The religious sexual education in post-revolutionary Iran : redefining Tamkin and the control of sexuality

This paper looks at the religious discourse of sexuality in post-revolutionary Iran. Based on my ethnographic fi eldwork in Tehran, I discuss how in state-sponsored publications and offi cial education traditional religious rules of sexuality such as tamkin are redefi ned in relation to society’s new demands. I discuss the role played by religious workshops for married couples in justifying Islamic moral codes of behaviour that regulate and control Iranians’ sexual lives. However, this paper argues that Islamic sex education is changing the perception of sex and female sexuality amongst its young religious audience. Such changes and their effects on women’s sexual lives might not, however, be in accordance with the state’s sexual policies. Consequently, younger of women use religious justifi cations to learn more about sex and increase their own sexual satisfaction in marriage. I argue that it is important for feminist scholars to highlight the complicated effects of disciplinary discourses in order to understand women’s lives in Muslim societies.