Gendered States

Afsaneh Najmabadi argues that in the quest for universals upon which nationalism could be hung, Iranian patriotic discourse created heterosexual gendered roles. In this set-up the nation of Iran (called "vatan", which more or less means "homeland") was characterized as three shifting gendered roles; first, as a possibly male beloved, with all its (homo- and hetero-) erotic baggage, second as a unambiguously female beloved, and finally as a mother. Often the discourse used multiple definitions simultaneously, but they all are, according to Najmabadi, influenced by and influencing the normative gendering of sexuality in the development of modern Iran.

Kandiyati discusses how political context affects how the state deals with women's issues, rejecting an approach that focuses solely on religious components. She discusses how in Turkey, with a strong imperial state apparatus and close connections with Europe, the drive for modernism caused more progressive/liberal policies regarding women's rights in divorce, property ownership, and the like. This contrasts with Iran's less centralized, religious-and-secular divided government's more conservative approach. This is an approach that many of the feminists we read earlier would approve of, as it doesn't include a blanket condemnation of Islam and Islamicate culture like most western feminist writings of the time.