Female Sexual Desire in Shi'ite Islam: Lessons from Marital Advice Literature

This presentation problematizes the intricate relationship between sexualities and religion by highlighting Islamic recommendations for increasing sexual gratification in marriage. In the process, I question declarations that sex is a taboo topic among Muslims and that open discussions of sex and sexuality have only permeated after contact with the West. Through a close examination and reading of sex advice books for married couples written throughout the 20th century by Muslim clergy that have been and continue to be promoted, sold, and disseminated in multiple bookstores and libraries in the city of Qom, the capital of Shi’ite theology, I illustrate the remarkably candid conversations about sex and sexual gratification by high ranking clergy at the core of Shi’ite Islam. While Islamic theology is often considered prude concerning sexual matters, a survey of these sex advice books, which are often gifted to married couples, reveals a different story. Focusing on increasing female sexual gratification, the religious scholars advise men in foreplay, clitoral stimulation, and nipple and areola arousal. I further combine this discourse on religious sexualities with interviews with “religious” women in the city of Qom about sexual gratification in marriage. While discussions of sex remain problematic for unmarried women, married women are more willing to discuss sex within marriage and partake in this difficult conversation. Desire and sex, then, are embraced within clearly defined zones. The presentation provides a more nuanced understanding of Islam’s intersection with sexuality and female desire.