The Abject, the Silence and the Crime: Intricacies of Abortion in Iran

Abstract

The author uses Kristeva’s concept of “abject” to explain the disgust, horror, and hatred toward woman’s internal organs, experienced by both men and women. The abject marks the moment when we separate ourselves from the mother. It is where we are confronted with an archaic space before linguistic binaries of self/other or subject/object. Patriarchy is conceptualized as a defense against the abject. The silence of Iranian women and the defensive criminalization of abortion by Iranian men are discussed through examining the family dynamics and power differentials within an Iranian household. The author postulates how “Name of the Mother” replaces Lacan’s “Name of the Father” out of the necessity of managing patriarchy.

Keywords:

• abortion
• abject
• body
• feminism
• Iran
• patriarchy

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This dynamic is more commonly prevalent in traditional households, although one can come across it in all sections of society, including the more modern and educated. Like all social dynamics, this is of course not true for every Iranian mother.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nahaleh Moshtagh

Nahaleh Moshtagh, Ph.D., is a Psychoanalyst and Clinical Psychologist, originally from Tehran, Iran. She is a Founder, and the Director, of HamAva Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in Tehran. A graduate of Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute, She is an Associate Member of the Psychoanalytic Society of the William Alanson White Institute, and member of the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society and the Toronto Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis. She is in private practice in Toronto, Canada.