ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates how the gendering of patriotism and nationalism as masculine mobilized men to take nationalist action under the threat of emasculation. It also shows how a group of elite men appropriated patriotism and the manliness it entailed, thus excluding other groups. Several studies of Iranian nationalism, such as those by Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Afsaneh Najmabadi, Minoo Moallem and Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, have dealt with the gendered aspects of nationalist discourse. Employing the insights of Raewyn Connell's theory of hegemonic masculinity, the chapter exposes the manner in which a notion of 'proper' masculinity served the creation of new social and political hierarchies. Patriotism was constructed as inseparable from masculinity and so unpatriotic men were denied their manliness. The Western-educated elite, struggling against the traditional aristocracy and the poor masses, attempted to exclude those groups from its newly acquired political power. Thus, social positioning and nationalism converged in the power relations constructing hegemonic masculinity during the period of the Constitutional Revolution.
