{"id":2138,"date":"2018-12-31T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T14:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=2138"},"modified":"2018-12-27T17:38:37","modified_gmt":"2018-12-27T23:38:37","slug":"criminalizing-dance-to-demonstrate-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2018\/12\/31\/criminalizing-dance-to-demonstrate-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of 2018: Criminalizing Dance to Demonstrate Power"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Ulisse Albiati, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Originally posted August 6, 2018.<\/em><\/p>\n

Teenager <\/span>Maedeh Hojabri<\/span><\/a> was recently arrested and imprisoned by Iranian authorities for posting Instagram videos of herself dancing in her bedroom. People around the globe were stunned at the news, although such punishment and censorship is sadly a common phenomenon. In Iran, Hojabri\u2019s actions violated conservative legal norms that impose a strict dress code and condemn women for exposing their hair or dancing in public. More than a century of social science research can help shed light on why governments criminalize the violation of expected gender norms. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Classical sociological theory argues that state actors use legal sanctions to exert control and enforce moral sentiments, in an attempt to garner social solidarity. The criminalization of dancing, for example, enforces and legitimizes the morality of conservative values and strict social control. To protect dominant social values, elites may use the penal system as a tool to persecute and discriminate against social minorities. The dominant group\u2019s repression of subordinate groups derives from hierarchies that operate around patriarchal, racial, religious, class, national, political, or ethnic distinctions. Hojabris\u2019 case illustrates repression based on patriarchal norms.<\/h5>\n