An Autoethnographic Narrative of the Relation between Sexuality and University in Post-Revolutionary Iran

Authors

Nassereddinali Taghavian, Institute for Social and Cultural Studies, Tehran, IranFollow

Abstract

The main question that is addressed in this presentation is how we can interpret the situation of sexual relations in the context of higher education in Iran. The article is formed as an autoethnography, focusing on the relationship between sexuality and university in post-revolutionary Iran. Data are gathered from my own lived experiences at university both as a student and as a lecturer during about 25 years of academic life and interpreted by the technique of systematic introspection. I explore specific problems regarding sexuality at Iranian universities, such as sexual harassment and the relationship between male university professors and their female students. I conclude with a set of questions that require further investigations. The whole article, however, can be regarded as the process of the transformation from a sexually ignorant typical Iranian male student to a more or less gender-sensitive Iranian male university professor.

Keywords

Sexuality, Sexual Harassment, University, Iran Higher Education, Autoethnography

Author Bio(s)

Nassereddinali Taghavian is an Iranian native who lives in the capital, Tehran. He has a PhD in philosophy of education from Kharazmi University in Tehran and now works as assistant professor at the department of women studies in Institute for Social and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran. He is also a university lecturer. His interests and fields of studies include higher education, women in Iran’s higher education, philosophy and sociology of education, philosophy of language education, and social and political philosophy. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: aghavian@gmail.com.

Publication Date

9-4-2019

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2019.3843

Recommended APA Citation

Taghavian, N. (2019). An Autoethnographic Narrative of the Relation between Sexuality and University in Post-Revolutionary Iran. The Qualitative Report, 24(9), 2139-2150. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2019.3843