Men Have Conquered the Walls of Tehran

Graffiti is a phenomenon as old as history, with its remnants visible in historical buildings and sacred sites around the world. Today, the walls of houses, government and private buildings, bridges, public pathways, bus and subway seats, and the walls and columns of ancient and historical sites are filled with written and visual messages. Although city officials combat graffiti on these sites and consider it a crime, this phenomenon has taken on a protest character in contemporary times, serving as a medium to express citizens' messages and demands to the government. Graffiti has evolved from the time of the revolution to today. Visual signs existed centuries before written language; however, it seems that in the modern world, linguistic signs are more suitable for precisely expressing complex human emotions and thoughts. Therefore, Tehran's graffiti artists prefer written language over visual language (graffiti). Graffiti in Tehran and Iran generally stems from two discourses: the official discourse, which arises from traditions and formal education and is supported by the government, and the informal discourse, which is chaotic and synonymous with popular culture. The first serious research on graffiti in Iran was conducted in 1979 by a group of students from the Faculty of Communication Sciences at the University of Tehran. The results of this group's study, which recorded and analyzed the complete characteristics of 1,077 graffiti, showed that on the walls of various regions in Iran, tens of thousands of revolutionary slogans were written using various and even primitive means, including chalk, charcoal, and even blood. However, studies indicate that the functions of graffiti in contemporary Iran differ from those during the revolution, and the content of graffiti in different areas of Tehran, while maintaining some slogan-political functions, also includes romantic, advertising, and threatening functions. The research titled 'A Study of the Graffiti of Tehran from the Perspective of Sociolinguistics,' published in the Quarterly Journal of Social Studies and Research in Iran, examined 2,929 graffiti in various neighborhoods of northern, southern, eastern, western, and central Tehran. After analyzing this number of graffiti, it was found that 55% of Tehran's graffiti have social themes, with 92.76% being written texts and 7.23% being visual texts (graffiti). Of the total linguistic graffiti in Tehran, 9.72% stem from the official discourse and 90.27% from the informal discourse. Official writings tend to have educational, political, and religious content, while in informal writings, names of individuals constitute the majority of content at 25.8%. Regarding the names used, male names accounted for 93.7%, female names for 4.72%, and gender-neutral names for 1.57%. Accordingly, 79.16% of the linguistic graffiti in Tehran is written in Persian, and 20.83% in English, with the English graffiti primarily leaning towards self-expression (names, interests, and dislikes). Social topics such as economic advertising, information dissemination, educational, and religious content have a minor share in English graffiti. Researchers concluded that the walls of Tehran are dominated by male voices and serve informal discourse, using walls as a popular advertising medium where political sentiments, desires, and aspirations can be heard. A significant portion of graffiti in various areas of Tehran relates to names, with some names written in small sizes, others in large sizes, and some collectively. The average graffiti related to male names across all areas of Tehran is significantly higher than that of female names. Graffiti associated with official discourse is also dependent on government organizations and is written in accordance with the values and goals of the ruling system, with official permission, in an organized and systematic manner, and in specific locations. The authors of graffiti related to informal discourse, who have largely claimed the walls, are the masses and also agents of low-cost wall advertising, particularly youth who find walls to be the best and cheapest medium for expressing their demands and messages. Following names, economic advertisements account for 21.02% of graffiti in various areas of Tehran. It seems that low-income individuals, unable to afford advertising costs in media like radio and television, resort to this form of advertising. Emotional and sentimental topics make up 19.18% of the linguistic graffiti in Tehran. These types of graffiti express individuals' affections, love, and hatred towards various issues. Support for a football team and hatred towards a rival team, admiration for singers, actors, and football players, and affection for one's neighborhood and birthplace are among the most common graffiti. Additionally, areas around girls' high schools and parks are also places for expressing affection. Some of this graffiti is dedicated to romantic messages and songs that lovers write cryptically or directly on the paths of their beloved. Political topics constitute 18.13% of the linguistic graffiti in Tehran, stemming from both official and informal discourses. Government organizations, in addition to their media, utilize walls as accessible media to promote values. Another segment of political graffiti is produced by the informal discourse of the masses, where social groups use walls to express their messages. Political graffiti with protest themes is usually found in dead-end streets and low-traffic areas. Graffiti containing informational and warning messages constitutes 9.41% of the linguistic graffiti. The weakness of Tehran's municipality in street, alley, and urban site signage is among the factors that compel citizens to resort to graffiti for navigation. Another segment of these writings pertains to warnings about the consequences of improper parking and littering. In these warnings, a range of language from respectful to vulgar is observed. Educational graffiti also constitutes 6.53% of the linguistic graffiti, particularly written on school walls, including written or visual lines for cultural and educational advertising, often executed by professional designers. According to this research, taboo graffiti are among the least common graffiti in various areas of Tehran. Taboo in language refers to matters not expressed in polite and formal speech, often related to certain sexual organs, and is frequently used in the speech of some social classes. Those who write vulgar words and phrases usually prefer to write these types of words and phrases on public restroom walls and less frequently on public walls of thoroughfares. One interesting result of this research is that only 2.73% of Tehran's graffiti is dedicated to religious topics, as these topics are sufficiently covered in official media and various media formats outside of public thoroughfares, thus not needing to be expressed on the walls of thoroughfares.