Karina Amanda Prisylla / 20120259

In the movie of The Stoning of Soraya M, how does religion affect

the societys gender dynamic as well as social construction of
morality?
The case of Soraya M, as we all know is based on true story. Society
condition, law and regulation are legal realities in Iran. Soraya M.
was accused of adultery by her husband Ali, who wanted to get out
of his marriage, and was aided by the village authorities, as well as
the nature of Islamic law, to successfully accuse and condemn his
wife of having sexual relations outside the marriage. Consequently,
Soraya was convicted and later was stoned to death for a crime,
which she had not committed.
In those scenes, we can see the social construction of morality. It
seems to be acceptable for a man to just divorce his partner without
a proper compensation and reason. And it seems to be okay that Ali
has a relationship with another woman, underage woman ( 14 years
old ) while he is still married. As for Soraya, it is wrong for her to
touch hands and smile at man even though she has no malice while
doing so.
Under Islamic law, the husband needs to produce two male
eyewitnesses in order to win a case of matrimonial infidelity. In the
scene of the accusation, we can see the inequality between men
and women. If a man is accused, the woman who accuse him has to
prove him to be guilty, while on the other hand, if a woman is
accused by a man, the accused woman has the impossible task of
proving her innocence. As in the case of Soraya M., the whole town
turned against her simply on the basis of unproved accusations.
From the mayor of the village to Soraya's family members, her guilt
was predetermined and had already been decided. The verbal and
emotional abuse suffered by Soraya is more than any human being

deserves to endure. In the scene where Soraya go throughout her

trial and even at the time of her execution, Soraya's father
compared her to a whore. The father, while participating in the
stoning of his daughter, shouted "'Allah be praised!. . . . There
whore, take that!'. He killed an innocent woman in the name of
religion.
Religious fervor causes any individual to call himself a cleric and
could serve as a quasi-judge. Such situations are rare in the cities
but are prevalent in rural areas. In less populated and rural regions,
a high degree of decentralization of authority, coupled with a lack of
judicial uniformity, has resulted in a lack of enforcement of the law.
This is shown in the case of Soraya M., where the clerical judges
were not accountable to review by a higher court.