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Veena R. Howard (ed.),
Over the years a growing body of literature has dealt with the complex issue of gender in the South Asian context through various disciplinary perspectives. The present anthology edited by Veena Howard, bringing together several leading scholars from the field of religious studies and philosophy, takes this inquiry further to study the vast variety of gender conceptualisations encountered in Indian religious and philosophical traditions, which render any straight jacketed theorisation untenable.
Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz,
Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz’s
Abstract
The phenomenon of faking orgasms has been the subject of extensive feminist inquiry, but in contemporary Iran, where sex and sexuality remain sensitive and controversial topics, the topic has not received much scholarly attention. This exploratory pilot study uses qualitative methods to explore the prevalence and the reasons for faking orgasms among a group of women living in urban Iran. The study addresses the possible consequences and implications of faking orgasms for women’s sexual life. Eleven female participants took part in the study. The data revealed that the topic was considered taboo even among highly educated working women. It also showed that faking orgasms were related to perceived female moral responsibilities and marital self-sacrifice and the lack of sexual education and knowledge, machismo, male infidelity, porn culture, and sexual performance ideals.
Sara Parks,
Sara Parks is an assistant professor in New Testament Studies at the University of Nottingham,
Abstract
This paper explores and attempts to propose a NeoPagan, or Contemporary Pagan, ethics of abortion. As a still relatively new religious movement, Contemporary Paganism and the various earth-centered religions (including Wicca) that fall under that umbrella are continuously in the process of creating theology, morality, and practice. Within the religious landscape of the United States in particular, this means engaging with the fraught issues of reproductive healthcare broadly and abortion specifically. This article explores the paradox of Contemporary Paganism’s overall ethic of affirming life and holding all life sacred while also giving primacy of place to individual Will, bodily autonomy, and personal and sexual freedom—ethical principles that lead the overwhelming majority of practitioners to adopt a pro-choice stance. The article describes an ethics of abortion in which Contemporary Pagans find that their pro-life politics and their life-affirming spirituality are not paradoxical but in fact are a coherent whole.