The Iranian #MeToo Movement

Abstract

Iran’s #MeToo movement started three years prior to the global #MeToo when in 2017 women were protesting mandatory hijab laws in Iran. #MeToo became viral in 2020 in Iran. This chapter discusses the legal and cultural perspectives toward sexual and gender violence in Iran. A content analysis is conducted on tweets related to the #MeToo and other related hashtags, such as #Rape and #NoMeansNo. Revealing stories, rising awareness, political and cultural context, role of power, class, and race are the shared themes found in the content of tweets related to the movement. The consequences and effects of Iranian #MeToo movement and their connections with global #MeToo movement shows that the Iranian #MeToo is adapted to the local Iranian conditions and is related to major questions regarding gender-based violence in Iran. Despite this specificity to local conditions, the Iranian version of #MeToo has used and modified the main claims and hashtags of the global #MeToo. This analysis situates the Iranian #MeToo in both the global and local conversations regarding feminism and women’s rights.