensions in a transnational world

“At its core, Islam is about standing with the oppressed”: Exploring transgender Muslims’ religious resilience.

Social Representations of Iranian Transsexual People in the Media: A Thematic Analysis

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