Shirin Fathi

Harem babe me and the loverboy سوگلی‌های حرم من و پسرعاشق

This series is a continuation of my research on gender representation in relation to 19th century Qajar paintings. By the late nineteenth century, a more gender-differentiated portrayal of beauty emerged, and along with it a concept of love that saw a more pronounced heterosexuality. This may have been possibly due to Iran’s increasing interactions with Europe. These interactions were both ways and included travel accounts of European men coming to Iran and Iranian men travelling to Europe. Iranian men became aware of European reports on Iranian sexual traditions, in particular on male same sex practices. The angst produced by the European reading of Iranian traditions and culture began to reshape structures of desire. The result of this was the increasing occurrence of female representations as object of desire in addition to the altogether disappearance of male figures from Iranian paintings.