Men are automatically empowered as phallic owners of any non-masculine figure, not only in private but also in public. Iranian tradition dictates that men marry a girl for the purpose of continuing the discursive reproduction of social structures through procreation. A nuclear family in Iranian culture is defined as at least a married couple of one man and one woman, which aligns with the Western definition of sociologists such as Giddens and Griffiths In particular Levi-Strauss highlighted the dualistic structure of man—woman as essential in recognising an institution as a family.
It is suggested that the very social structure in which individuals live can be a stressor if its values are in contrast with, or inaccessible to, those individuals Farley and Flota ; Giddens and Sutton In Iran, sexual minorities have been excluded from the norms and structures of the dominant culture, as exemplified by the lack of a same-sex marriage equivalent for gay and lesbian partners. Travelling more than usual was another coping strategy that was reported by the participants in this study.
Three of the participants mentioned that dating and meeting other gay men in their home town was difficult, so they travelled to other cities. To avoid all these hassles and unnecessary complications in their home towns, they travelled to other cities three to four times a week, which they mentioned was both costly and time consuming. Nevertheless, they still they did it because it was the only way they could cope with their situation as gay men. One participant mentioned that he was in a relationship and his partner was European, so he commuted between Iran and Europe.
He mentioned that he could not leave the country for good as he had a very successful business in Iran. He mentioned it was an ideal situation for him as having a relationship with an Iranian gay in Iran always came with problems and consequences. He went on to mention that although it was costly, and distance was difficult, it seemed to be working for them.
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Thirteen participants mentioned that they would leave the country and seek asylum in another country if they had the opportunity. However, he was still thinking of leaving the country again. He continued that:.
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As a gay man, you can have everything and nothing here in Iran. You can have the best job, best car, best house but you cannot be yourself. You have to lie all the time, just not to get into any trouble. The decision to relocate within the same country or migrate to another can be based either directly or indirectly on sexuality in terms of sexual identity, practices, and desires. However, many find their time in Turkey is also stressful, filled with uncertainty, and lacking the support they expected to receive due to the conservative political environment that is only marginally better than that in Iran.
The situation is made worse by the Turkish placement policy of concentrating homosexual refugees in small and often highly conservative cities Saastamoinen The main social media mentioned were Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, WhatsApp, and Snapchat, while the most common dating apps mentioned by the participants were Grindr and Hornet. The main reasons for using social media according to the participants were connecting to other gay individuals, feeling that they were in a safe place, making conversation about homosexuality in Iran and LGBTQ rights, sex and finding a sex partner, looking for a more serious relationship, chatting with others which helped them regarding their isolation and loneliness, and also accessing information see also Karimi Even though it was mentioned as a safe place, the Internet is also used by the morality police for the purpose of entrapment Human Rights Watch Homosexual individuals who are rounded up during raids on gay parties are also often forced to become informants Human Rights Watch The development of surveillance technology has made it easier to identify individuals who are interested in same-sex relationships or who are looking for partners of the same sex.
While the Internet helps people looking for homosexual partners by making them more visible to one another, it also has the downside of making them more visible to the repressive authorities. Moreover, many of the participants mentioned that they created their own social network of people they could trust.
Somehow, they created their own family of choice and kinship. People get together around him. Some call him big brother, sister, uncle, grand mom and so on and so forth. However, it shows that gay men who have never been supported by their own biological family create a new and modern sense of family among themselves. This second family serves as a source of support and information as well as providing a sense of belonging which is imperative for gay individuals in a repressive society such as Iran.
Also, it was mentioned that a gay couple who had been together for a long time became the source of emotional and social support for the mostly younger members of the gay group. In this new form of family, it seems that the person s who is usually in the centre tends to be someone who has a more secure and independent financial status. All of the participants reported that they had suffered from various forms of mental illness such as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder OCD , and self-harm.
One of the participants also mentioned that he had attempted suicide. However only nine of the participants reported that they had ever used medication such as anti-depressants or received psychological therapy. They indicated how difficult it was for them to open up about their sexuality to practitioners, and so they mostly preferred to hide it.
One participant mentioned that to cope with his situation and the related stress at home, he used to isolate himself in his room watching porn and masturbating excessively. He would also spend hours on social media and chatting online with other people.
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It became so bad that he said there were times when he would not see his parents and siblings for days, even though they were in the same house. He stated:. I have dedicated my life to volunteer jobs. I am happy on my own. However, a study conducted by an independent UK-based organisation found that In the same study, Many researchers have shown that LGBT individuals typically experience a lower level of well-being than their heterosexual counterparts.
In particular, LGBT individuals have been found to have higher levels of anxiety, depression and suicidal feelings than their heterosexual peers NHS The reasons for the higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress among LGBT populations has been at least partially attributed in various studies to social isolation, discrimination, suppression, and family rejection. As previously identified, there is then a tendency for gay individuals to turn to substances such as alcohol and drugs as a coping device to help them deal with their negative social experiences.
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The social classes of the participants in this study were very diverse. Just as with the general situation in Iran, a social class division was clearly evident among the participants as those with a higher social class tended to have more opportunities to cope with the social pressures regarding their sexual identity than participants from a lower social class.
It is easier for individuals from a higher social class as they have a higher level of education or are more familiar with the concept of sexual orientation through travelling to Western countries, even if those who are religiously conservative. He said that:. I know I was lucky to be born in a, you can say, well-off family that could afford it, but not everyone does….
He told how his family had accidently found out about his sexuality. At first, his father used his power and forced him to go through therapy and to seek medical help, but after a period of time when he could see that medical and psychological interventions would not change anything, he gave up and decided to unwillingly give his son financial support.
The participant commented:. I have everything I need. I have my own life now…. Although the subjects of sexual self-expression and community involvement among minorities have been studied e.
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Barrett and Pollack , there is a lack of research into the specific issue of class bias. The suggestion is that differences in social class result in different levels of access to the social, psychological, and economic resources that enable the individual to express his sexual orientation Bowman The levels of acceptance of gays are consistently higher in urban and suburban areas and among those with a higher level of education or income Whitcomb and Walinsky ; Bowman There is less of a likelihood that working-class men will describe themselves as gay or be members of a socially visible gay culture Barrett and Pollack The decreased probability of openly admitting to being gay, the length of time between commencing same-sex relationships and coming out to others, and the high probability of having sexual relations with women despite a lack of desire to do so are all indicative that the standards of masculinity related to social class have a controlling effect on the social lives of working-class gay men Barrett and Pollack Class factors related to intimate relationship stability also appear to play a role in the lower likelihood of being involved in a primary relationship.
Thirteen participants mentioned that they used a nickname when they were with other gay individuals. They indicated that this was very common practice, primarily as a means of protecting themselves and not being recognised by other people. It would give others a power over you which then would put you in a vulnerable position … they could potentially blackmail you especially if they hold a grudge against you.
Another reason mentioned for using an alias was that creating a new identity created a sense of freedom. By creating their own identity, they could be the person they wanted to be. While some studies have shown a degree of inconsistency in this development of an identity, there remains uncertainty over the specific individual or social contexts that determine these variable pathways towards identity integration Rosario et al. One of the more popularly accepted influences seems to be the concept of experience, which includes oppression in the form of minority stress.
Researchers studying minority stress have hypothesised that it is chronic, socially-based, and unique, as well as being additional to the general stressors that everyone experiences Meyer Despite the widespread agreement on the importance of these and other experiences in the development of a sexual minority identity, such experiences alone cannot explain all of the variances that occur. If this were the case, then each individual who is exposed to the same or similar experiences would develop the same identity, but this is not the case.
The interpretive process of each individual is a major factor in determining the extent to which a stressful event or experience influences their identity development Rosario et al. There are a number of limitations related to this study. In thematic analysis, one of the main issues is that when the codes are separated from their context, it results in a distortion of the overall picture, which can be resolved to some extent by adopting a more person-centred approach e.
Thagaard However, the researcher believes that his awareness of his own biases helped him to prevent any influence on his judgment, the coding process, or the conclusions drawn. Furthermore, in this study, the participants were not aware of the sexual orientation of the researcher. As a result, answering questions about sex and sexual behaviour would likely have been awkward and somewhat formal.
This creates a limitation for the study as the answers would not be entirely natural and lacking in openness and spontaneity.
Fulfilling multiple social roles, enacting various social norms, and guided by diverse expectations, they alternate regularly between one social group and another. In such a situation of constant flux and change, anxiety can easily develop, especially for those whose roles are not well coordinated and whose relationships are not systematically organised. In such an environment of persecution, gay men in Iran have developed their own survival techniques. Gay individuals have found ways of communicating with each other and over time they have created their own underground gay community.
The gay culture in Iran achieves this by creating an information-sharing system that its members can access via their specific gay communities. Shared not only among gay communities but also across generations, this information-sharing system empowers members of the Iranian gay culture to overcome both physical and psychological hurdles by giving them a sense of belonging, the freedom to pursue happiness and well-being, and genuine meaning in their lives. Amin, S. Atkinson, D. Counselling American minorities: A cross cultural perspective 5th ed.
Dubuque, IA: William C. Google Scholar. Banning-Lover, R. Where are the most difficult places in the world to be gay or transgender? Retrieved , from www.
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Barrett, D. Whose gay community? Social class, sexual self-expression, and gay community involvement. The Sociological Quarterly, 46, — BBC News.