Trans subjectivities in Iran: epistemic misrecognition

Gender Affirmation Surgery (GAS), or Amali Tasdigi Jinsiyat in Persian, was permitted by Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa in 1982. Although GAS is allowed under Islamic law, trans subjectivities in Iran are misrecognized. Here we investigate the construction of trans subjectivities in Iranian society through an intersectional analysis of different power relations. We analyse discourses and practices of gender at structural, institutional and individual levels. We build on the concept of 'epistemic misrecognition' to explain how Iranian trans people's status is misrecognized both inside and outside Iran, which has made Iranian trans people and their experience invisible in society. Furthermore, we employ the notion of 'subjectivation' to describe the multiplicities of trans subjectivation in Iranian society. We apply Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse forty-six semi-structured face-to-face interviews conducted during 2015-2018.