"They Do That to Foreign Women": Domestic Terrorism and Contraceptive Nationalism in Not Without My Daughter

Withstanding sexual harassment and assault is a leitmotif throughout the controversial best seller Not Without My Daughter (1987). The abuse Betty Mahmoody endures at her husband's hands mirrors the abuse she receives from his family and men throughout the Islamic Republic of Iran. That scholars and former acquaintances alike have criticized Mahmoody's narrative as misleading, inaccurate, and racist does little to mitigate its lasting influence on Americans' understandings of Islam and Iran. Despite its questionable content, Americans frequently read Not Without My Daughter not merely as a personal memoir of domestic discord, but as an authentic account of contemporary Iranian life.