The Materiality of Cyber Commercial Sigheh

: A Netnographic Study of Merchandised Sex within the Irano-Islamic Context

Abstract

This thesis is a pioneering netnographic research project on the materiality of cybercommercial Sigheh (temporary marriage). It extends beyond the examination of the normative way in which Sigheh is practised, to study this socioeconomic phenomenon within cyberlandscapes. The research aims to explore the operational dynamics behind the construction and refinement of the cyber Sigheh market, presenting the politics of Sigheh and the digital culture integrated into the fabric of the cyber Sigheh colony, and conceptualising the circumstances that contribute to the development of cybercommercial Sigheh. This research is structured around qualitative data gathered through digital observation, virtual networking, and direct asynchronous technologised communicative exchanges. The digitextual data collected, comprising online advertisements and semi-structured interviews with Sigheh providers and entrepreneurs in direct asynchronous conversation format, undergoes semiotic analysis followed by critical discourse analysis.
The cyber Sigheh market is theorised as a dialectically constructed arena where non-normative sexual activities are employed for either subsistence or consumption in a hybrid society, while cybercommercial Sigheh is contextualised as a neoliberal post-paradigmatic practice that incorporates elements of mainstream sex work within the framework of Islamic marriage. However, the actuality of this practice does not substantiate the rhetoric of essentialism, as the constitutive nature of the market resists being reduced to the flawed dichotomy of exploitation or liberation; it is a polymorphous industry where themes of disempowerment and disadvantage intertwine with those of advancement and opportunity. Subjectivity in this practice is comprehended through the dynamic interplay of nuanced and existential dualities of constraint and resistance emerging from the system of capitalist enterprise, and agency is brought into play as a practical-calculative capacity. This study attempts to destigmatise the practice of commercial Sigheh and to rationalise it as value-creating labour, alleviating the scrutiny and social exclusion endured by women engaged in the Sigheh trade.

Date of Award	17 Jun 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Natasha Mulvihill (Supervisor) & Nadia Aghtaie (Supervisor)