Iranian Journal of Sociology

Abstract Masculinity as a form of values, norms, and behaviors is to a large extent derived from discourse relationships. The development of virtual social networks in the last decade has provided the ground for the multiplicity and arrangement of rival discourses of masculinity. Relying on the virtual ethnography method and semiotic and thematic analysis, seek to identify the types of masculinity in cyberspace, the dominant discourses, and their relationships. The main types extracted included hegemonic, complicit, subaltern, marginal masculinity, and their subtypes. The alternative form of active anti-discrimination masculinity with the ideal of gender equality and the briquillage form of the new hegemonic masculinity was also recognized, which seeks to combine elements of traditional hegemonic masculinity with newer elements to perpetuate masculine superiority. The types were universal and some were indigenous. Iranian men combine elements of their identity in the complex cultural-historical context as well as the existing economic and political structures. Thus the hierarchy between the types of masculinity, their actions in the face of each other and other forms, as well as in the face of macrostructures, as power/resistance and tactics/strategy, as well as some of their mechanisms have found more complexities and found an Iranian face.

Abstract This paper aims to study the construction of women identity by poststructuralist approach and Foucault's method of archeology. According to the findings, the historical period of Constitutionalism to the end of Pahlavi the first, which is regarded as the process of modernity in Iran, is considered as the creation of female issues and women identity in Iran. The three main discourses -political sovereignty, religious, and intellectual discourses - had influenced the construction of women identity by using law and force,  interpreting verses and hadiths, and publishing books and magazines respectively.
However, each of the three discourses tried to give a solid definition of femininity and women identity in Iran by defining a border with the other discourses and seeing them as "the other" one and attempting to suppress the individuality. Meanwhile, the representatives of the discourse of women's resistance have attempted to be heard using feminine narratives and a combination of identical factors of Iranian nationalism, the Shiite branch of Islam, and modern concepts like freedom, equality, and progress. In addition, these representatives weaken the dominance of the discourses and present their subjectivity.