ABSTRACT
Background: Women constitute about half of the Iranian population. Sexual behaviour is one of the most important elements in their lives. Identifying the elements associated with sexual behaviours seems necessary in order to draw a thorough picture of Iranian women's sexuality
Objective: To elicit information from Iranian women at their reproductive ages on sexual behaviours related to their elements including sexual capacity, sexual motivation, performance and sexual scripts
Materials and Methods: Study participants involved 295 women at reproductive age from five different cities. Women completed a national self-reporting questionnaire on elements related to sexual behaviours. The elements included sexual capacity, sexual motivation, sexual performance, and sexual script. Pearson's correlation variance analysis and multi-linear regression were used to analyze data
Results: Significant positive correlation was found between the sexual capacity, motivation, performance, and sexual script [p<0.001]. Linear regression showed that the effective variable on the sexual performance were women's ages [p=0.02], and tertiary education [p=0.05]. A significant association was found between age and sexual motivation score, too. A significant relation was observed between the history of pregnancy and level of education with a positive response to sexual script questions
Conclusion: Identifying the elements of sexual behaviours would help women understand their sexual behaviours and related influencing factors. Therefore, enrichment of women's sexuality is needed; also a well-planned educational program is a need for women to understand their sexuality-related potentials
ABSTRACT
Background: Women's sexual well-being has been the center of attention in the field of sexology. Study of sexual behavior and investigating its predictors are important for women's health promotion. This study aimed to explore the components of women's sexual behaviors and their possible associations with demographic variables
Materials and Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study [descriptive and analytic] that was conducted in Kashan city, Iran. A National Sexual Behavior Assessment Questionnaire was completed by 500 women of 15 to 49 who referred to the public health centers. To analyze the data, R software was used, ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis [for parametric or nonparametric data, respectively] were used to compare outcomes among different groups. In order to evaluate the correlation between the subscales, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used
Results: From all participants, 31.8% obtained high scores in the sexual capacity, 21.2% had high scores in sexual motivation and 0.2% had high scores in sexual function. In sexual script component, 86.2% of women who held traditional beliefs toward sexual behaviors; the majority [91.5%] of women believed in mutual and relational sexuality, 83.4% believed in androcentricity [male-dominated sexuality]. Pearson correlation test showed a significant positive correlation between sexual capacity, motivation, function and sexual script. Linear Regression model showed that sexual capacity is associated with women's education and age of her spouse. Sexual function and sexual motivation were significantly associated with the age of subjects' spouses
Conclusion: In this study, subjects had low scores in sexual performance while higher scores were achieved in sexual capacity and motivation. This discrepancy can be attributed to the role of sexual scripts dominating the participants' sexual interactions in this study. We suggest gender-specific and culturally-sensitive education should become a part of women's health programs in Iran
ABSTRACT
Background: Islamic doctrine and related teachings play a seminal role in constructing the sexual performance of followers, women in particular
Objective: the aim was to explore women's understandings of Islamic Shiite principles related to their sexuality
Materials and Methods: in a qualitative content analysis approach, four individual interviews and seven focus groups conducted in Rafsanjan, a big city in Kerman province in Iran. Content analysis was used to extract meanings and themes
Results: three major themes were emerged describing the sexual concepts and religious-related teachings concerning women's sexual understandings and performances: "unconditional sexual submission" [Tamkin], "paradox between virtue and unconditional sexual submission" and "misconceptions"
Conclusion: religious teachings have a basic and comprehensive role in sexuality construction and sexual health of women. However, occasional inconsistency between beliefs, learning and sexual expectations, practices, and situations would lead to jeopardize the psychological and somatic health of women. Religious-related misconceptions have essential role in creating sexual problems