Do you not find it hypocritical that you don’t wear hijab while you’re in favour of mandatory hijab in Iran?
not at all, and i’ve done a lot of thinking on this topic to bring me to my decision. like everything, context regarding mandatory hijab is important. under reza khan, all traditional dress of iran’s various ethnicities, including persian attire, were banned. that’s the reason why the traditional clothing of iran is not mainstream in iranian society as traditional clothing is in the culture and societies of other countries. this "modernizing” of iran linked with the erasure of islam began in the early 1900s with the beginning of western colonization of the region.
“Reza Shah considered the traditional Iranian dress as a disgrace and sign of backwardness; therefore, he decided to introduce a national uniform for the modernization and westernization of the country. Reza Shah viewed the traditional attire as a sign of unsophistication, a disgrace for the whole nation, and one of the main hindrances to the country’s advancement and prosperity (Yari & Hakakbashi 2009). Reza Shah believed that apart from science and technology of the west, uniformity was required to modernize the country (Vogelsang-Eastwood 2012a). He believed uniformity in the public’s appearance was an indicator of his country’s ability to be modern. He started to implement uniformity by changes in men’s clothing. Men’s dress reform occurred in two stages. The first stage of the reform began with the introduction of Pahlavi Hat in 1927, when it was declared the official headgear for all Iranian men. This was followed by the announcement of the cabinet passing the Uniform Dress Law in 1928, which required all male Persians to dress uniformly in Western style replacing their traditional clothing.”
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2418/c53cf19b222914a3e4ebefbfe8e91797c3dd.pdf
this was erasure of iran’s very ancient culture’ and clothing is one of the most prominent symbols of culture and its expression. the goal of this was to force iranian people to assimilate to western culture. a very similar tactic was used by the colonizers in the US to force native americans to assimilate and submit to the culture of americans. native american children were forced to go to the schools of the colonists, where they were forced to change their hairstyles and wear school uniforms to erase the indigenous identity and to colonize it.
hijab has been cultural to iran for centuries. iranian people have been muslim for centuries, and women, including non muslim iranian women, wore it considering it is cultural to the region.
Jewish Ladies in Persia, 1913, Martiros Sarian
Sarian was an armenian artiist who traveled iran and throughout the region extensively. here are two jewish iranian women covering their hair in 1913.
Making Bread, 1929, Martiros Sarian
here are christian armenian women covering their hair.
Persian Woman, 1913, Martiros Sarian
for iranians, covering hair predates islam, too, as zoroastrian women dressed very similarly, although with attire that was banned under the pahlavi dynasty to westernize the country.
mandatory hijab is an effort of cultural preservation in response to the attempts of reza khan to erase the culture of iran, as well as his son, reza pahlavi, to ban it through kafshe- hijab. all religious veiling was banned, and muslim women were brutalized for wearing it. various male traditional dresses were banned as well. iranians were again forced to adopt a western style of clothing, as modernity with the erasure of islam was a pattern under the pahlavis. in iran, hijab has another purpose, which is its symbolism of anti capitalism. dr. ali shariati, an iranian sociologist and anti-capitalist, was one of the revolutionaries who inspired the islamic revolution. he linked capitalism with exploiting and sexualizing women for profit, and hijab is an effort to resist that.
those who fixate on mandatory hijab are usually of the upper class of iran, too, who really don’t have too many other worries considering they are financially secure even while under economic siege of iran. they are the neoliberals of iran who like many of iranian diaspora in the west, do not understand that there’s more to iranian politics than hijab. that’s not too surprising when you understand that the islamic revolution was also a class revolution, and the supporters of the revolution tend to be poor iranians who were given social services greatly enhancing their social mobility which was deprived of them under the pahlavi dynasty.
me wearing or not wearing it has nothing to do with this history. i have no issue wearing it when i’m in iran, and i wear it rather conservatively when i do go. i’m very open to wearing it one day myself. some random anonymous person on tumblr isn’t entitled to my personal situation that prevents me from observing it
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