Discourse Analysis of Female Body Surveillance in Iran after the Islamic Revolution

The present study closely examines the relationship between the female body and the political structures in the discourse of the Iranian Islamic Revolution. More specifically, Foucault’s Theory regarding the relationship between power and body as well as the empirical study of the symbolic aspects of the female body in relation to the revolutionary discourse are employed to arrive at a symbolic pattern of female body organization. The analysis indicated that the revolutionary discourse is associated with a specific pattern of female body surveillance according to the imperative social and political necessities of its evolution. The emerged revolutions in social context of intra-discourse and extradiscourse and the continuity of such association have led to challenges in the revolutionary discourse. Considering the importance and primacy of revolutionary discourse, it is essential to revise the internal structure of this discourse in order to release it from dependence on demanding signifiers. Finally, two strategies including ‘return to origin’ and ‘fundamental reconstruction’ are suggested.