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More than 150 migrant Australians are opening up about sexual and religious oppression in a groundbreaking research project.
Poet Koraly Dimitriadis is usually known within the Australian Greek-Cypriot community as one of two things – a voice of reason or a reckless rebel.
Her work predominantly explores taboo subjects within Australian migrant families from Greek or Cypriot backgrounds, including religious repression, domestic violence, divorce and shame.
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Her upcoming non-fiction project called Not Till You're Married discusses how women are made to feel ashamed about sex and their bodies during childhood in religious migrant families.
One research participant, who chose to stay anonymous, told 9news.com.au she can relate to Dimitriadis as she too developed intimacy issues due to her upbringing.
"As a young Arab girl, I was constantly reminded that having crushes on boys was deviant and wrong, this stuck with me well into my teenage and adult years, where I now find intimacy really physically difficult," she said.
"The years of conditioning means that even though you're an adult consenting to sexual and romantic intimacy, you feel repulsion for yourself that shouldn't be associated with pleasure.
"Not only does this impact sexual comfortability, but the ability to be vulnerable and let love in."
Dimitriadis has collected data from over 150 first-generation Australians who were raised following an Abrahamic religion, with at least one parent born overseas.
Abrahamic religions include Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
"Not Till You're Married as a whole explores what a religious or migrant upbringing might manifest in the adult," she told 9news.com.au.
"I saw marriage as a kind of freedom (because) that's what (my) migrant culture had taught me.
"First you are your parent's property, (then) you are your husband's property (but) you are never your own property."
While Dimitriadis draws controversy from some in the community, her poetry works titled Love and F— Poems and Give Me the Pills have received acclaim from those struggling in migrant communities.
The writer says she doesn't care if she's controversial if it means just one person resonates with her work.
"It's kind of unapologetic, it's just my way, it's raw and confronting, it (my work) does tackle really complex subjects in confronting ways," she said.
"This book isn't a book about blame, it's about healing and acknowledging (that) our parents and our grandparents had hard lives, but we need to do better.
"I've had issues with my body, loving my body, taking care of myself.
"I've had people tell me 'that's exactly my experience', (while others) have said 'I never had that experience.'"
Dimitriadis is currently looking for a publisher for the book and her research is nearing completion.
Her debut short story collection The Mother Must Die will be released next year.
