Growing Up Sexually

 


Index

 

 

IRAQ (Kurds)

 

IndexMiddle East Iraq

 

 

 

Sex is an androcentric structure. Girls are indoctrinated with virginity concepts, and are told little more than this (Al-Khayyat, 1990)[1]. One Baghdad-born woman states[2]: “When at school I discussed all of this [menstruation] with my friends, I found that all of them, except for one whose mother was a doctor, had no idea what I was talking about. Menstruation was almost taboo, and mothers dealt with it only when it happened to their daughters” (p84). Klausner (1961)[3] provides original data on the sex histories of Iraqi women. Klausner (1963/1971)[4]further compared the sex histories of Iraqi in Bagdad, and Iraqese and native born Isreali (data are specific for ages 11 and upward for Bagdad Iraqi, 17 or 21 and upward for Iraqi Israeli, and 11 or 12 and upward for native-born Israeli).

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

Janssen, D. F., Growing Up Sexually. VolumeI. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed. 2004. Berlin: Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology

Last revised: Sept 2004

 

 

 



[1] Al-Khayyat, S. (1990) Honour and Shame. London: Saqi Books

[2] Melek, M. (1999) The Poet Who Helped Shape My Childhood, in Joseph, S. (Ed.) Intimate Selving in Arab Families: Gender, Self, and Identity. Syracuse University Press, p77-91

[3] Klausner, S. Z. (1961) Sex life in Islam, in Ellis, A. & Abarbanel, A. (Eds.) The Encyclopaedia of Sexual Behavior, Volume 1. London: W. Heinemann, p545-57

[4] Klausner, S. Z. (1964) Inherential visibility and sex norms in the Middle East, J Soc Psychol 63:1-29. Reprinted in Lieberman, B. (Ed., 1971) Human Sexual Behavior: A Book of Readings. New York [etc.]: J. Wiley & Sons, p300-22