foucault-and-the-iranian-revolution-janet-afary

Foucault, Gender, and Male Homosexualities 161
sexuality were lumped together as discredited, premodern traditions that had
to be replaced with the more modern ideal of monogamous marriage based
on mutual love.
In the latter part of the twentieth century, as a result of greater contact with
Western culture and sexual practices, a new discourse developed in Iran and
many other Middle Eastern countries. The West was branded as "immoral"
for ostensibly two reasons: female nudity and open adult male homosexual­
ity. In part, this new discourse was the result of an expansion of the tourist
industry and increased exposure to Western media. Parts of North Africa­
Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, and the Muslim Coast of Kenya-became favorite
tourist spots for European men and women.29 Such overt conduct by West­
ern homosexuals made the task of local gay and human rights activists more
difficult in the traditional Middle East. Homosexuality and pederasty remain
significant cultural practices, but members of Middle Eastern communities
would not dare declare themselves gay. There are homosexual men in high
positions-ministers, deputies, Islamist leaders-who remain married, have
families, and maintain same-sex relations outside the home. The community
ostracizes those who stop camouflaging their homosexuality.
There is also a long tradition in nationalist movements of consolidating
power through narratives that affirm patriarchy and compulsory heterosexu­
ality, attributing sexual abnormality and immorality to a corrupt ruling elite
that is about to be overthrown and/or is complicit with foreign imperial­
ism (Hayes 2000, 16). Not all the accusations leveled against the Pahlavi
family and their wealthy supporters stemmed from political and economic
grievances. A significant portion of the public anger was aimed at their "im­
moral " lifestyle. There were rumors that a gay lifestyle was rampant at the
court. Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveyda was said to have been a homo­
sexual. The satirical press routinely lampooned him for his meticulous attire,
the purple orchid in his lapel, and his supposed marriage of convenience.
The shah himself was rumored to be bisexual. There were reports that a close
male friend of the shah from Switzerland, a man who knew him from their
student days in that country, routinely visited him. But the greatest public
outrage was aimed at two young, elite men with ties to the court who held a
mock wedding ceremony. 3 0 Especially to the highly religious, this was public
confirmation that the Pahlavi house was corrupted with the worst kinds of
sexual transgressions, that the shah was no longer master of his own house.
These rumors contributed to public anger, to a sense of shame and outrage,
and ultimately were used by the Islamists in their calls for a revolution. Soon
after coming to power in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini established the death