Die Geschichte der mann-männlichen Begierde in Iran von der Vormoderne bis heute

Is homophobia in Iranian society a product imported from the West? In today's scholarly contributions to the history of sexuality in the Middle East, this question is often answered with a 'yes', pointing to the replacement of local discourses by the Western discourse on sexuality during the imperialist-colonialist phase.
The present study is a critical examination of this assumption. Through a historical survey on same-sex desire in Iran, it is argued that the encounter with the West has not resulted in a major epistemological shift in the understanding of sexuality in Iran and that the local knowledge order has remained the dominant discourse regulating same-sex desire and is hence responsible for the anti-homosexual resentments in Iran.