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Family Affairs: New Media, the State, and Women in Iran
Abstract
Late marriages, rising divorce rates, and women outnumbering their male counterparts on university campuses are among the most striking indicators of major shifts in the position of women and the family in contemporary Iran. In the post-revolutionary state, where officially sanctioned discourses have largely addressed women’s roles and rights in terms relating to family, marriage, and motherhood, these changes constitute a crisis. To address this crisis and to re-frame discourses on women, the Iranian state has provided substantial support for the production of material that emphasizes the essential links between women and family. This support is evident in the rise of book publications, television show forums, and public declarations (including by Ayatollah Khamenei himself) about women. Recognizing the influence of New Media in general and the online successes of dissenting voices in particular, state actors and supporters have supplemented the explosion in offline material about women and the family with digital sites for promoting similar content. With a focus on New Media, this paper interrogates such attempts to define and circumscribe discourses on women within frameworks pertaining to the family. Drawing from online venues dedicated to women’s issues (such as Mehrkhane, a “news and analysis site on women and the family,” and Charghad, which describes itself as a site for the “Muslim Iranian Girl”), the paper also highlights the internal inconsistencies of conservative discourses on women and examines the reasons why these sites have been unable to garner popular participation. In addition, the paper argues that the push to redirect the conversations about women must be understood not only in relation to the changing status of women and marriage but must also be placed in a broader context where the state’s views and policies on women are constantly being challenged by foreign media, reformist and independent activists, as well as by dissenters within the factionalized power establishment.
Discipline
Communications
Geographic Area
Iran
Sub Area
Media