Sociological Study of Sexual Abnormalities in Homeless Hangouts in Tehran and Mashhad

Introduction: Due to the increasing prevalence and increasing number of Homeless people in the metropolitan areas of Iran, it is necessary to conduct studies to analyze the conditions governing the individual and social life in these territories. The results of such a study could be to gain credible cognition to design and advance constructive social, security, and caring interventions in this regard. Therefore, the present study seeks to study the various aspects of sexuality in the Homeless' life experience and the conditions that govern it with a qualitative approach. The main research questions are as follows: What is the pattern of sex regulation in the Homeless' life experience? Under what conditions does it form? What are the strategies of action or interaction of social actors in relation to it? and finally what are the implications of this pattern?
Method: The approach of this study was qualitative and based on the use of grounded theory. In-depth interviews were conducted with 42 homeless people including 23 men and 19 women. The samples were purposefully selected from homeless hangouts in Mashhad and Tehran. After the initial interviews, the coding process began, and further interviews continued as the coding process progressed. The initial codes obtained during the open coding step were categorized several times to produce the final main categories. Core category was selected from a review of the main categories and continuous comparison of the findings. Explaining the findings and drawing up a final narrative about the core category eventually led the researchers to a grounded theory explaining the phenomenon of "sexual abnormalities in homeless hangouts."
Findings: The results indicate that the homeless people generally promote their emotional and sexual activities in a chaotic fashion. The gradual discrediting of the family institution and the return to drug use have played an important role in this upheaval. Homeless people have had different strategies to meet their sexual needs, often with their preferred experiences in the pre-homeless period, and in some ways, the status quo has been somewhat derogatory. But overall, and in the coordinates of homelessness, one can see a self-reliant and flexible pattern of emotional-sexual intercourse among homeless people that has provided the opportunity to meet the needs of most of its audiences.
Discussion and conclusion: A key point in examining the issue of sexual intercourse among the homeless has been the marital background. Failure to marry because of drug use and separation has led individuals to seek alternatives to meet their emotional and sexual needs. According to research by Begun (2015) and Brown & et al. (2012), sexual and emotional intimacy have influenced the way homeless people interact. The findings of this study are consistent with Merton's (1968) theory. Accordingly, homeless people resort to illicit ways to have sex. Also, according to the analytical approach of social learning theory (Vold, Bernard & Snipes, 2018), homeless people have learned this behavior by learning about these behaviors in homeless hangouts. Finally, the findings of this study show that sexual dysfunction among homeless people is not only reflected in the multiplicity of sexual behaviors and high risk behaviors, but also that the homeless people's return to hangouts and camps is a reflection of this turmoil. The studies of Begun & et al. (2019) and Barman & et al. (2017) also confirm the findings of the present study.