Degarbash: On Queerness in and about Iran
Sara Zavaree
Abstract
This paper looks at the historical and political processes entangled with the question of homosexuality in Iran. The encounter with the European Other in the modern era has altered the modalities of contemplating the rich homoerotic heritage in Persian and Islamic art, poetry and mysticism, and has incited a fielded linkage of homosexuality with Western imperialism in the 20th century. While today, sexual acts outside of heterosexual marriage are juristically and socially outlawed, new confident queer self-attributions and practices have evolved through interactions in transnational digital spaces.
Keywords: Iran, Homosexuality, Digital Spaces, Modernity, Westoxication