Maryam Zehtabi has a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and a graduate certificate in Film Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her recent research has focused on the ramifications of sex work in Iran from the Constitutional Revolution of early twentieth century to the present day through the lens of Persian literature and film. She is particularly interested in women, gender, and sexuality studies and the intersection of religion and feminism. Her current research centers around the issues of child marriage and the #MeToo Movement in Iran. Her works have appeared in The International Journal of Persian Literature, The Guardian, and The Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies. She is currently an Assistant Professor, General Faculty teaching Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies and Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Virginia.

Selected Publications

“Hush! Girls Don’t Scream (2013) by Puran Derakhshandeh and the #MeTooMovement in Iran.” The #MeToo Movement in Iran: Reporting Sexual Violence and Harassment, edited by Claudia Yaghoobi (forthcoming Bloomsbury/IB Tauris, 2023)

“The Birth of a Character: The Prostitute and the Early Novels in Twentieth-Century Iran.” Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies 16:3 (2020): 307-325.

“Analyzing Mother-Daughter Relationships across Three Generations of Jewish Women in Liora by Farībā Ṣidīqīm.” International Journal of Persian Literature 4 (2019): 84-103.

Review of Iranian Women and Gender in the Iran-Iraq War, by Matteo Mohammad Farzaneh. Journal of Middle East Women's Studies (2021) 17 (3): 454–456.

“The Continuous Conversation.” Review of The Grammar of God: A Journey into the Words and Worlds of the Bible, by Aviya Kushner. The Massachusetts Review, 11 April 2016. https://www.massreview.org/node/529. Accessed 07 November 2016.

Translations

“The Antiques” by Mahsa Mohebali. The Silk Road Review, 14 March 2018. http://silkroad.pacificu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The_Antiques.pdf.

“Half White, Half Violet” by Mahsa Mohebali. M—DASH, 5 February 2017. https://mdash-ahb.org/current-issue-2/issue-10-winterfall-2017/half-whit....

“Love in the Footnotes” by Mahsa Mohebali. The Guardian, 23 August 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/books/translation-tuesdays-by-asymptote-jour...

“Love in the Footnotes” by Mahsa Mohebali. Asymptote, 15 July 2016. http://www.asymptotejournal.com/fiction/mahsa-mohebali-love-in-the-footn....