I wish them all the safety in the world, as they will need every last bit of support they can get in this important fight for their rights.
Women in Iran are starting a movement, protesting the compulsory hijab
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The only other Middle Eastern country that forces hijab is Saudi Arabia.
Awesome. I've had several heated discussions surrounding feminism, liberalism and the hijab.
To me, this is long overdue. Culturally, the hijab is just shitty for women. To argue its merits is like defending old Puritan society tropes. Like when women could not wear pants.
To me, this is long overdue. Culturally, the hijab is just shitty for women. To argue its merits is like defending old Puritan society tropes. Like when women could not wear pants.
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someone left a bouquet of flowers on the telecom box that the original girl and one of the girls today stood on
translation:
to: the girl of enghelab street (the original girl)
from: all those who you did this for
translation:
to: the girl of enghelab street (the original girl)
from: all those who you did this for
The hijab was originally used to cover women (and men, they wear a different form of headscarf) from the heat, the weather is very harsh in the region. It got repurposed into a religious head gear much later, by most likely terribly inaccurate word of mouth.
Regardless, neither you or anyone else has a right to tell a woman what she should or shouldn't wear, or judge her for it, so your feminism is useless if you dictate/judge what a woman wears, feminism is giving women the choice to wear what they want.
My cousin doesn't wear a Hijab here in the Middle East, but she does in America, just because it pisses off the alt-right and white feminists so much.
I know, I'm from Saudi Arabia. By law yes, but by society and familial pressure, many places force women to cover up.
That's true, especially in the tribal parts of the peninsula.
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they may not be mandated by law, but society and families pretty much dictates that they wear hijabs. the laws in most cases were loosened in order to allow tourists to walk around freely, and to get tourism money, not to liberate their own citizens.
You go girls! :)as you know, in iran women are forced to wear hijabs (scarfs covering their hair, while some more fundamentalist women choose wear chadors).
during the recent protests in iran that started in 28th of december, 2017, and lasted for about two weeks, one woman in tehran (the capital of iran) stood on a telecom box, took off her scarf, put it on the end of a stick, and waved it like a flag.
there were many pictures and videos of her taken, and she became a symbol of the protests, known as "girl of enghelab street" (the street were the picture was taken). she, a 31 year old mother of a 20-month-old, was arrested and kept in a detention center with her baby until a few days ago when she was released, and during this time there was a movement in social media with the hashtag #WhereIsShe asking for her release.
today, a month after that day, three other girls have done the same thing, one of them in the same exact spot. apparently one of them was arrested.
as an iranian, i am very proud of these women and i'm in awe of their bravery. i have a feeling this movement will continue, and i hope this leads to change.
edit: there's also an ongoing movement called "white wednesdays", where women wear white scarves on wednesdays to protest the mandatory hijab. the first picture was taken on 27th of december, a wednesday, showing the white scarf
I'm really glad to hear the woman in the first picture was released. When I saw on twitter that she had been arrested and no one had heard from her I feared the worst. Incredibly brave of these women to stand up and fight for change. I hope their courage pays off.
Good on these women. Hope this movement brings about real change.
I know a good number of women who wear the hijab by choice (Canada), some of whom I'm pretty sure boss their husband around.
Respect +1
I know a good number of women who wear the hijab by choice (Canada), some of whom I'm pretty sure boss their husband around.
Fantastic, really hope this goes somewhere
Shame that many people in western Europe are forced to ware these by society and the families that pretty much dictate that they wear hijabs.
Shame that many people in western Europe are forced to ware these by society and the families that pretty much dictate that they wear hijabs.
That's not really true, the popularity of the Hijab is a fairly new phenomenon, the vast majority of Muslim women in the MENA region didn't wear it until a few decades ago. It was worn mostly by the Bedoin in the tribal parts of the peninsula and the Levant.
But yes, women are pressured into wearing it in the rural parts of the region.
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do you think this change was because of the creation of wahhabism and saudi arabia's influence on other gulf countries?
do you think this change was because of the creation of wahhabism and saudi arabia's influence on other gulf countries?
It's pretty clear that they're one of the main culprits, the reason the Shia are generally more liberal today is because Iran failed spectacularily in reaching out to the Arab shia population while Saudi was relatively successful.
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two videos on twitter of girls outside the capital and in some of the other big cities of iran. first one is of a girl in isfahan, the second one is in mashhad
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I hope they succeed. I recently read Persepolis, a story about growing up during and after the revolution, and I feel great sympathy for those living under the oppression there.
This is exactly why I find the 'multi culturalists' opposing a hijab ban in Eurooean countries so mind boggling. As demonstrated here, a lot of women do not want to wear one, and unfortunately there isn't a way to be certain that a woman is wearing it out of her own will, rather than oppression.
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a blind ban on hijab would be problematic as well. in iran women aren't fighting to ban hijab, but to have a right to choose whether they want to wear it or not.
yes, there are women in europe and america who wear hijabs because of their husbands/families. but there are also women who choose to wear them, and make that decision freely and without any outside influence. you may feel like you'd be doing them a service and liberating them by fully banning hijab, but what will happen is you'll force those women to stay at home and be unable to participate in society.
it's a tricky and super complex situation, but i'm 100% sure that a full on ban of hijab isn't the answer.
Why baffling? A person ought to wear or *not* wear what they like.
Me too.
But the reason this is still a thing is that American and British foreign policy intentionally set their country back a few hundred years. Not to excuse any of the theocratic assholes running the country and oppressing women now... but I don't see this happening if we hadn't killed Mosaddegh.
Why do these threads bring out these types of posts so much? How can you be so dense and not understand the difference between allowing women to wear whatever the hell they want without societal judgement vs forcing women to wear or not to wear something? Some Muslim women don't believe it's part of the religion, some do. Let them be free to wear what they want without white men inserting themselves in the conversation to "liberate them", or Middle Eastern men interfering in what the women choose to wear.
Believe me, 99% of non-Hijabi Muslim women don't want people like you to bat for them.
"Hey we have to protect these women from a hyper patriarchal mentally. I know, let's FORCE them to not wear something! Brilliant. Genius. I, the enlightened Western liberal man, knows what's best for women I probably never personally associate with."
It's peak condescension and infantizing.
And even then. You know no one suggested any follow through with it. So are they gonna open up women's shelters near Muslim communities? Be more supportive of these women, in general? Give them reason that the dominate demographic will not be pieces of shit? Or is just going to be "Okay we ban it. You're on your own now. We know what's best. lol"?
Because I have the feeling it's going to the last one.
someone left a bouquet of flowers on the telecom box that the original girl and one of the girls today stood on
translation:
to: the girl of enghelab street (the original girl)
from: all those who you did this for
That's fantastic.
People who have the courage to do stuff like that get all of my respect. I hope they succeed in getting the right of choice that they rightly deserve, and it's a shame that human beings still have to fight and risk death for things like this.
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here's one more girl, but sadly it's a super low quality picture of her. earlier today i saw a video of her waving her scarf on the side of the street but i can't find it anymore, all i can find is this low quality screen grab. decided to post it anyway because i've posted all the other girls (9 by my count) in this thread already.
100% this. I don't understand how people still think similar draconian measures in the other direction will benefit women.
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Urgh. Most people maybe even 99.999% don't want to wear the hijab but as long as a single person does they should be able to. No bans, no mandatory dress.
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in an interview, a women's rights activist and lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was also involved in the first girls case, confirmed that the girl in this picture, Narges Hoseini, was arrested. a bail has been announced for her but it's too high and completely disproportionate to the "crime". it's the equivalent of about 100k $. the lawyer has been asked by the girl's family to represent her and has agreed. if sentenced, Narges will be jailed for two months and has to pay a small fine.
Female muslims should be able to decide themselves if they want to wear a head scarf for their religion, so this movement is neat.
They will be jailed, tortured and killed. Their clothes will be returned to the family members. That is what happened to my auntys son 20 years ago, Fucking bastards!
You could try in the form of a question. They aren't video game NPCs, really.
strong messages being sent, I fear for their life from the religious police/vigilantesa boy protesting in support of the girls who protested yesterday
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the first women was kept for a month in jail. i really doubt being killed over this is a possibility, BUT, if (big if) if this leads to hijab becoming optional, women will have a hard time for a few years with fundamentalists acting on their own against it.
Mate, this government is ruthless and always has been, they will do anything to keep peoples mouths shut.
a boy protesting in support of the girls who protested yesterday
Might seem strange, but I am glad to see this. More men need to support these women.