Iran's Hidden Homosexual History
Direland
03-Mar-2010 (19 comments)

When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made his infamous claim at a September 2007 Columbia University appearance that ""In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country," the world laughed at the absurdity of this pretense.

Now, a forthcoming book by a leading Iranian scholar in exile, which details both the long history of homosexuality in that nation and the origins of the campaign to erase its traces, not only provides a superlative reply to Ahmadinejad, but demonstrates forcefully that political homophobia was a Western import to a culture in which same-sex relations were widely tolerated and frequently celebrated for well over a thousand years.
"Sexual Politics in Modern Iran," to be published at the end of next month by Cambridge University Press, is a stunningly researched history and analysis of the evolution of gender and sexuality that will provide a transcendent tool both to the vibrant Iranian women's movement today fighting the repression of the ayatollahs and to Iranian same-sexers hoping for liberation from a theocracy that condemns them to torture and death.

Its author, Janet Afary, president of the International Society of Iranian Scholars, is a professor of history and women's studies at Purdue University who has already published several authoritative works on Iranian sexual politics, notably the revealing and award-winning "Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islam" (2005), in which she alre... >>>

tabar

Homophobia is a Western Notion Imposed on Iranians

by tabar on Wed Mar 03, 2010 11:48 AM PST

This article introduces the reader to Janet Afary, a professor of history and women's studies at Purdue University, who shows that homophobia is a Western notion imposed on Iranians and Asians in general. In fact, homosexual relations were widely accepted and practiced throughout Iran until the mid to late 1800's where Western influence through European contact, Nationalists and Marxists introduced the idea of heteronormativity.

So, for those who say homosexuality is not in our culture, think again! You can be homophobic, I don't care, but don't say that your heteronormative ideas are Iranian because they are not!



Balatarin
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tabar

Maziar

by tabar on Thu Mar 04, 2010 07:31 PM PST

all I'm saying is that you can't say homosexuality isn't part of our culture because it is, and I don't care if you're homophobic but don't say that it isn't patrt of our culture, because it's simply factually false. not forcing anyone to do anything but just accept fact.


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capt_ayhab

On a serious note..........

by capt_ayhab on Thu Mar 04, 2010 03:01 PM PST

Normalities[made up word] and abnormalities are defined by human beings WHO usually have bias toward one thing or the other.

Homophobia is no different from Islamophobia, antisemitism, gender superiority etc etc etc ...........................

Love and let them love.

-YT 


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capt_ayhab

Gavazan

by capt_ayhab on Thu Mar 04, 2010 02:54 PM PST

For a moment there I thought you were talking about US SENATORS In the congress when you said[
Now these men in Qom with young boys ... totally disgusting]

I am glad I kept reading you post to the end[WINK]

 

-YT 


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maziar 58

tabar jan

by maziar 58 on Thu Mar 04, 2010 02:40 PM PST

By intention I meant trying and forcing the other side to accept the abnormality of the ....

even though you mentioned several times you can be homophobic        I DON'T CARE ...that shows an intention.

shad zee.               Maziar


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default

Homosexuality

by Gavazn on Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:35 PM PST

I do not have anything against homosexuality but am against it when men say they are straight and then have "encounters" when opporunities arise. Any sexual experience will do. That is what I find wrong with some guys. Now these men in Qom with young boys ... totally disgusting. Show me the villages where the lesbians are, then we're talking.


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AsteroidX

...

by AsteroidX on Thu Mar 04, 2010 11:14 AM PST

The curse of testosterone ...


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tabar

maziar

by tabar on Wed Mar 03, 2010 09:14 PM PST

what intentions do you mean?


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maziar 58

subliminal.........

by maziar 58 on Wed Mar 03, 2010 06:05 PM PST

he said  we.......like in your country. which means maybe open and at you face; personally don't care about AN and or IRR but something was clear to me at least.                                                   tabar your article and finding are indeed well researched and agreed on,BUT the intentions are not agreeable. shad zee    Maziar


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tabar

yolanda

by tabar on Wed Mar 03, 2010 05:56 PM PST

this really shocked me too, I only read this a couple months ago, I'm really glad I came across it,

I always thought that Iranians were homophobic and etc but it's somewhat nice that we weren't /always/ like that, and I think by spreading this around we can /help/ get rid of homophobia. It won't solve it all on it's own but it will be very helpful to those who say "being gay is a western idea and we don't have this in our culture etc" because then they have no ground.

I really reccomend people read this article!!!


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yolanda

......

by yolanda on Wed Mar 03, 2010 05:49 PM PST

This article is absolutely shocking to me......I read the whole article...this article is over 1 year old.....posted in Feb, 2009.......I did not know that Sufi poems have the homoerotic stuff........wow! I thought they were talking about spiritual relationship...OMG!


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tabar

Rea

by tabar on Wed Mar 03, 2010 05:07 PM PST

I should mention that I myself am gay, and well duh you don't hang homosexuals in the West, once you're done with a shitty idea you bring it to other countries and then claim them as "barbaric" :) Or rape and pillage other places [The Americas, Africa] and then when their people are screwed up, you call them out on it!

Like a commentor on another blog stated, the only reason gays escape Iran to your country is because of what your countr[ies] did to mine!

Obviously I am against any human rights violation no matter where it comes from, Iran or elsewhere. The only point of this blog was to say that homosexuality [or it's acceptance] has been part of our history for thousands of years, to prove to those that "it's not part of our culture" that it actually is. That's it, nothing more.


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Rea

tabar

by Rea on Wed Mar 03, 2010 04:44 PM PST

DK, with his usual sense of humour, has said it all.

As for myself, I have a problem with this blog.  We do not hang homosexuals in the West.  Even if we have imposed homophobia on Iran. :o)

It's late here, nite. ;)


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tabar

lol oh well, i wasn't

by tabar on Wed Mar 03, 2010 04:11 PM PST

lol oh well,

i wasn't really expecting any normal comments anyway


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Darius Kadivar

Vous Saurez Tout Sur Le ZIZI ...

by Darius Kadivar on Wed Mar 03, 2010 03:18 PM PST


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tabar

Rea

by tabar on Wed Mar 03, 2010 02:44 PM PST

lolwut


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Rea

Far fetched

by Rea on Wed Mar 03, 2010 02:37 PM PST

It must've been the ancient Greeks who imposed homophobia on Iran. :o)


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tabar

zakarazi

by tabar on Wed Mar 03, 2010 01:45 PM PST

Did you bother reading the article?

Lol it's pretty much accepted by all historians that homophobia was indeed introduced by Westerners to Iran, India and China.  Iran's problem was gender equality, not homophobia. Now we have both.


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zakarazi

Nothing is Our Own Fault

by zakarazi on Wed Mar 03, 2010 01:13 PM PST

Of course. What else is expected? Let's blame everything on Westerners. Even if a great earthquake strikes Tehran, I'm certain a scholar somewhere will "prove" that the resulting calamity's roots go back to foreign domination of Iran.


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