Free Iranian Women

New Youth Fashion

Colorful, vibrant and elegant. Fashion in the streets of Iranian cities often defies the mainstream media portrayal of Iran as a dark and colorless society in which women are forced to wear black outfits from top of their head to the tips of their toes, an image similar to the attire worn in countries like Saudi Arabia. Iranian women have had their special way of wearing hijab from the time that Islam was first introduced to Iran 1400 years ago.
At first glance, they look like flashy rich kids from any Western country – hanging out by the pool with whiskey glasses in hand, dancing up close to one another in minimal attire, and driving around in luxury cars to the sound of bouncy music.

But these rich kids don't live in Beverly Hills or a prestigious London neighborhood, or even Herzliya Pituach. They live, party and fill the social media websites with photographs of ostentatious wealth, plus a healthy dose of exposed body parts in skimpy bikinis, in fundamentalist Iran – and they do so without fear of the country's Revolutionary Guard Corps or the ayatollahs' so-called thought police.

By: Beautiful World On 6:35 PM

Casually walking in Tehran

Iranian Women Post Pics With Their Hair Flying Free To Protest Strict Hijab Laws
Wearing the Islamic hijab veil is mandatory for women in Iran, and in 2014, Iran's morality police warned, fined or arrested 3.6 million women for inappropriate dress. Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and activist living in the U.S., wants to change this, and she's started by inviting Iranian women to send in pictures of themselves enjoying their unveiled hair.
Alinejad makes her points beautifully in an interview with Vox; "My mother wants to wear a scarf. I don't want to wear a scarf. Iran should be for both of us."

"whatever women with hijab say, that they wear it by their own choice, i believe it has been imposed on them by men. In fact they were forced and brainwashed by men so much , that now they think they do it out of their own choice." emm. I live in Russia. My father and mother and husband and sometimes governs are against my hijab. Many of my friends were oppressed because of hijab. But still it's our choice. For me it's more than a piece of fabric. No matter what they say and what you say

By: Beautiful World On 10:48 PM

Happy Street

The sign over my head reads "happiness", but happy are the women who aren't followed by a censor-man to cross them out everywhere they go, in school, at work, on the streets...

even if you leave Iran, the censor-man will still follow you, and will cut you out of any sport stadium he sees you in.

happiness comes when no women is a danger to her country, such a danger that they she has to be expurgated out of every context.. happiness comes when my fear of the censor-men ends and the day when I can smile to the kind people who honor and respect me and don't ridicule me for the way I dress and the way I look..

By: Beautiful World On 11:21 AM

No Headscarf

Iranian women have long been in a cat-and-mouse game with the interpretation and enforcement of many aspects of Islamic law, but most especially the hijab. Since 1983, when the first written law was passed, the Islamic Republic has made it officially mandatory for women to wear the headscarf and loose clothing, with punishment for failing to comply ranging from lashes to imprisonment. Even before the law was passed, just a few strands of hair outside the scarf would not be tolerated. Many women pushed that boundary during the tenure of reformist president Mohammad Khatami in the 1990s and early 2000s, partially showing hair and wearing Western-style clothing with the hijab.
Today, while a large sector of Iranian women voluntarily wear the hijab, women from all parts of Iran and all socioeconomic backgrounds are still defying hijab restrictions, and the struggle between them and the authorities and conservative citizens continues. A string of acid attacks on young women in the city of Isfahan last month raised questions as to whether the attacks were a response to the women wearing “bad hijab”—the term for a woman who does not adhere to the most restricted style of the hijab—and “un-Islamic” clothing.

Despite the threat of such violence or state-enforced punishment, Iranian women have recently been using social media to test boundaries. This past May, six young Iranians, three of them women without headscarves, posted a video of themselves dancing to Pharrell Williams’s global hit “Happy.” And a Facebook page called “My Stealthy Freedom,” featuring “selfies” of bareheaded women who have taken off the hijab, has attracted hundreds of thousands of followers and “likes.”

By: Beautiful World On 1:54 PM

Camouflage

A draft law that would give greater powers to Iran's police and volunteer militias to enforce women's compulsory wearing of the veil has been ruled unconstitutional, state media reported Saturday.
Under Islamic law in force in Iran since the 1979 revolution, women must wear loose clothing, known as hijab, that covers the head and neck and which conceals their hair. But many now push the boundaries by wearing thin head scarves, tight leggings and fashionable coats rather than a chador, a long and traditional black garment that covers the entire body from head to toe.
This has led to claims from lawmakers and religious leaders that the rules are being skirted and not maintained by morality police whose job is to ensure Islamic dress code is complied with in public places.

The draft law, called the "Plan on Protection of Promoters of Virtue and Vice" was rejected by the country's influential Guardian Council, a 12-member group that scrutinises legislation.
The official IRNA news agency, quoting a council spokesman, said the 24-point plan contained 14 flaws and it "contradicted the constitution and was not approved". The report did not give specifics.
However, the council's decision is not the end of the law, under which lawmakers want to give members of the Basij, a religious volunteer force established by the country's revolutionary leaders, power and protection to verbally caution women they deem improperly dressed.

The council has sent the law back to parliament for amendment, IRNA said.
The wearing of hijab is an emotive issue in the Islamic republic, with supporters saying it is an essential part of Islamic culture for women, but opponents argue that it is an ill-defined legal requirement.
The draft law, which was approved by parliament in December, also aimed to place responsibility on employers to ensure hijab is observed by workers, with companies facing fines for non-compliance.
President Hassan Rouhani, who has been under pressure from hardline lawmakers to pursue a tougher police stand on the veil, distanced himself from the planned law in a speech on October 25.

By: Beautiful World On 11:38 AM

Silent Protest

Since 1979, the Iranian government has made hijab an emblem of its religious and political identity. Iranian women covered by black chadors became the visual symbol of not only the Islamic government but also as a representation of the ideal type of Iranian women. The government was successful in disseminating distorted images of Iranian women's lifestyles by denying the existence of many others who did not wear chadors or believe in hijab.

This state representation has been highly effective. Even today, the chador and hijab are the most common markers of Iranian women broadcast in both Western media and Iran's state-run television, IRIB.
Unfortunately, Iranian women's deprivation of one of their primary rights -- the right to wear what they want in public -- has yet to garner attention in the era of 'Islamophobia.' In progressive circles of civil society, debates on hijab and Muslim women's freedom of expression are typically rationalized by their right to wear a burqa in European countries. A consequence of this is that the Iranian government's policy of compulsory hijab is either supported or ignored by cultural relativist apologists. However, if using the same line of reasoning, Europeans can possibly claim that they, too, are preserving European culture by denying Muslim women their right to freedom of expression -- meaning, wearing the hijab.

Depriving women of their basic rights is not a new subject. But when these rights are ignored by social activists in the name of culture or religion we must be alarmed. Now is the time to stop justifying mandatory hijab in the name of religion, nation, country, or culture. It is time to remind ourselves, as women and human rights activists, that when it comes to women's rights, there is no room for appeasement.

By: Beautiful World On 2:56 PM

No Hijab in Metro

Colorful, vibrant and elegant. Fashion in the streets of Iranian cities often defies the mainstream media portrayal of Iran as a dark and colorless society, in which women are forced to wear black outfit from top of the head to the tips of the toes, an image similar to the attire worn in countries like Saudi Arabia. Iranian women have had their special way of wearing from the time that Islam was introduced to Iran. Nowadays they are trying to create an identity and maintain an Iranian style of hijab fashion, pretty much similar to many other Muslim countries. But what is an Iranian hijab style.
Hijab is mandatory in Iran and the government imposes a type of dress code which requires women to cover the hair and body. Religious Persian women traditionally wear a type of garment named Chador which is very popular in central Iran – the region that most Persian population resides. But this is not the traditional hijab for all and none has actually enforced Chador, not even at the first years of revolution when people were more strict than now.

Iran has religious minorities that they are required to wear the headscarf in the public but the government does not impose it on them in their own communities. They are allowed to produce their own alcoholic beverage as well as pork but are not allowed to sell to muslims. Other ethnic groups follow their own type of ethnical costumes which is quite vibrant and colorful. However at schools and governmental offices they are usually required to wear the least of the official Islamic dress code which is pants and a tunic or thin overcoat named “Manteau”.

“Manteau” is a french word which means coat or mantle. After revolution when most women started to cover up & follow the Islamic laws, they wore a type of coat which was long and loose and knotted the square scarf under their neck. This style is still identified as Iranian way of wearing headscarf. However after 30 something post revolution, the design of Manteau and Chador has evolved alot.

By: Beautiful World On 3:08 AM

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