#compulsory hijab

[matarsack]

when you read a post on my blog how does that make you feel?

Because every time something terrible happens to my people, especially to women, i feel like it happened to me.

I see myself in them. I know the way they feel. I feel their rage and desperation and helplessness. I have been there before. And i keep coming back to it. This nightmare is never ending.

Yesterday a university student named Ahoo Daryaei was attacked by the regime’s forces on campus for not having hijab. They grabbed her and her hoodie was torn and stripped off her body in the struggle. Enraged and helpless, she took off her pants in protest. They forced her into a car and drove away. They say she’s been admitted to a psychiatric ward and is under heavy security.

Sure the pictures are iconic and she was extremely brave and the message that her act sent was strong and historic. But im worried about her. And im enraged for the continued oppression and dehumanization of the women of my country. I feel her helplessness and fight for taking back control and feeling like a human in every fiber of my being.

I wish we didn’t have to feel this way. Every single day.

The hijab that women outside muslim countries call a ‘choice’ is a ‘law’ here. And it gives the oppressive regimes the ‘right’ to punish and torture and kill women for choosing not to cover their hair. Its not even about the hair. Its about the control they have over women’s bodies and lives and identities. Its the way they feel powerful by making women powerless. Its the way they are more worthless than a worm without the protection of islamic laws they hide their ugliness behind.

I just hope she’s going to be alright.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

World Press Photo 2023 award winner.

[projectpravaha]

WOMEN LIFE FREEDOM

Until the 21st century, Iranian women fought not just for dignity, but for the simple right to exist on their own terms when their global counterparts were leading and representing nations. For a time before 1979, women in Iran had won surprising freedoms: educational opportunities, voting rights, and relative personal autonomy compared to many neighboring societies. But as the Islamic Republic entrenched itself, women were pushed into a narrower public role. Dress codes tightened, civil liberties shrunk to practically none, and policing of women’s bodies became a state priority.

Then came September 16, 2022, one of the darkest days in the history of Iran and what prematurely ignited the revolution. Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, was detained by the morality police for allegedly violating the country’s compulsory hijab laws. Within days, she was dead. The regime insisted she died of pre-existing conditions; her family and eyewitnesses said bruises and trauma suggested otherwise. Her final breath sparked instant outrage. What began as grief turned into a roar heard around the world. “Woman, life, freedom!” became more than a slogan. It became a challenge, a defiance, a declaration that the bodies of Iranian women, long regulated, legislated, and restricted, were not state property. Women cut their hair in open streets, burned their scarves, and marched shoulder to shoulder with young men and marginalised communities. The movement was no longer about clothing; it was about claiming one's very personhood.

[lesorus]

it's not that white liberal feminists truly believed the hijab is honorable, empowering, and a choice, it's just that they care more about "political correctness" than women's rights

Not only the hijab represents purity culture for the middle eastern/muslim woman but it clearly sexualizes every inch of a woman's body, contrary to popular belief. It imposes that unless a woman is covered, she is inherently sexual. And not just her hair, her arms and her legs, in some cases her feet, her face, her hands, and even her eyes. Even the outline of her body has to be concealed because there is always a man who will find it enticing, and this from the ripe age of 9. No matter how inconvenient it is. Not to forget, women are always to some degree pressured if not forced into this "choice" lest they bring shame to their family. How many arab girls have grown up hearing "You can do whatever you want, just keep a hijab on your head."? How many girls have been scolded, threatened, hit, because they were merely talking to a boy? How many girls were forbidden to go to school, to go out of the house until they abandoned their "westernized ideas" and started "dressing decently"? And how many were killed, charged with prostitution, stoned for not not wearing it?

Now, you want to convince me that libfems, the same group that wants to "free the nipple", thought the hijab was empowering for the last decade? Hell nah.

They just don't care. They don't care because they view middle eastern, brown, and Muslim women as lesser. Our suffering and our objectification are nothing compared to their inconvenience. So why would they even think about it? Why would they upset conservative muslim men and women ? They have been overlooking every honor killing for years now to not make muslims look bad.

Today it's trendy to oppose forced hijab, tomorrow, they'll forget about us.

[seriousbusinessforhumans]

BISHI shared a post on Instagram: "I’m sure so many of you have seen this post from @sainthoax but I’m truly in awe of the bravery of these women in Iran. I support them, wholeheartedly. #feminism #iran #iranprotests #iranprotests2022". Follow their account to see 6426 posts.

That twirl is beautiful.

[copyyoflouis]

Scarfs being a fashion trend this year makes me so uncomfortable and I can't even explain it, i know that's just literally a piece of fabric, and it's not like we have the ownership of these things, or were even the first to use them but god, it makes me wanna scream and throw up, it's a simple accessory for yall, a fun way for people to express their sense of fashion but for me and other women of my country, it's not a simple accessory, it's not fun, it's a reminder of the compulsory hijab that has been forced on us women since we were little girls, 6 and 7 years old girls are forced to wear the goddamn hijab if they wanna be accepted in school, have education and create a future for themselves, if you're a woman you must wear it not just because otherwise you wouldn't be accepted in society, wouldn't be able to get a job etc but because the authorities are literally allowed to arrest you for not wearing hijab too, 10+ years of prison for not wearing the hijab, this is the reality of living in iran, a middle eastern Muslim country.

[profeminist]

Women in Iran post empowering videos on social media of themselves not wearing veils on International Women’s Day

My Stealthy Freedom, the popular Facebook page run by Masih Alinejad that hosts pictures sent from women in Iran “who want to share their stealthily taken photos without the veil,” has posted a vid…

“My Stealthy Freedom, the popular Facebook page run by Masih Alinejad that hosts pictures sent from women in Iran “who want to share their stealthily taken photos without the veil,” has posted a video compiling footage sent in by Iranian women who removed their hijabs in public to honor International Women’s Day.

On March 8, 1979, an estimated 100,000 Iranian women took to the streets of Tehran to protest the enactment of the compulsory hijab. In a video posted to Facebook, Alinejad noted that for this year’s International Women’s Day in Iran, “women are banned from marching in the streets.”

Unable to march, women instead took to Twitter to share posts under the hashtag, #NoForcedHijab. Other women took things still further, sharing images and even video of themselves sans a veil in public.

“Many years ago, women protested against compulsory hijab by rallying in the streets,” said one unveiled woman in a video. “But from that day until today, they are being told that compulsory hijab is not a priority. But to us, it is. The right to choose what we wear is a priority. I choose what is a priority for me.”

In an email, Alinejad told Women in the World, “I received more than 20 films and more than 50 photos which shows men and women protesting against forced hijab in public.”

See photos and the video here

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]