Iranian Women's Quest for Self-Liberation through the Internet and Social Media: An Emancipatory Pedagogy

This dissertation examines the discourse of body autonomy among Iranian women. It approaches the discourse of body autonomy by deconstructing veiling, public mobility, and sexuality, while considering the impact of society, history, religion, and culture. Although there are many important scholarly works on Iranian women and human rights that explore womens civil rights and freedom of individuality in relation to the hijab, family law, and sexuality, the absence of work on the discourse of body autonomythe most fundamental human righthas created a deficiency in the field. My research examines the discourse of body autonomy in the context of liberation among Iranian women while also assessing the role of the internet as informal emancipatory educational tools.
To explore the discourse of body autonomy, I draw upon critical and transnational feminist theory and the theoretical frameworks of Derayeh, Foucault, Shahidian, Bayat, Mauss, and Freire. Additionally, in-depth semi-structured interviews with Iranian women aged 26 to 42 in Iran support my analysis of the practice and understanding of body autonomy personally, on the internet, and social media. The results identify and explicate some of the major factors affecting the practice and awareness of body autonomy, particularly in relation to the goal of liberation for Iranian women. Altogether, this study contributes to an underdeveloped area of scholarly analysis and will further awareness in Middle East feminist studies.