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Iranian Women’s Body Mobility in Social Media
Abstract
With the emergence of the Internet in Iran, circa 1998, Iranian women have used the Internet as an emancipatory means to pursue their rights and freedoms. The new realm of the internet introduced a unique space that encompassed both public and private factors which provided the opportunity to learn, communicate, discuss, and interact (Hague & Loader, 1999; Sardar & Ravetz, 1996; Turkle, 1995). The absence of body in the digital realm provided women with a new less masculinized space of knowledge and appearance that empowered the practice and awareness of body mobility. This qualitative feminist research conducted in depth interviews to investigate and compare Iranian women’s practice of body mobility in online and public realms. I critically examined the use of social media by several Iranian women to explore the role of gender-oriented socio-cultural values that affected their online and public activities/mobility. Borrowing critical and transnational feminist theories, this study concluded that online interaction boosted feminist consciousness and constructed a global solidarity that led empowerment. My research further suggests the online realm offers a safer space for sharing and learning, and has altered the meaning of some Iranian women’s traditional stands concerning body mobility, and therefore it has brought the boundaries between the public and private realms closer together. However, trapped by body discipline and social order, the women were forced to silently participate in online communities. Conformity, common amongst all the participants, hindered their autonomous online mobility and voice as they avoided communication and interaction. In the absence of legal or societal protections for women and with an inability to solve the root causes of gender inequality Iranian women are forced to find alternatives, such as using private accounts and sustaining an anonymous identity to protect themselves from social discipline and otherness. While the sense of control seems empowering, their hesitation on social media, even within a private account indicated that their behavior and autonomy is not limited by the space, but rather by the patriarchal ideology, techniques of bodies and oppositional duality. Key terms: emancipatory pedagogy, empowerment, Iranian women, social media, mobility.
Discipline
Other
Geographic Area
Iran
Sub Area
Gender/Women's Studies