Semantic Evolution of Women’s Dress Morality and the Affecting Risk Factors (Case Study: Students of Mazandaran Province)

Introduction: Due to the ever-changing and evolving nature of human actions, new moral issues are raised. Clothing morality is one of these issues that is extremely important in transitional societies such as Iranian society with a religious governmental structure. The purpose of this article is to examine unveiled girls (from the perspective of the religious discourse that governs the society, of course) and to find out typical moral patterns for choosing this style of dress. We want to know: What are the differences between this group of girls in terms of the meaning of dress morality? What meanings do they offer for dress morality? What risk factors and sociocultural contexts affected the formation of the multiple meanings of dress morality? This study examines the semantic diversity of dress morality among unveiled girls (from the perspective of religious discourse), as well as risk factors and sociocultural contexts that favor the formation of these meanings.
Method: The research is regulated in qualitative methodology and the data collection is done through in-depth and semi-structured interviews with 53 female students studying in different universities in Mazandaran province. They were warned by college security or institutions responsible for hijab at community level. The thematic analysis method was used to analyze the data.
Findings: The research results show four typical patterns of dress morality (modesty, materialism, fashion consciousness, and functionality) among the actors. Each type has a different meaning for morality. Typical patterns extracted based on moral change in time and place are classified into two groups: multiple variable moral include (modesty, materialism, fashionability) and fixed-universal moral include (functionality). Also based on the descriptive approach and the civil system of morality, modesty and materialism were categorized as hedonistic, egocentric moral acts; fashionability was significant as an egocentric, preferential moral act; and functionality was categorized as a rights-based moral act. Based on the normative approach and the religious system of morality, all four types of dress morality were labeled as immoral. The research findings also lead us to categories such as changes in family values, the importance of maintaining health and youth, consumption, sexual openness, sex trafficking, sense of personal satisfaction, hedonism, maximum well-being, lack of responsibility to others, self-care, visibility, the mask of rationality etc. as risk factors and favorable sociocultural contexts to form multiple meanings of female dress morality.
Conclusion: each of the four typical moral patterns of female dress was classified from three perspectives: a) from the perspective of changing the category of morality in time and place, including universal-invariant and variable-multiple morality, b) from the perspective of descriptive/normative approach to the category of morality, c) from the perspective of religious/civil approach to the category of morality. At one end of the spectrum of moral forms is modesty. This concept has the highest rate of semantic crossover. But at the other end of the spectrum, the meaning of efficiency is constantly pursued regardless of the changes that occur in the sociocultural context and becomes stronger as society develops. This type has the lowest degree of transition and semantic development among all four types.