Transformation of intimacy among university students in a transitional social context in Tehran, Iran / Samane Etesami
Making a desired intimate relationship is a challenging issue among young men and women in contemporary urban Iran. The current research examined how the couples’ intimacy in intimate relationships is related with the status of modern transformation of intimacy. This research aimed to examine how...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Thesis |
| Published: |
2017
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8262/ http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8262/1/All.pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8262/6/samane.pdf |
| Summary: | Making a desired intimate relationship is a challenging issue among young men and
women in contemporary urban Iran. The current research examined how the couples’
intimacy in intimate relationships is related with the status of modern transformation of
intimacy. This research aimed to examine how Giddens’s (1992) theory of
transformation of intimacy would be applicable in the transitional urban context of Iran,
viz. in Tehran.
An online research design and a partially mixed methods approach was used in this
study. The quantitative results derived from completed online questionnaires by 567
men and women showed a positive correlation between the level of an individual’s
transformed attitude towards intimate relationships and gender roles and the level of
women’s sexual agency. In addition, there was a positive correlation between the level
of women’s sexual agency and the level of actual intimacy among partners.
The combination of quantitative and qualitative results however, showed that the
transformed intimacy has not been completely perceived or adhered to by individuals,
rather a combination of transformed and stereotypical values were practiced by the
respondents. The in-depth interviews amongst 37 male and female respondents revealed
that men and women treated the transformation of intimacy selectively and based it on
their own benefits.
Theoretical dissection suggests that the incomplete process of transformed intimacy in
the context of the study could be explained by three sources: first, the feminist
perspective of the interrelatedness of the public and private domains in the society, and
the prevalence of patriarchal discourse in personal relationships. Second: the condition
of the transitional social context in which inconsistency between traditional values and
new needs are dominant, and third: the existence of the market logic in intimate life. Accordingly, the theoretical discussion suggested that Giddens’s (1992) theory of
transformation of intimacy is not totally applicable in a transitional social urban context
of Iran, viz. in Tehran. |
|---|