[lbo-talk] Iran executes another queer

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 11/15/06, Miles Jackson <cqmv at pdx.edu> wrote:
> Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> > I followed the link and looked at the original Farsi text.  Once
> > again, it is a case of understanding what "لواط" [lavat] means.  A
> > person who engages in lavat is not necessarily gay, much as a person
> > who engages in sodomy is not necessarily gay.  Neither lavat nor
> > sodomy is identical to consensual same-sex sex, let alone consensual
> > same-sex sex between two self-identified gay men.  Anyone who has read
> > Foucault, Jonathan Ned Katz, etc. knows the difference with regard to
> > sodomy.  It's time for us to learn the difference with regard to
> > lavat.
>
> This is interesting to me; what is lavat?  Is there another term for the
> Western concepts gay and lesbian?

The Persian Online Dictionary (URL:
<http://www.aryanpour.com/>) has three terms for "homosexual":

داراي احساسات جنسي نسبت به جنس موافق (مثل اينكه مرد بامرد ويا زن بازن
دفع شهوت نمايد)

  مايل به جنس خود

  همجنس باز

The last [hamjens baaz] appears to me to be the most common of the three.

"Pederasty" in Aryanpour.com is 	

بچه بازي

 لواط

"Sodomy" is

لواط

Note that the dictionary entries for both pederasty and sodomy refer
to lavat.  Lavat is an expansive term, much like sodomy in premodern
times was an expansive term (and still is in many contexts).  Lavat,
like sodomy, may or may not be consensual, may or may not be between
two adults.

There is another term for "homosexual" that has yet to be included in
Aryanpour.com, and that's "همجنس گرا" [hamjens garaa].  What's the
difference between "همجنس گرا" and "همجنس باز"?  The latter can
include situational homosexuality (e.g., a man who is usually more
inclined toward straight sex having sex with a boy or another man in
some contexts), whereas the former suggests an idea of homosexual
orientation.

-- 
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>