Representation of Muslim sexual subjectivities: the hidden ethical judgments of journalistic rhetoric

In 2005, following a year of increased attention in English language media to the prominence of sexual reassignment surgeries in Iran, the London-based Guardian dubs Tehran “the unlikely sex-change capital of the world.” This title is significantly complicated when we realize that according to mainstream English media, Tehran is not the first or only sex change capital of the world. Its sister city is Trinidad, Colorado, a predominantly Catholic town with a population hovering around 9,000. Although English language newspapers have served up stories of each location as “surprising” magnets for SRS, none have mentioned both places in the same article because these stories operate with a different set of logics related to religion, sex, and human rights. Analysis of the journalist rhetoric of these two unlikely capitals highlights these diverse logics, particularly how assumptions about Muslim subjectivity affects judgments about the status of sexual freedom in Iran.