Typology of Women's Civil Disobedience on Instagram: An Analysis of Protest Acts in the "Woman, Life, Freedom" Movement

Document Type : researcher

Authors
1 , PhD student in department of Communication Sciences, Ta.c., Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran. (Corresponding author)
10.22034/scm.2025.532377.1904
Abstract
Abstract

This study was conducted to identify typologies of women's civil disobedience on Instagram within the framework of the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement. Data were gathered from 20 Instagram pages belonging to female civil activists, with the top 40 posts selected based on highest engagement (likes). Data analysis was performed according to Gene Sharp's classification framework.



The findings indicate that 85% of the posts are classified as protest speech acts. Over half of these challenged the official government narrative regarding the death of Mahsa Amini, while simultaneously employing symbolic representations of the "oppressor/oppressed" dichotomy to foster protest solidarity. Furthermore, women's actions on Instagram during the Woman, Life Freedom movement represent a prime example of cultural resistance against the dominant discourse. By sharing images of unveiled bodies, personal narratives of violence, and symbols such as "burning headscarves," women contested state-imposed gender norms.

Women's actions on Instagram during that period transcended mere "protest"; rather, they constituted a process of creating a resistance culture. By transforming their bodies into text, personal narratives into politics, and Instagram into a battleground, women symbolically disarmed the dominant discourse. The analysis revealed that women played an instrumental role in sustaining and expanding the movement through novel and effective utilization of social media tools.

Keywords

Subjects


 
Abdul Wahhabi, O. (2023). Women, political activism and the female side of the social movement, 2022: women,life, freedom. 6th National Conference Social and Cultural Research in Iranian Society. Iranian SociologicalAssociation. (In Persian)
Abushbak, Ali and Majeed, Tawseef, (2020) The Role of Social Media in Mobilizing Crowd Protest  A Case Study of Palestinian Anger Against Israel’s Military Measures at Al-Aqsa Compound on Instagram.

Baniya, S.(2025) Global Uprising: The Case of #MahsaAmini,https://hdl.handle.net/10919/137035

Batmanghelichi, K. (2025).Rhetoric and Tactics of the Woman, Life, Freedom Protest Movement in Iran. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/732456
Bishop, S. (2023).Platform Feminism in Protest Cultures: How Instagram’s Aesthetics Shape Activism.Communication Theory.
https://academic.oup.com/ct/article/33/2/123/714256
Berry & Chenoweth(2018). Who Made theWomen’sMarch? In book: The Resistance (pp.75-89) Publisher: Oxford University Press
Batyari, Atefeh (2025) "Rhetoric and Tactics of the Woman, Life, Freedom Protest Movement in Iran,"Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence: Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article
Bennett, W. L., & Segerberg, A. (2012). The logic of connective action: Digital media and the  personalization of contentious politics. Information, Communication & Society, 15(5), 739–768
Çalhan ,m, Amini Protests: Vowing for a New Commitment Between Society and State, The Journal of Iranian Studies, Vol: 7, No: 1, pp. 101-126

Darvishi.a,(2023) The History of Feminist Resistance in Iran from 1978 to 2023 , Feminist Resistance

Harlow, S., & Harp, D. (2012). Collective Action on the Web: A cross-cultural study of social networking sites and online and offline activism in the United States and Latin America. Information, Communication & Society, 15 (2) , 196-216.
Harp, D., Bachmann, I., & Guo, L. (2012). The Whole Online World Is Watching: Profiling Social Networking Sites and Activists in China, Latin America, and the United States. International Journal of Communication, 6, 24
Hashemi,l.(2020)_media ,protest and resistance in authoritarian contexts, apsa 2020 working coference paper
Howard, P. N. Hussain, M. M. (2013). Democracy’s Fourth Wave?: Digital Media and the Arab Spring. Oxford Univ Press
Gerbaudo, P. (2012). Tweets and the Streets. London: Pluto Press.
Kahen, R.., & Kellner, D. (2004). New media and internet activism: from the ‘Battle of Seattle’to blogging. New Media and Society, 6 (1) , 87–95.
Izadi,d,& Dryden,s,(2024) Woman/life/freedom: The social semiotics behind the 2022 Iranian
Lim, M. (2012). Clicks, cabs and coffee houses: social media and oppositional movements in Egypt 2004-2011. Journal of communication, 62 (2): 231- 248.
Lotan, G., Graeff, E., Ananny, M., Gaffney, D., Pearce, I. and boyd, d. (2011). The revolutions were tweeted: information flows during the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. International journal of communication 5: 1375- 1405.
Matamoros-Fernández, A. et al. (2023).Algorithmic Resistance in Latin America: Feminist Movements Against Platform Governance. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/205630512311779
Mehan, Asma(2024) "Digital Feminist Placemaking: The Case of the “Woman, ife,Freedom” Movement, Urban Planning Volume 9 Article 7093
Sajadi, Hamid (2023) "Iranian Women's Movement: Political Opportunities and New Forces," Journal of International Women's Studies: Vol. 25: Iss. 2, Article 6
Treré, E., Jeppesen, S., & Mattoni, A. (2017). Comparing digital protest media imaginaries: anti-austerity movements in spain, Italy & Greec. Triple C Journal, 15(2), 404-422.
Thorson, K., Driscoll, K., Ekdale, B., Edgerly, S., Thompson, L. G., Schrock, A.,... & Wells, C. (2013). YouTube, Twitter and the Occupy movement: Connecting content and circulation practices. Information, Communication & Society, 16 (3) , 421-451.
Tohidi, Nayereh. (2017) “The Women’s Movement and Feminism in Iran: Revisiting a Glocal Perspective.” In Women’s Movements in the Global Era. Ed. Amrita Basu, 2nd Edtion, 397-442. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Tohidi, N. (2024).Digital Dissent of Iranian Women: From#WomanLifeFreedom to Algorithmic Resistance.Feminist Media Studies.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2024.189456
Ahmadi Khorasani, N. (2023). Compulsory hijab, the Zhina movement, and the middle class. Iranian Women’s Association. (In Persian)
Dworkin, R. (2002). Civil disobedience: Law and interest (A. Rasekh, Trans. & Ed.). Tehran: Tarh-e No. (In Persian)
 
Ghanbari, A., & Momeni, A. (2020). Studying the protest campaign “Voice of Aban 2019” on Instagram based on the Jowett and O’Donnell analytical model. Society, Culture and Media, 9(37), 105–119. (In Persian)
Harsij, H., & Rabiei Nia, B. (2023). A model of protest movement formation with emphasis on the role of virtual social networks. Applied Sociology, 34(3), 1–22. (In Persian)
Hosseinpouro Rashidi, H. (2021). January 2018 protests from the perspective of network society theory. Strategic Policy Research, 10(39), 109–139. (In Persian)
Karimi-Dardashti, E. (2023). Violence-oriented techniques against women in civil disobedience on social networks. Farhang-e Pajouhesh, 16(53), 5–34. (In Persian)
Karimi-Dardashti, E., Esmaili, R., Rafieoddin, K., & Kalantari, A. (2023). Civil disobedience among women activists on Instagram and strategies for confronting it. Journal of Religion and Cultural Policy, 10(1), 109–142. (In Persian)
Maleki, A. (2014). From civil disobedience to civil misobedience. Tehran: Negaran. (In Persian)
Malmiri, A., Zarei Mahmoudabadi, H., & Kermanian, R. (2020). Social movements and legal empowerment of women’s rights in contemporary Iran. Iranian Political Sociology, 3(1), 117. (In Persian)
Masoudi, A. (2020). Understanding women activists’ actions in the “White Wednesdays” campaign: A case study of Instagram (2018). Communication Research, 27, 123–142. (In Persian)
Moeinabadi, M., & Mehrabpanah, M. (2019). Identifying instances of civil disobedience in contemporary Iranian social movements (1979–2011). Politics Quarterly, 49(3), 805–819. (In Persian)
Nikpey, A., & Madani, Z. (2020). Civil disobedience in open and closed legal-political systems: A review of Rawls and Arendt. Legal Research Quarterly, 23(91), 277–302. (In Persian)
Paidar, Parvin. ( 1995) Women and the political process in twentieth-century Iran. Cambridge-38
protest movement , Discourse, Context & Media
Rahmani, T., & Mokhtari, A. (2015). Civil disobedience as an idea for overcoming the theoretical deadlock of liberalism. Theoretical Politics Research, 18. (In Persian)
Taghipour, A., & Motaghi, F. (2018). Criminal responses to civil disobedience. Journal of Criminal Law Research, 7(24), 257–286. (In Persian)
Talebian, H., & Talebian, S. (2017). Women and activism in social media: A case study of the Facebook page “My Stealthy Freedom.” Women in Development and Politics, 15(2), 205–222. (In Persian)
Vahidloo, S. (2023). A meta-synthesis of existing analyses of Iran’s 2022 protests. Iranian Journal of Sociology, 23(4), 145–179. (In Persian)
Wray, S. (1998). Electronic civil disobedience and the World Wide Web of hacktivism. Nova Iorque.
 
Volume 14, Issue 56
Autumn 2025
Pages 137-174

  • Receive Date 07 July 2025
  • Revise Date 19 October 2025
  • Accept Date 20 October 2025