Arranged/Forced Marriages: At the Intersection of Gender, Violence, and Sexuality

一个不公正的社会传统只有在得到充分理解的情况下才能得到解决。这项比较和实证研究旨在调查伊拉克库尔德斯坦地区的包办婚姻和强迫婚姻现象，并阐明其多方面的社会影响。通过实施包括性别与和平研究在内的各个领域的跨学科和理论框架，研究人员打算了解这种精心策划或非自愿婚姻在库尔德妇女和男子的社区、文化和日常生活中所起的作用。这项研究还旨在审查一系列无关紧要的主题，如女性的性行为或滥交及其与家庭假定的“荣誉”的辩证关系、妇女童贞的社会价值、以及可导致为报复受害家庭而对妇女进行“名誉杀人”的被认为的道德侵犯。其他研究的变量包括切割女性生殖器的社会文化功能，在KRI中再现的性别角色和关于男性气质的社区话语，以及当前妇女在公共领域更多机构的政治发展。通过采用定性和定量研究方法，包括在KRI实地采访妇女和男子，研究人员希望填补已确定的关于强迫婚姻和包办婚姻及其周边问题生态系统的文献空白。在这样做时，研究将阐明日常生活和集体行动之间的重要联系，同时思考妇女的存在，并展示其生活特点的相互交织的复杂性。这些发现对学术界、人权组织、国际机构、拥有大量库尔德侨民的欧盟国家和库尔德斯坦地区政府都很有意义，使它们能够制定一致的政策，防止基于性别的暴力，实现更大的平等。

An unjust social tradition can only be addressed when it is fully understood. This comparative and empirical research study aims to investigate the phenomenon of arranged and forced marriages in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and diagram out its multifaceted societal implications. Through the implementation of interdisciplinary and theoretical frameworks from various fields, including gender and peace studies, the researcher intends to comprehend the role that such orchestrated or involuntary marriages serve in the community, culture, and daily lives of Kurdish women and men. This study also aims to examine a range of tangential topics, such as female sexuality or promiscuity and its dialectical connection to a family's presumed "honour", the social value of women's virginity, and perceived moral violations which can result in "honour killings" against women to avenge offended families. Additional examined variables include the socio-cultural function of female genital mutilation (FGM), reproduced gender roles and communal discourses on masculinity in the KRI, and current women's political developments for more agency in the public sphere. By deploying qualitative and quantitative research methods, including interviews with women and men on the ground in the KRI, the researcher aspires to fill in the identified literature gaps on forced and arranged marriages and its ecosystem of surrounding issues. In so doing, the research will illuminate the vital links between daily life and collective action, while meditating on women's existence, and displaying the intertwined complexities that characterize their lives. Such discoveries are of interest to academia, human rights organizations, international institutions, European Union states with sizeable Kurdish diaspora populations, and the Kurdistan Regional Government, so that they can formulate coherent policies to prevent gender-based violence and achieve greater equality.