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Ghasemi F, Khosroshahi G, Noroozi M, Ghamarani A. (2024). Women's sexuality from temporary marriage: a phenomenological study. refahj. 24(95), : 2
URL: http://refahj.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-4256-en.html
URL: http://refahj.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-4256-en.html
Abstract: (59 Views)
Introduction: Temporary marriage is based on the sexual sphere and the main purpose of this marriage is to meet the sexual needs of men and women. Fulfilling financial, emotional, and sexual desires is one motive that may drive women to engage in temporary marriages. Meanwhile, the women were aware of their own sexual aspirations and yearnings, yet in most cases suppressed and disregarded them due to apprehension over potential opinions and judgments (Vakili, 2018; Molaeinezhad et al., 2017). Sexual performance brings with it a certain level of health for women (Leite et al., 2009), and for most women it is a happy and positive process (Jiang et al., 2015). Therefore, temporary marriage can effectively contribute to improving women's health and quality of life by satisfying women's sexual needs. On the other hand, satisfying sexual needs in a temporary marriage can be problematic for women. According to recent studies, women in temporary marriages may face violence and sexual abuse in satisfying their sexual needs and face sexual and reproductive health consequences such as unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and a higher risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases in an unprotected relationship (Falahi et al., 2017; Valizadeh et al., 1400). Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) can be more easily transmitted from infected men to women compared to infected women to men (Sharma, 2015). Also in many societies, some women have low self-esteem and have problems with their sexual rights, and by not expressing their sexual desires, they cannot maintain their individual independence in the marital relationship (Bakshizadeh, 2018). Women's lack of individual independence in sexual relationships can lead women to remain silent and passive toward unsafe sex, increasing the possibility of sexual, physical, and mental harm (Asadi, 2013). Also, in the current situation, considering the vulnerability of women by not reporting the problems of temporary marriage due to social stigma, considering the traditional conditions governing the society and the lack of legal obligation to notarize this type of marriage (Valizadeh et al., 1400), it is necessary to explore the sexual life of women who have experienced temporary marriage. Because the researcher, looking for a realistic understanding of women sexual life, hopes that can analyze the sexual, psychological and social realities in this field as they are.
Method: The present study was a descriptive phenomenological qualitative study. The participants in the research included 12 women with at least one temporary marriage experience in the city of Isfahan, who were selected through snowball sampling to the extent of data saturation. Data collection was done using semi-structured in-depth interview method, including 7 face to face interviews and 5 individual telephone interviews, and the data were analyzed using the Collaizzi analysis method, and to ensure the rigor and trustworthiness of obtained data four criteria were used: credibility, confirmability, dependability and transferability.
Finding: In the present study, three main themes were obtained including: emotional damage, sexual objectification and psycho-sexual satisfaction. The theme of emotional damage includes the categories of not getting peace, self-hatred, regret and torment of conscience, feeling worthless, feeling alone, and the category of negative feeling from being treated as a sex slave. The second obtained theme was sexual objectification of women, which includes the categories of men's sexual gaze on women, men's sexual coercion, men's inattention to women's protests, men's inattention to women's sexual-emotional needs, women's silence, suppression of women's sexual needs, women in sexualy straitened situations, sex during menstruation and the category of sexual experience were more than the woman's ability. Also, from the statements of the participants, the theme of psycho-sexual satisfaction of women from the categories, boldness in declaring the boundaries of sexual relations, attention and mutual sexual provision, men prioritizing women's orgasms, paying attention to women's sexual interests, sexual commitment and a woman's high skill in managing sex, sexual observance of women by men, the positive effect of love on women's sexual satisfaction, understanding of women's sexual pleasure, and women's satisfaction with meeting sexual needs were obtained.
Results: According to the research results, when circumstances are not favorable or the environment is not safe, or when there is no flattery or mutual interest in a temporary marriage, women can experience stress, anxiety, dissatisfaction and even self-disgust with each other. However, women's difficult financial situations and their deep emotional reliance on men prevent them from ending the relationship and despite their inclination otherwise, they find themselves trapped in a temporary marriage filled with regret and self-blame. Additionally, a man's lust-oriented desires in a temporary marriage leave women feeling worthless, hurt, and lonely during and after sex. In a temporary marriage, women have been judged and labeled as sex workers from the perspective of their sexual partners, society and family, which can lead to the identity of these women being formed based on the characteristics of this type of words and people will gradually accept the entered label and act accordingly. Another aspect to consider is that numerous men engaging in temporary relationships viewed women solely as sexual objects, while women willingly embraced this perception due to their strong attraction towards men and there were instances where women had no choice but to comply with men's sexual demands to maintain the relationship and satisfy their own desires. Additionally, engaging in sexual activity while a woman is menstruating and engaging in sexual activity that surpasses a woman's abilities are influenced by traditional views on gender roles; these views pressure women to partake in such activities due to reasons such as reliance on men, inability to say no, and the obligation to prioritize men's needs, remain quiet, and exhibit patience towards their partners' physical-mental states. Another notable point was that if the temporary marriage was long-term, it brought advantages such as the presence of mutual interest, the boldness of the woman and the appropriate emotional-sexual performance of the man and the woman in the temporary marriage, resulting in psychological and sexual satisfaction of women. In this regard, many women were able to clearly communicate their boundaries when it came to sex, this helped them have safe relationships and enjoy sexual pleasure while feeling protected. Men also paid attention to women's sexual-emotional interests before, during, and after sex and prioritized the woman's orgasm; this made women feel satisfied both physically and emotionally because men respected their sexual desires. In general, women's sexual experiences in temporary marriages differ depending on women's sexual assertiveness, mutual sexual responsibility, mutual interest, gender stereotypes and schemas, sexual skills, and the ability to have an honest conversation about sexual desires; in such a way that a number of women involved in this type of marriage got hurt feelings and sexual objectification, and a number of others experienced psychological-sexual satisfaction, which can jeopardize their mental and physical health.
Asadi, E., Mansour, L., Khodabakhshi, A., & Fathabadi, J. (2013). The relationship between couple burnout, sexual assertiveness, and sexual dysfunctional beliefs in women with diabetic husbands and comparing them with women with non-diabetic husbands. J Fam Res, 9(3), 24-311. (in Persian)
Bakshizadeh, F. (2018). testing the causal model of sexual awareness, self-differentiation, gender role schemas and marital satisfaction, doctoral dissertation in educational psychology. Islamic Azad University. (in Persian)
Fallahi, A., Rahmani, A., Azin, S. A., Molavi, N., Higgs, P., & Allahqoli, L. (2019). Effects of adverse early-life experiences on sexually transmitted infections among homeless women. International Journal of High Risk Behaviors and Addiction, 8(3).
Jiang, H., Wang, L., Zhang, Q., Liu, D. x., Ding, J., Lei, Z., . . . Pan, F. (2015). Family functioning, marital satisfaction and social support in hemodialysis patients and their spouses. Stress and Health, 31(2), 166-174.
Leite, A. P. L., Campos, A. A. S., Dias, A. R. C., Amed, A. M., De Souza, E., & Camano, L. (2009). Prevalence of sexual dysfunction during pregnancy. Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira, 55, 563-568.
Molaeinezhad, M., Kohan, S., & Ghadirian, F. (2017). Widows lived experiences about challenges related to their emotional and sexual needs: A phenomenological study. The Iranian Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Infertility, 20(6), 80-95. (in Persian)
Sharma, S. (2016). Marriage, sexual behavior and familiarity with AIDS (A. Mohammadi, Trans.). Tehran: Arjamand. (in Persian)
Vakili, M. (2018). Attitude towards temporary marriage among divorced women in Shiraz, Master's thesis in Counseling. Islamic Azad University Marodasht branch. (in Persian).
Valizadeh, F., Mohammadbeigi, A., Chaman, R., Kashefi, F., Nazari, A. M., & Motaghi, Z. (2021). Sexual and reproductive health challenges in temporary marriage: A systematic review. Journal of Research in Health Sciences, 21(1), e00504
Method: The present study was a descriptive phenomenological qualitative study. The participants in the research included 12 women with at least one temporary marriage experience in the city of Isfahan, who were selected through snowball sampling to the extent of data saturation. Data collection was done using semi-structured in-depth interview method, including 7 face to face interviews and 5 individual telephone interviews, and the data were analyzed using the Collaizzi analysis method, and to ensure the rigor and trustworthiness of obtained data four criteria were used: credibility, confirmability, dependability and transferability.
Finding: In the present study, three main themes were obtained including: emotional damage, sexual objectification and psycho-sexual satisfaction. The theme of emotional damage includes the categories of not getting peace, self-hatred, regret and torment of conscience, feeling worthless, feeling alone, and the category of negative feeling from being treated as a sex slave. The second obtained theme was sexual objectification of women, which includes the categories of men's sexual gaze on women, men's sexual coercion, men's inattention to women's protests, men's inattention to women's sexual-emotional needs, women's silence, suppression of women's sexual needs, women in sexualy straitened situations, sex during menstruation and the category of sexual experience were more than the woman's ability. Also, from the statements of the participants, the theme of psycho-sexual satisfaction of women from the categories, boldness in declaring the boundaries of sexual relations, attention and mutual sexual provision, men prioritizing women's orgasms, paying attention to women's sexual interests, sexual commitment and a woman's high skill in managing sex, sexual observance of women by men, the positive effect of love on women's sexual satisfaction, understanding of women's sexual pleasure, and women's satisfaction with meeting sexual needs were obtained.
Results: According to the research results, when circumstances are not favorable or the environment is not safe, or when there is no flattery or mutual interest in a temporary marriage, women can experience stress, anxiety, dissatisfaction and even self-disgust with each other. However, women's difficult financial situations and their deep emotional reliance on men prevent them from ending the relationship and despite their inclination otherwise, they find themselves trapped in a temporary marriage filled with regret and self-blame. Additionally, a man's lust-oriented desires in a temporary marriage leave women feeling worthless, hurt, and lonely during and after sex. In a temporary marriage, women have been judged and labeled as sex workers from the perspective of their sexual partners, society and family, which can lead to the identity of these women being formed based on the characteristics of this type of words and people will gradually accept the entered label and act accordingly. Another aspect to consider is that numerous men engaging in temporary relationships viewed women solely as sexual objects, while women willingly embraced this perception due to their strong attraction towards men and there were instances where women had no choice but to comply with men's sexual demands to maintain the relationship and satisfy their own desires. Additionally, engaging in sexual activity while a woman is menstruating and engaging in sexual activity that surpasses a woman's abilities are influenced by traditional views on gender roles; these views pressure women to partake in such activities due to reasons such as reliance on men, inability to say no, and the obligation to prioritize men's needs, remain quiet, and exhibit patience towards their partners' physical-mental states. Another notable point was that if the temporary marriage was long-term, it brought advantages such as the presence of mutual interest, the boldness of the woman and the appropriate emotional-sexual performance of the man and the woman in the temporary marriage, resulting in psychological and sexual satisfaction of women. In this regard, many women were able to clearly communicate their boundaries when it came to sex, this helped them have safe relationships and enjoy sexual pleasure while feeling protected. Men also paid attention to women's sexual-emotional interests before, during, and after sex and prioritized the woman's orgasm; this made women feel satisfied both physically and emotionally because men respected their sexual desires. In general, women's sexual experiences in temporary marriages differ depending on women's sexual assertiveness, mutual sexual responsibility, mutual interest, gender stereotypes and schemas, sexual skills, and the ability to have an honest conversation about sexual desires; in such a way that a number of women involved in this type of marriage got hurt feelings and sexual objectification, and a number of others experienced psychological-sexual satisfaction, which can jeopardize their mental and physical health.
Asadi, E., Mansour, L., Khodabakhshi, A., & Fathabadi, J. (2013). The relationship between couple burnout, sexual assertiveness, and sexual dysfunctional beliefs in women with diabetic husbands and comparing them with women with non-diabetic husbands. J Fam Res, 9(3), 24-311. (in Persian)
Bakshizadeh, F. (2018). testing the causal model of sexual awareness, self-differentiation, gender role schemas and marital satisfaction, doctoral dissertation in educational psychology. Islamic Azad University. (in Persian)
Fallahi, A., Rahmani, A., Azin, S. A., Molavi, N., Higgs, P., & Allahqoli, L. (2019). Effects of adverse early-life experiences on sexually transmitted infections among homeless women. International Journal of High Risk Behaviors and Addiction, 8(3).
Jiang, H., Wang, L., Zhang, Q., Liu, D. x., Ding, J., Lei, Z., . . . Pan, F. (2015). Family functioning, marital satisfaction and social support in hemodialysis patients and their spouses. Stress and Health, 31(2), 166-174.
Leite, A. P. L., Campos, A. A. S., Dias, A. R. C., Amed, A. M., De Souza, E., & Camano, L. (2009). Prevalence of sexual dysfunction during pregnancy. Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira, 55, 563-568.
Molaeinezhad, M., Kohan, S., & Ghadirian, F. (2017). Widows lived experiences about challenges related to their emotional and sexual needs: A phenomenological study. The Iranian Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Infertility, 20(6), 80-95. (in Persian)
Sharma, S. (2016). Marriage, sexual behavior and familiarity with AIDS (A. Mohammadi, Trans.). Tehran: Arjamand. (in Persian)
Vakili, M. (2018). Attitude towards temporary marriage among divorced women in Shiraz, Master's thesis in Counseling. Islamic Azad University Marodasht branch. (in Persian).
Valizadeh, F., Mohammadbeigi, A., Chaman, R., Kashefi, F., Nazari, A. M., & Motaghi, Z. (2021). Sexual and reproductive health challenges in temporary marriage: A systematic review. Journal of Research in Health Sciences, 21(1), e00504
Article number: 2
Type of Study: method |
Received: 2023/09/20 | Accepted: 2024/09/7 | Published: 2024/12/30
Received: 2023/09/20 | Accepted: 2024/09/7 | Published: 2024/12/30
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