Zincwarrior
Diamond Member
And now an international positive. Women in Iran are increasingly flaunting veil requirements. Bless them. Other women there have already died doing this.
On a recent evening in the north of Iran’s capital of Tehran, a young woman with long hair fashioned into a high ponytail hopped onto a motorcycle behind a male companion. Not far away, two other young women smoked cigarettes together on a sidewalk, one with her hair cascading down her back, the other wearing a loose T-shirt with elbow-length sleeves, according to videos sent to The Washington Post.
These urban scenes — seemingly mundane in much of the world but striking in Iran — illustrate how common it has become for Iranian women to flout the law, in place for over four decades, requiring they cover their hair and dress modestly in public.
More than three years after mass protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman who had been detained by police over her dress, open defiance of compulsory hijab is widespread not just in the teeming metropolis of Tehran but also in smaller cities like Rasht and more conservative areas like Kermanshah, Hamedan and Dezful, according to interviews, videos and local news coverage.
The hijab — a word that could refer to a woman’s head covering but also more broadly to modest dress — has been a pillar of Iran’s ideology since the Islamic republic was founded in 1979, and government officials face pressure from powerful conservative forces to maintain it. So laws mandating the covering of women’s bodies remain firmly on the books, though they are now frequently unenforced.
Iranian women said in interviews that for months, they have not seen the kind of heavy-handed policing that was common in the summer leading up to Amini’s death, when for instance one woman was dragged screaming into a police van and another stood in front of a van as it drove forward, pleading with officers to let her daughter go.
Security forces have traditionally been deployed throughout major cities to enforce hijab requirements, at times arresting women and holding them for hours or even overnight. Punishment could include a short prison sentence, but fines have been more typical, with escalating penalties for repeat offenders.
Iranian women flout law on mandatory veiling as police curtail arrests
Defiance of hijab requirements has grown widespread across Iran. The government seems wary of cracking down, fearing unrest. But conservatives haven’t given up.On a recent evening in the north of Iran’s capital of Tehran, a young woman with long hair fashioned into a high ponytail hopped onto a motorcycle behind a male companion. Not far away, two other young women smoked cigarettes together on a sidewalk, one with her hair cascading down her back, the other wearing a loose T-shirt with elbow-length sleeves, according to videos sent to The Washington Post.
These urban scenes — seemingly mundane in much of the world but striking in Iran — illustrate how common it has become for Iranian women to flout the law, in place for over four decades, requiring they cover their hair and dress modestly in public.
More than three years after mass protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman who had been detained by police over her dress, open defiance of compulsory hijab is widespread not just in the teeming metropolis of Tehran but also in smaller cities like Rasht and more conservative areas like Kermanshah, Hamedan and Dezful, according to interviews, videos and local news coverage.
The hijab — a word that could refer to a woman’s head covering but also more broadly to modest dress — has been a pillar of Iran’s ideology since the Islamic republic was founded in 1979, and government officials face pressure from powerful conservative forces to maintain it. So laws mandating the covering of women’s bodies remain firmly on the books, though they are now frequently unenforced.
Iranian women said in interviews that for months, they have not seen the kind of heavy-handed policing that was common in the summer leading up to Amini’s death, when for instance one woman was dragged screaming into a police van and another stood in front of a van as it drove forward, pleading with officers to let her daughter go.
Security forces have traditionally been deployed throughout major cities to enforce hijab requirements, at times arresting women and holding them for hours or even overnight. Punishment could include a short prison sentence, but fines have been more typical, with escalating penalties for repeat offenders.
