Transformations Of Gender In Iran

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The Transformation of Gender in Iran

The notions of gender in Iranian modernity have realized a great transformation which

commenced after the primary ten years of the 20

century. These transformations were marked

bu the ability of women to claim their place in their community, which stirred up the inclusion of

women in the matters of nationalism, which were mainly presided over by the males who took

part as members of the Islamic brotherhood. During the period before this, the role of the females

was to nurture the family and the homeland, by nurturing it and loving it.

The roles of the brotherhood and the sisterhood were merged in this specific decade of

the 20

century, due to the integrity of the nation and the purity of the woman, which brought

about the honor of both the gender and the nation, which became subject to the protection and

possession of the males. Iranian modernity was achieved when masculinity in the traditional Iran

was abandoned and dubbed backward, by the hetero-normalization and socialization of genders

in the society, leading the family unit in the society to be reconfigured to meet these new

definitions and insinuations of masculinity. The result of this hetero-socialization was a

contribution to the concept and notions of gender in the society, which also promoted new

definitions and specializations of beauty in the society (Najmabadi 6). The perception of gender

based beauty in society was also expected to change, thus the traditional notions of beauty and

gender greatly varied. Thus, AfsanehNajmabadi thus expresses through images the

transformation of gender together with the concept of modernity in Iran.

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Before the 19

century in Iraq, beauty was acceptable for both the male and the female

genders, but the Iranian modernization brought the differentiation of beauty for both the females

and the male genders. These changes in gender are clearly depicted in the representations of the

Iranian visual culture, which took a more natural and real approach from the original

representations that were phantasmic, as a result of the shift in the gender based representations

of beau ty in the Iranian community before the 19

century. These changes have been greatly

attributed to the contribution of the camera and photography, which influence realism in the

painting of the features and beauty aspects of the people. This greatly contributed to the

feminization of beauty and the transformation of the concept of beauty within men which also

led to the disappearance of the masculine desire object, from the paintings after the 19

century.

For instance, passionate couples also disappeared from being painted while the feminine objects

of desire continued to replace the masculine ones. This also clearly depicted in figure 4 below

which represents a set of desires, such as that expressed by the female for the male in the image,

causing the viewer to also develop a sense of desire for the males (Najmabadi 26). This

contributed to hetero-eroticism is shown to express the depiction of both male and female

genders with desire, which was different before the 19

century when homoerotic visual

depictions of males were common. Male beauty is also represented by young men without any

facial hair, unlike their after 19

century counterparts that represented female male couples with

heavy signs of facial hair, be it a beard, sideburns or even a mustache.

With regard to the gaze, male beauty is symbolized before the 19

century by an averted

gaze, where the subject is neither looking at their partner in the portrait nor its viewers. This gaze

serves to expose to the viewer all the aspects of beauty and desire from the young male including

his smile, facial features and a wanting pose. This strongly resembles a depiction of a female

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object of desire after the 19

century when only female beauty was made mainstream and the

male beauty was completely downplayed. In figure 4, the beauty aspects of the male are similar

to those of the female depicted, such that the gaze and his pose allows the viewers to see the

same iconic posture as that female objects desire could get after the 19

century, thanks to the

interactions and influences of the Europeans after the camera and photography were introduced.

Figure 4 Embracing lovers(Najmabadi 29) 1

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This is also true for the image named as figure 3 in Najmabadi’s book, which also depicts a

painting of Prince Yahya to depict the impact of Iranian modernity on gender and its depictions

of beauty. Like in figure 4, figure 3 depicts a single male figure without any facial hair and

instead with a tall slim frame that is even tinier at the waist, a beauty feature that has been

commonly associated with females especially after the 19

century. The man is also clearly very

well accessorized with the different Iranian ornaments that he is dawned in, with an aim of

making him more presentable, and setting him apart as a prince in the traditional Iranian society

that occurred before the 19

century. This depiction of the prince also paints him without any

mustache, sideburns, or even a beard, to highlight that the man depicted in the image was of a

certain age and social class, which, as has been explained before was only depicted using very

young beautiful men.

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Figure 3 Prince Yahya (Najmabadi 28) 1

In addition, the gaze and pose used in the painting serve the purpose of inviting the

audience to view the subject as an object of desire, as the prince is painting looking at the viewer,

to expose all the aspects of beauty in his facial features. This convincingly makes it easier for the

viewer to be convinced by the beauty of the prince. The gaze goes ahead to express the

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ambivalence of the concept of male beauty which is only achieved in a certain phase of their

lives when they become young adults and have no facial hair to become an object of desire

coveted by both men and women. This promoted hetero-eros in the society, which completely

brought about Iranian modernity and hetero-eroticism in that society, thus alienating men with

beauty and promoting beauty among women. The beautiful man depicted in this figure served to

remind the male viewer of male beauty art of the divine perfection of male creation, encouraging

the outside world, especially the Europeans to see this as a homosexual society,and thus the

society had to shift toward heterosexual tendencies to promote normalcy in society according to

these outsiders. This contributed to the concept of hetero-eroticism becoming a new normal in

the 19

century making the traditional concept of male beauty to become unnatural and less

popular in the days ahead. Female figure began to become more proliferated in the 19

century

in the Iranian society, to encourage a sexual modernization. Beauty after this point became

completely feminized such that the images and paintings of sexuality being utilized reflected the

feminine beauty other than male beauty as had been expressed in the Iranian society before the

century. It became more popular to find depictions of human beauty being represented by

the female gender, thus transforming gender in the Iranian society as a result of modernization

from Europeans. The society’s concept of beauty existed in all genders but the modernity only

enhanced the concept of beauty for the female and this concept became completely faded away

for the males.

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Works Cited

Najmabadi, Afsaneh. Women with Mustaches Men without Beards-Gender and Sexual Anxieties

of Iranian Modernity. Carlifornia: University of California Press, 2005.

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Transformations of Gender in Iran

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