Comparative study of graduate women’s sexual agency and sexual violence experiences in Iran and Canada.

• In Event: Frontiers in the Sociology of Sexualities

Abstract

Women’s Sexual Agency (SA) has been studied extensively over past decades, with scholars proposing models to understand the diverse ways young women exercise autonomy over their sexual lives. This paper employs a framework integrating feminist materialist theory and the biopolitics of sexual practices and presents a qualitative comparative analysis of 31 in-depth interviews with graduate students—15 from the University of Tehran and 16 from the University of Ottawa. A hybrid inductive–deductive approach highlights women’s experiences of SA and their strategies of negotiation, resistance, and empowerment within cultural, regulatory, and material contexts.
From this research, I propose a Model of Sexual Agency: From Formation to Practice, which conceptualizes SA as a dynamic, lifelong process shaped by values, expectations, and experiences. Values—shaped by family, culture, religion, media, and education—inform expectations for sexual encounters and evolve through exposure to alternative perspectives. Experiences, in turn, reshape values and expectations, with supportive or controlling partners and contextual conditions either expanding or constraining agency. The model identifies four forms of SA—habituated traditional, anomic, updated conflicted, and liberated—illustrating varying degrees of autonomy and alignment between values, expectations, and practices.
Findings underscore that SA is socially mediated and can be expanded through collective resistance and supportive networks. Patriarchal norms persist globally, yet movements such as #MeToo, enabled by digital media, foster recognition, solidarity, and pathways for challenging male-centered norms. Comprehensive, inclusive sexual education is essential for teaching consent, bodily autonomy, and ethical sexual engagement, countering reliance on patriarchal or commercialized sources.
This research highlights the urgency of a fifth wave of feminist activism centered on state-supported sexual education spanning childhood to adulthood. Such initiatives, paired with supportive policies, can reshape norms, affirm women’s SA, disrupt cycles of sexual violence, and cultivate a culture grounded in consent, autonomy, and sexual well-being.

Author

• Farinaz Basmechi, University of Ottawa