Contents
Prologue
Welcome to Tehran
1
2
Life in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Tehran Chic
4
Meeting, Mating,... and Cheating in the Islamic Republic
5
Caught!
6
High Risk
7
The Adults
8
Growing Up in the Islamic Republic?
Acknowledgments
Notes
Works Cited
Index
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Passionate Uprisings: Iran's Sexual Revolution
by Pardis Mahdavi (Author) Format: Paperback
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (17)
There is perhaps no place in the world today where the stakes of partying and having sex are higher than in present-day Iran. Drinking and dancing can lead to arrest by the morality police and a punishment of up to 70 lashes. Consequences for sex outside of marriage can be even more severe-up to 84 lashes, or even public execution.
But even under the threat of such harsh punishment, a sexual revolution is taking place. Iranian youth continually risk personal safety to meet friends, date, and, ultimately, to have sex. In the absence of any option for overt political dissent, young people have become part of a self-proclaimed revolution in which they are using their bodies to make social and political statements. Sex has become both a source of freedom and an act of political rebellion.
With unprecedented access inside turn-of-the century Iran, Pardis Mahdavi offers a firsthand look at the daily lives of Iranian youth. They are given a voice as she tells the stories of their intertwined quests for sexual freedom, political reform, and a better future-but not a future without risk. The sexual revolution is also leading to increased levels of abortion, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and ongoing emotional troubles and mental illnesses, with worrying implications for Iranian youth and Iranian society at large.
Passionate Uprisings is a fascinating, ground-breaking, and personal look into a society that is poorly understood-if it is understood at all-by the majority of Westerners today. Mahdavi's narrative provides not only an invaluable insight into the real lives of much of Iran's population, but shows how sexual politics and the youth culture could even destabilize the current regime and change the course of Iranian politics.
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346 pages
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Review
"Passionate Uprisings carves a clear trail through the jungle of ideology about life in modern-day Iran, and breaks new ground to show how sex is used by young people in a Muslim country to resist political oppression. A fascinating book unlike any other." --Sally Guttmacher, New York University
"Passionate Uprisings dispels the one-dimensional and overly simplified view of Iran and its people through the oft-recycled image of women in veils." --Women's Review of Books
"Passionate Uprisings offers a unique and amazing look into the ongoing Iranian sexual revolution. That's right--hot sex in the Islamic Republic! Mahdavi documents the secret parties, trysts, and even orgies of rebellious Iranian youth, constantly asking whether a sexual revolution can evolve into a political one. As a close friend of her informants and often a participant in their high-jinks, she's the perfect companion on this unlikely journey--sympathetic, knowledgeable and super-smart!" --Barbara Ehrenreich, best-selling author of Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream (2005)
"Kudos to Pardis Mahdavi for shining the light on the most taboo subject in the Iranian culture, sex. Her book shows the degree to which the Islamic government has failed the younger generation--how the constant presence of the Morality Police and the accompanying lack of personal freedoms has led to a breakdown in morals. Mahdavi's work brings to the forefront the long-term consequence of this high-risk sexual behavior and the importance of basic personal freedoms, even under an Islamic government."--Firoozeh Dumas, author of Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America
"Mahdavi's best and most groundbreaking material has to do with the public health implications of this rift between generations and between acknowledged and unacknowledged behaviors, as well as the society's slow and patchy but often ingenious educational response." --The Nation
"Mahdavi's Tehran orgy signals a profound shift in post-revolutionary Iran, as young adults in a young world (two-thirds of the Iranian population consists of urbanites under 30) challenge the regime, although not by anything so political as street rebellion or samizdat pamphleteering. Their preferred methods of protest are sexual adventurism -- the orgy or drug and booze-fuelled party -- and sexual self-expression of a more subtle kind: skimpy underwear, worn beneath the hijab, sends a f..k-you message to the morality police and plants a sly inward smile on the face of the wearer. Passionate Uprisings will...dispel the ignorance in the West about Iran, its people and their tragedy. It should also check any residual sympathy anti-American Westerners may hold for the regime simply on account of its belligerence towards President George W. Bush. This is a cruel regime, loathed by its young citizenry, but it will not prove easy to dislodge." --The Australian
"Part academic treatise, part titillation, Mahdavi's work argues that the social and sexual practices of the urban young adults 'who comprise two-thirds of Iran's population' constitute a form of political dissent and rebellion. While the punishments for premarital sex, drinking and dancing are severe, the author, a journalist and assistant professor of anthropology at Pomona College, captures a hedonistic, postadolescent and pure pop culture spirit, reflecting the interests and activities of the 'highly mobile, highly educated... underemployed' and secular young Tehranis she followed over a seven-year period." --Publishers Weekly
"The book is in essence an academic work but it will attract the general reader with its occasionally titillating subject matter (she does not shy away from describing sexual encounters and orgies). For Mahdavi's thesis is that the changes in sexual practices and in the sartorial choices of Iran's youth indicate a 'revolution' of conscious resistance to the regime." --Financial Times
"The controversial change in sexual attitudes and mores the author documents is real, present, and a major factor in the transformation of Iranian life. I particularly welcome Mahdavi's sincere portrayal of Iranian women as strong, in control of their destinies, and able to make decisions for themselves, even if those decisions fly in the face of conventional morality. The book is exceptionally true and honest." --William Beeman, University of Minnesota
About the Author
Pardis Mahdavi is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Pomona College and a consultant for the International Women's Health Coalition. She previously was editor-in-chief for Slant Magazine, as well as a consultant for the United Nations Population Fund, and has written for the Los Angeles Times Magazine. As part of her research for this book, Mahdavi visited Iran over a period of seven years, starting in 2000.
TopAbout this itemFrom the AuthorQuestionsReviews
Passionate Uprisings: Iran's Sexual Revolution
Product details
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Publication date : 8 October 2019
Edition : Illustrated
Language : English
Print length : 346 pages
ISBN-10 : 0804758573
ISBN-13 : 978-0804758574
Item weight : 499 g
Dimensions : 15.24 x 2.18 x 22.86 cm
Customer Reviews:
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (17)
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Follow
Pardis Mahdavi
Pardis Mahdavi, PhD, is an American scholar and author who is currently the Founder/CEO of Entheon and a Member of the Board of Directors at the Lumina Foundation. She is a former president of the University of La Verne, was the Provost and Executive Vice President of the Univeristy of Montana, the Dean of Social Sciences at Arizona State University, Acting Dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and was an Associate Professor, Chair of Anthropology, and Director of the Pacific Basin Institute and Dean of Women at Pomona College. Her research interests include gendered labor, migration, sexuality, human rights, youth culture, transnational feminism, and public health in the context of changing global and political structures. She is the author of eight books: her first book, Passionate Uprisings: Iran’s Sexual Revolution, was published by Stanford University Press in 2008, and her most recent book, Riding, was published by Duke University Press in 2025.
Pardis was chosen as a Young Global Leader by the Asia Society, and has received fellowships and awards from institutions such as Google Ideas, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the National Drug Research Institute, the American Public Health Association, and the Society for Applied Anthropology. She was selected as Arizona's Most Intriguing Women of the Decade in 2022, and was awarded a Lifetime Membership on the Council on Foreign Relations. Mahdavi was recognized by the Luce Foundation for her project, "New American Conversation: Belonging and Identity Politics Re-Loaded" and has been honored by the Aspen Institute as a Justice and Society Fellow. She has consulted for a wide array of organizations including the U.S. government, Google Inc., and the United Nations. In 2012, she won the Wig Award for teaching at Pomona College.
Read less about this author
Product description
Review
"Passionate Uprisings carves a clear trail through the jungle of ideology about life in modern-day Iran, and breaks new ground to show how sex is used by young people in a Muslim country to resist political oppression. A fascinating book unlike any other." --Sally Guttmacher, New York University
"Passionate Uprisings dispels the one-dimensional and overly simplified view of Iran and its people through the oft-recycled image of women in veils." --Women's Review of Books
"Passionate Uprisings offers a unique and amazing look into the ongoing Iranian sexual revolution. That's right--hot sex in the Islamic Republic! Mahdavi documents the secret parties, trysts, and even orgies of rebellious Iranian youth, constantly asking whether a sexual revolution can evolve into a political one. As a close friend of her informants and often a participant in their high-jinks, she's the perfect companion on this unlikely journey--sympathetic, knowledgeable and super-smart!" --Barbara Ehrenreich, best-selling author of Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream (2005)
"Kudos to Pardis Mahdavi for shining the light on the most taboo subject in the Iranian culture, sex. Her book shows the degree to which the Islamic government has failed the younger generation--how the constant presence of the Morality Police and the accompanying lack of personal freedoms has led to a breakdown in morals. Mahdavi's work brings to the forefront the long-term consequence of this high-risk sexual behavior and the importance of basic personal freedoms, even under an Islamic government."--Firoozeh Dumas, author of Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America
"Mahdavi's best and most groundbreaking material has to do with the public health implications of this rift between generations and between acknowledged and unacknowledged behaviors, as well as the society's slow and patchy but often ingenious educational response." --The Nation
"Mahdavi's Tehran orgy signals a profound shift in post-revolutionary Iran, as young adults in a young world (two-thirds of the Iranian population consists of urbanites under 30) challenge the regime, although not by anything so political as street rebellion or samizdat pamphleteering. Their preferred methods of protest are sexual adventurism -- the orgy or drug and booze-fuelled party -- and sexual self-expression of a more subtle kind: skimpy underwear, worn beneath the hijab, sends a f..k-you message to the morality police and plants a sly inward smile on the face of the wearer. Passionate Uprisings will...dispel the ignorance in the West about Iran, its people and their tragedy. It should also check any residual sympathy anti-American Westerners may hold for the regime simply on account of its belligerence towards President George W. Bush. This is a cruel regime, loathed by its young citizenry, but it will not prove easy to dislodge." --The Australian
"Part academic treatise, part titillation, Mahdavi's work argues that the social and sexual practices of the urban young adults 'who comprise two-thirds of Iran's population' constitute a form of political dissent and rebellion. While the punishments for premarital sex, drinking and dancing are severe, the author, a journalist and assistant professor of anthropology at Pomona College, captures a hedonistic, postadolescent and pure pop culture spirit, reflecting the interests and activities of the 'highly mobile, highly educated... underemployed' and secular young Tehranis she followed over a seven-year period." --Publishers Weekly
"The book is in essence an academic work but it will attract the general reader with its occasionally titillating subject matter (she does not shy away from describing sexual encounters and orgies). For Mahdavi's thesis is that the changes in sexual practices and in the sartorial choices of Iran's youth indicate a 'revolution' of conscious resistance to the regime." --Financial Times
"The controversial change in sexual attitudes and mores the author documents is real, present, and a major factor in the transformation of Iranian life. I particularly welcome Mahdavi's sincere portrayal of Iranian women as strong, in control of their destinies, and able to make decisions for themselves, even if those decisions fly in the face of conventional morality. The book is exceptionally true and honest." --William Beeman, University of Minnesota
About the Author
Pardis Mahdavi is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Pomona College and a consultant for the International Women's Health Coalition. She previously was editor-in-chief for Slant Magazine, as well as a consultant for the United Nations Population Fund, and has written for the Los Angeles Times Magazine. As part of her research for this book, Mahdavi visited Iran over a period of seven years, starting in 2000.
TopAbout this itemFrom the AuthorQuestionsReviews
Passionate Uprisings: Iran's Sexual RevolutionProduct details
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Publication date : 8 October 2019
Edition : Illustrated
Language : English
Print length : 346 pages
ISBN-10 : 0804758573
ISBN-13 : 978-0804758574
Item weight : 499 g
Dimensions : 15.24 x 2.18 x 22.86 cm
Customer Reviews:
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (17)
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Follow
Pardis Mahdavi
Pardis Mahdavi, PhD, is an American scholar and author who is currently the Founder/CEO of Entheon and a Member of the Board of Directors at the Lumina Foundation. She is a former president of the University of La Verne, was the Provost and Executive Vice President of the Univeristy of Montana, the Dean of Social Sciences at Arizona State University, Acting Dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and was an Associate Professor, Chair of Anthropology, and Director of the Pacific Basin Institute and Dean of Women at Pomona College. Her research interests include gendered labor, migration, sexuality, human rights, youth culture, transnational feminism, and public health in the context of changing global and political structures. She is the author of eight books: her first book, Passionate Uprisings: Iran’s Sexual Revolution, was published by Stanford University Press in 2008, and her most recent book, Riding, was published by Duke University Press in 2025.
Pardis was chosen as a Young Global Leader by the Asia Society, and has received fellowships and awards from institutions such as Google Ideas, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the National Drug Research Institute, the American Public Health Association, and the Society for Applied Anthropology. She was selected as Arizona's Most Intriguing Women of the Decade in 2022, and was awarded a Lifetime Membership on the Council on Foreign Relations. Mahdavi was recognized by the Luce Foundation for her project, "New American Conversation: Belonging and Identity Politics Re-Loaded" and has been honored by the Aspen Institute as a Justice and Society Fellow. She has consulted for a wide array of organizations including the U.S. government, Google Inc., and the United Nations. In 2012, she won the Wig Award for teaching at Pomona College.
Read less about this author
===
From other countries
leo kim
5.0 out of 5 stars Beneath the Sex
Reviewed in the United States on 27 July 2009
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Like the tip of a gigantic iceberg, Ms. Mahdavi's book on Iran's sexual revolution vividly describes the history, frustration, hopes, and fears of Iran's youth which embrace sex as a means of rebellion. Find out the complexities which created and continues to influence Iran's sexual revolution.
I have followed the recent elections in Iran with fascination and I wonder if an implosion or an explosion is building. If it happens it will, no doubt, have repercussion which will reverberate throughout the 21st century.
I recommend this fascinating read even if you are not interested in Iran or sex! This country on the opposite side of the Earth from the US will continue to play an important part in the world community and it behooves all Americans and westerners to understand Iran's culture, mores, and politics--why not start at the top and work down? Healing the Rift: Bridging the Gap Between Science and Spirituality
Report
Robert Buehrer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent insider view of Iranian society today.
Reviewed in the United States on 22 June 2010
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
This book does an excellent job of depicting the level of frustration of a large portion of Iranians today. It goes a long way in helping Westerners understand the anger and protests that erupted after the last elections why so many were willing to risk so much (life & personal freedom) to try to enable change in this very closed and controlled country.
Report
TRock13
5.0 out of 5 stars But it is a wonderful dive into the lives of Iranian women and the ...
Reviewed in the United States on 29 October 2014
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Very interesting view "behind the veil." It is written from the perspective of a cultural anthropologist, so not a purely biographical nor travel journal book. But it is a wonderful dive into the lives of Iranian women and the manner in which they express discontent with their government and religious leaders.
Report
Joanne
5.0 out of 5 stars Pardis Mahdavi book
Reviewed in the United States on 27 February 2013
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Pardis Mahdavi is a professor at Pomona College where I went after high school and before medical school. Her father is a friend, professional colleague and my otolaryngologist. The book is fascinating and very revealing of the true activities of the Iranian youth.
Report
F. A. Goodman
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Timely book
Reviewed in the United States on 1 August 2009
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
Given all the unrest in Iran when the Iranians are looking for
modest liberties, this book gives real insight into some of
that scene.
Report
eeb
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazine
Reviewed in the United States on 23 May 2009
Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
I didn't know much about Iran before meeting Pardis Madhavi, but it is such an interesting and amazing place. After hearing her lecture I immediately bought her book. It is awesome, not too heavy and plenty of stuff to make you laugh. Her experiences are remarkable and her writing seems to do it justice.
Report
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