CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AND FEMINIST RESISTANCE IN IRAN: RECLAIMING AGENCY UNDER AUTHORITARIAN RULE

Year 2025, Volume: 6 Issue: 2, 125 - 171, 01.09.2025

Shaghayegh Mohebkhodaee

Abstract

This paper examines how civil disobedience, rather than social disorderliness, is playing a role in forming the Iranian women’s movement, especially after the death of Mahsa Amini and the outburst of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement. The article relies on interdisciplinary materials, such as feminist theory, literature on civil disobedience, and media analysis, to retrace the forty years of women’s action against patriarchal laws in Iran. The study explains how the simple actions of bodily resistance by the Iranian women have been reorganized into a mass repertoire of nonviolent resistance against both religious and political authority. It focuses on embodied resistance, e.g., unveiling, dancing, and public speech, which is a moral and political reclamation of agency. It can also be observed that the results help to see how digital media fuel such actions globally, making the Iranian feminist struggle a transnational fight against rights and dignity. The study adds to the discourse of gender politics, social movements, and resistance in authoritarian situations.

Keywords

Civil Disobedience , Iranian Women’s Movement , Gender Resistance , Authoritarianism , Mahsa Amini

İRAN'DA SİVİL İTAATSİZLİK VE FEMİNİST DİRENİŞ: OTORİTER YÖNETİM ALTINDA FAALİYETİN GERİ KAZANILMASI

Abstract

Bu makale, özellikle Mahsa Amini’nin ölümü ve “Kadın, Yaşam, Özgürlük” hareketinin patlak vermesinin ardından, toplumsal düzensizlikten ziyade sivil itaatsizliğin İran kadın hareketinin oluşumunda nasıl bir rol oynadığını incelemektedir. Makale, İran’da kadınların ataerkil yasalara karşı kırk yıllık eylemlerini yeniden ele almak için feminist teori, sivil itaatsizlik literatürü ve medya analizi gibi disiplinlerarası materyallere dayanmaktadır. Çalışma, İranlı kadınların basit bedensel direniş eylemlerinin hem dini, hem de siyasi otoriteye karşı şiddet içermeyen kitlesel bir direniş repertuarına nasıl dönüştürüldüğünü açıklamaktadır. Çalışma, somut direnişe, örneğin başörtüsünü çıkarma, dans etme ve kamusal konuşma gibi, failliğin ahlaki ve siyasi bir geri kazanımı olan somut direnişe odaklanmaktadır. Ayrıca, sonuçların dijital medyanın küresel çapta bu tür eylemleri nasıl beslediğini ve İran feminist mücadelesini hak ve onur mücadelesi olarak ulusötesi bir mücadeleye dönüştürdüğünü görmeye yardımcı olduğu da gözlemlenebilir. Çalışma, toplumsal cinsiyet politikaları, toplumsal hareketler ve otoriter durumlarda direniş söylemine katkıda bulunmaktadır.

Keywords

Sivil İtaatsizlik , İran Kadın Hareketi , Toplumsal Cinsiyet Direnişi , Otoriterlik , Mahsa Amini

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