Navigating and resisting the compulsory military service in Iran: embodied experiences of non-heterosexual Iranian men

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Naeimi ◽  
Jón Ingvar Kjaran
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Heterosexual Men ◽  
Gender Nonconforming ◽  
Compulsory Military Service ◽  
Embodied Experiences ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Iranian Context

Abstract In the homosocial space of the all male military service, (hetero)masculinity and gender normativity are promoted and bravery and warrior mentality are highly valued. On this basis, policing gender and sexuality is a relevant issue, aiming to reward heteronormativity and hyper masculinity and marginalize non heterosexuality and gender nonconforming performances. In the Iranian context, since the Iran Iraq war (1980–1988), military service has produced a feature of militarized (hetero)masculinities through the cult of martyrdom. It enforces soldiers to stand up against the enemy, be willing to seek martyrdom and sacrifice themselves in order to protect the Islamic Iranian homeland. It is a symbol of entering adulthood and during that time young men are expected to embody the official ideology which revolves around heteronormativity and strict gender norms. In this context, the focus of this paper is the embodied experiences of those young conscripts who do not embody the (hetero)masculine ideal, because they are either non heterosexual or do not fit into the strict regime of gender. Drawing on ethnographic data, and policy documents, this paper shows how the idea of the (hetero)masculine ideal has been translated into practice through the dispositif of the sarbazi and how some young Iranian non heterosexual men try to resist conscription while others try to find ways to carve out a liminal heterotopic space during their military service.

scholarly journals Doing Everything: Intersections of Gender and Sexual Orientation in Caregiving for a Spouse With Dementia

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 492-492
Author(s):  
Toni Calasanti ◽  
Brian de Vries
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Heterosexual Men ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Lesbian And Gay ◽  
Heterosexual Women ◽  
Unpaid Labor ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract Gender inequalities are rooted in and drive the division of labor over the life course, which result in heterosexual men and women acquiring different resources, skills, and identities. Gendered differences in caregiving reflect these varying gender repertoires. Whether and how these repertoires vary by sexual orientation is lesser understood. Our qualitative study seeks to explore the ways that sexual orientation and gender, and the related division of both paid and unpaid labor, shapes caregiving for a spouse or partner with Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders (AD). Our data, obtained from in-depth interviews conducted among lesbian (n=9), gay (n=6), and heterosexual spousal and partner (23 women and 14 men) caregivers of those with AD, reveal that, although all the caregivers spoke about “having to do everything,” with a particular focus on decision-making, they interpret this experience differently based on the intersections of gender and sexuality. The heterosexual women reported they were used to managing daily household life, yet they described having to make decisions as quite stressful: “I don’t like to be the boss.” Heterosexual husbands also lamented that they “had to do everything,” but commenting that they hadn’t realized what it took to “manage a household.” The concerns reported by lesbian and gay spouses and partners were similarly situated but more varied, as each group tended to report their previous divisions of labor as “less well-defined.” Our findings reflect both the influence of gender inequalities on how respondents experience “doing everything,” and their potential modification in same-sex relationships.

scholarly journals Dual Citizenship

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Escobar
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Regional Patterns ◽  
Compulsory Military Service ◽  
Dual Nationality ◽  
And Gender

Dual or multiple nationality/citizenship is a status that grants an individual membership in two or more states. This status was repudiated and fought against legally and culturally, but it has been normalized since the end of the 20th century as a result of various changes that occurred in the aftermath of World War II: (1) decrease in international conflict and a reduction of compulsory military service; (2) development of human rights and gender equality, allowing women to transfer their nationality to their offspring; (3) increase in international support for the prevention of statelessness; and (4) increase in international migration and intermarriage. An individual can become a dual/multiple national/citizen by birth or by naturalization. In international law, nationality and citizenship are used interchangeably, however, some countries draw legal distinctions between them; moreover, various social scientists insist on distinguishing between these two closely related concepts. While countries may legally accept or reject dual nationality/citizenship, the reality is more complex because there is formal and informal tolerance of this status. This tolerance can also be differential (e.g., restriction of dual nationality/citizenship via naturalization and tolerance of this status when individuals are born in the territory and inherit a second—or more—nationality/citizenship from their parents). Dual or multiple nationality/citizenship can also diverge in its origins and consequences depending on whether it involves immigration or emigration states and in the degree to which dual nationality/citizenship is granted (e.g., acceptance of the retention of nationality when emigrants nationalize abroad while restricting their access to citizenship rights, such as political rights). The increase in dual nationality/citizenship since the late 20th century has promoted a normative debate (more intense, initially) about its consequences in terms of military service, state loyalty, diplomatic protection, equality of rights among citizens, and so on. However, thanks to the proliferation of comparative and single studies of dual nationality/citizenship around the globe, we may now analyze not only the reasons that brought about the acceptance, rejection, or tolerance of this status but also its practical consequences. Scholars have studied the effects of dual nationality/citizenship in many areas, such as international relations, nationalism and the state, migrants’ integration in countries of reception, membership and rights extension to migrants in countries of emigration, political participation, instrumental use of this status, and so on. While the causes and consequences of dual nationality/citizenship vary widely, some regional patterns around the globe have been identified.

Gender and Sexuality in Taiwan Schools

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lien Fan Shen
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equity ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Education Reforms ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Martial Law ◽  
Disciplinary Power ◽  
Gender Nonconforming ◽  
Education Act ◽  
And Gender

Issues of sexuality and gender equity in schools are often entangled with education reforms in Taiwan. Since 1949, when martial law was enacted by the Chinese Nationalist Party, schools had exercised disciplinary power over and exhibited forms of gendered oppression on students’ gender and sexuality. Since martial law was lifted in 1987, Taiwan has undergone several educational reforms. Taiwan’s education system was criticized for its focus on standardization, memorization, and lack of creativity, thus reformers pushed a more holistic approach, and gender equity education was included through the implementation of the Gender Equity Education Act in 2004. In general, gender equity education reforms were catalyzed by a series of social events, including two honor students’ suicide; students’ protesting a hair ban (how it is referred to in Taiwan) and gender-specific uniforms; a gender-nonconforming boy’s accidental death on campus; and anti-LGBTQ cases in a 2018 referendum to eliminate gender equity education in schools. These events exemplified the complexity of discursive practices that encompass struggles of gender and sexual minority individuals in schools, negotiations between the legislative process and public opinion, and media attention on and representation of adolescent gender and sexuality in Taiwan. Taiwan’s movements and progression of gender equity education may be seen as a magnifier through which issues of gender and sexuality are revealed not only in schools but also in society at large.

Male Homosexuality and Gender-Nonconforming Expression

2020 ◽  
pp. 132-159
Author(s):  
Kim T. Gallon
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Gender Nonconformity ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Black Press ◽  
Black Communities ◽  
Gender Nonconforming ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
Female Impersonators ◽  
And Gender

Chapter 5 details how Black Press news coverage produced a black public sexual sphere that allowed readers to debate homosexuality and gender-noncomforming expression’s position in early-twentieth-century black communities. As the Black Press worked to transform negative images of blackness, they held homosexual life and gender-nonconformity up as a spectacle that could not seamlessly fit into notions of African American respectability. Nonetheless, regular coverage in the Black Press proved that editors believed that readers enjoyed reading articles and viewing images about female impersonators and gay men. In presenting readers’ responses to this coverage, chapter 5 draws attention to instances of contest and negotiation between diverse African American readers as they struggled to understand the intersections between race, gender, and sexuality.

scholarly journals The Gendered and Heterosexist Evolution of the Teacher Exemplar in the United States: Equity Implications for LGBTQ and Gender Nonconforming Teachers

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Kahn ◽  
Paul C. Gorski
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Public School Teachers ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Gender Nonconforming ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
Sexual Orientations ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Gender

<p>Challenges confront lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender public school teachers or those who are perceived as such or who desire to be open about their sexual orientations or gender identities or expression. Teachers who do not conform to gender and sexual orientation norms currently are and historically have been the subject of persecution, urban myths, and general hysteria—part of bigger efforts to normalize heterosexuality and cisgender-ness through the development of a distinctive “exemplar” related to who teachers should be. We examine the related historical  and legal context of gender and sexuality in schools and then offer suggestions regarding how to redress the lingering impacts of gender- and heteronormativity.</p>

How/Can Psychology Support Low-Income LGBTGNC Liberation?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Billies
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Gender Nonconforming ◽  
Building Community ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Right ◽  
Psychology Of Liberation

Findings from a participatory action research project conducted by the Welfare Warriors Research Collaborative (WWRC) are used to explore the questions of whether and what kind of psychology can support racially and ethnically diverse, low-income lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming (LGBTGNC) liberation. Such issues cannot be understood through lenses of gender and sexuality alone and mainstream psychology—as well as the larger LGBT movement—has tended to ignore the formative ways oppressions are made to work together. Intersectionality and homonationalism are necessary concepts in a psychology of low-income, racially and ethnically diverse LGBTGNC liberation as well as an understanding of “resistance” that broadens to include building community among individuals as well as solidarity and coalition with sister social movements. Freedom of movement and the right to housing are explored as human rights relevant for a low-income LGBTGNC psychology of liberation.

The good, the bad, and the forgiven: The media spectacle of South Korean male celebrities’ compulsory military service

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yezi Yeo
Keyword(s):  
Military Service ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
Korean Society ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Colonial Studies ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Compulsory Military Service ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Military

For almost 70 years, South Korea has upheld the principle of universal male conscription, and the military has been a potent force in post-war South Korean political, economic, and social development. The role and significance of male conscription and the military establishment in South Korean society have been explored from the perspective of political, social, and gender/post-colonial studies. However, there is a considerable lack of academic research assessing the social meanings behind the highly publicized conduct of male celebrities’ negotiating the issue of their compulsory military service, which has turned increasingly into media spectacles since the mid-1990s. This study attempts to provide an insight into the political and social ramifications of such media events by tracing the military service and male celebrity discourse through several major conscription scandals in the South Korean mass media. By simultaneously policing and exploiting the ‘sacred’ duty to serve, these media scandals reinforce what it means to be a true ‘Korean man’.

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