Exploring Iranian Feminist Activities on Instagram: Challenging Cultural Values and Criticizing Discriminate Structures

I examine how Iranian feminist activists use Instagram to educate, raise awareness about women's issues, and challenge dominant cultural values. I used feminist theories, especially cyberfeminism that uses digital media to spread feminist messages, to empirically study the pages of nine feminist activists using interviews and content analysis. Among six different categories that emerged after sampling for content analysis, the issue of male dominance was discussed most in terms of percentage of posts, followed by inequality in society, and women's struggles for liberty. The issue of inequality in society was the most prioritized category highlighted by four out of the nine activists in content analysis. Male dominance and inequalities were emphasized in the interviews as well. Activists approach these topics mostly from the angle of cultural values. Both interviews and content analysis shows rather than challenging discriminate structures, they aim to raise social awareness and sympathy towards women's issues.