Discursive perspective on constructing the concept of marriage in pre- revolutionary Iran with emphasis on constructing ideal woman

The process of modernization and the resulting feminist social activities during the Pahlavi period in Iran (1941-1979) were confronted with the clerical thoughts and religious intellectualism. In this paper, the writers have selected four books on marriage written before the 1979 Islamic revolution and adopted a discourse analytical approach to identify the discourses on marriage and the features of an ideal woman for marriage at that time. The paper also is to answer the question whether socio-cultural changes of the time affected the discourses on marriage or not. To study the texts, Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory (1985) and the discourse semiotics methodology developed by Soltani (2013) were used as the theoretical framework. The findings show that the Islamic and religious discourse on marriage is rooted in an essentialist view of the concept of marriage and have considered “reproduction” as of one of the important goals of marriage. In addition, this discourse assumes an ideal woman for marriage to be self-controlled, sensitive and emotional, satisfier of men’s sexual needs, and a dedicated mother. Furthermore, the public discourse on marriage is also based on an essentialist view of marriage and characterizes an ideal woman as beautiful, dignified and a boss at home. Both of the discourses were heavily under the influence of the Islamic discourse and clerical thoughts common at that time in Iran.