Sexuality and gender have come to serve as measures for cultural belonging in discussions of the position of Muslim immigrants in multicultural Western societies. While the acceptance of assumed local norms such as sexual liberty and gender equality are seen as successful integration, rejecting them is regarded as a sign of failed citizenship. Focusing on premarital sex, homosexuality, and cohabitation outside marriage, this book provides an ethnographic account of sexuality among the Iranian Dutch. It argues that by embracing, rejecting, and questioning modernity in stories about sexuality, the Iranian Dutch actively engage in processes of self-fashioning.

Key Takeaways:

• Sexuality and gender play a central role in defining cultural belonging and citizenship in Western societies, but they must be understood as part of a broader, more complex process of self-fashioning by immigrants.
• Iranian-Dutch individuals do not simply accept or reject Western norms, but engage in nuanced negotiations of their identities, reflecting the fluidity of modernity and belonging.
• The book challenges dominant narratives about immigrant integration and shows how sexuality and gender equality are not always the key markers of successful citizenship, but part of an ongoing, individualized process of belonging and self-definition.