Abstract
The visual history of Iran and Persian literature is replete with diverse representations of sexuality, ranging from nudity and erotica in miniatures to homoeroticism in literary works (Shamisa 2000; Najmabadi 2005). Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the production, distribution, representation, and circulation of audio-visual materials depicting eroticism, sexuality, or pornography were explicitly prohibited and are now punishable offenses (Afary 2009, p. 279). The Islamic regime has not only censored and removed all visual forms of sexuality but has also constructed and propagated its own sanctioned image of sexuality. Through practices such as veiling women, enforcing bodily coverage, excluding sexual minorities, presenting women as secondary to men, and maintaining visual separation between male and female figures, the regime has promoted a heteronormative vision of sexuality. These prohibitions have fostered the emergence of a significant underground subculture in Iranian Media, catalyzed by the advent of a new mediums: the video home system. This technology—comprising cameras, video recorders, and players—enabled Iranian citizens to record, distribute, and consume forbidden moving images of sexuality. Over the past four decades, media has become a critical battleground between “ordinary citizens” and the Islamic regime. These underground videos offer heterogeneous and diverse representations of sexuality in Iran, revealing the complexities of a modern society. While the Islamic regime employed high-quality production techniques and diverse media to project a sanitized, homogenous visual narrative of sexuality, ordinary citizens, with their amateur equipment and by using digital media platform created uncensored counter-representations—what Mirzoeff (2011) describes as “counter-visuality.”
Presenters
Anoushirvan MasoudiStudent, PhD, Hochschule für Gestaltung, Offenbach am Main, Berlin, Germany
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Underground Media, Sexuality, Political Aesthetics, Iranian Media
