TY - JOUR
T1 - Navigating virginities
T2 - enactment of sexual agency among Arab women in the USA
AU - Abboud, Sarah
AU - Lanier, Yzette
AU - Sweet Jemmott, Loretta
AU - Sommers, Marilyn S.
N1 - Funding Information:
The first author received financial support from the Office of Nursing Research and the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at the University of Pennsylvania as well as from the Sigma Theta Tau International Xi Chapter at the University of Pennsylvania. We thank the ten participants who shared personal and sensitive stories. We also thank Sarah Kagan and Shannon Lundeen, who served on the first author’s dissertation committee, for their constructive feedback and support.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2019/10/3
Y1 - 2019/10/3
N2 - People interpret virginity in a variety of ways with different implications for sexual identity and behaviour. In Arab societies, heterosexuality and compulsory virginity before marriage are traditionally understood as ideals for a ‘good’ Arab girl, a ‘good’ Arab family and, consequently, a ‘good’ Arab society. In this study, our goal was to gain an in-depth understanding of the enactment of sexual agency and decision-making around virginity from the perspectives of Arab women living in the USA. We conducted a qualitative phenomenological study involving interviews with ten women whose accounts could be grouped into three distinct types: ‘For me, it’s the person you marry that you will be doing these things with’; ‘I want to wait until marriage but I know there might be a possibility where I’m not’; and ‘I started dating this guy, and I did lose my virginity to him’. The life stories of the women illustrate different ways of enacting sexual agency that are strongly influenced by socio-cultural norms and contexts. Our findings have important implications for future research to better understand decisions and behaviours about virginity and how Arab women in the USA enact their sexuality.
AB - People interpret virginity in a variety of ways with different implications for sexual identity and behaviour. In Arab societies, heterosexuality and compulsory virginity before marriage are traditionally understood as ideals for a ‘good’ Arab girl, a ‘good’ Arab family and, consequently, a ‘good’ Arab society. In this study, our goal was to gain an in-depth understanding of the enactment of sexual agency and decision-making around virginity from the perspectives of Arab women living in the USA. We conducted a qualitative phenomenological study involving interviews with ten women whose accounts could be grouped into three distinct types: ‘For me, it’s the person you marry that you will be doing these things with’; ‘I want to wait until marriage but I know there might be a possibility where I’m not’; and ‘I started dating this guy, and I did lose my virginity to him’. The life stories of the women illustrate different ways of enacting sexual agency that are strongly influenced by socio-cultural norms and contexts. Our findings have important implications for future research to better understand decisions and behaviours about virginity and how Arab women in the USA enact their sexuality.
KW - Arab women
KW - USA
KW - Virginity
KW - agency
KW - perspective
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U2 - 10.1080/13691058.2018.1539249
DO - 10.1080/13691058.2018.1539249
M3 - Article
C2 - 30646837
AN - SCOPUS:85060156745
SN - 1369-1058
VL - 21
SP - 1103
EP - 1116
JO - Culture, Health and Sexuality
JF - Culture, Health and Sexuality
IS - 10
ER -