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In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest

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If_I_Had_a_Poodle
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
also, the insane bad hateful mobs of people in that part of the world dancing in the streets with rifles are 100 percent men, which typically passes without comment
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hippichx sez PEACE PLEASE
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
this was a really great post.
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Uncommon Whore
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
In my old apartment building I saw this woman a few times with a young son, and she had the whole body and face hijab, with just a small slit for her eyes. I once was in an elevator and got to chatting with her, and she pulled the head covering off and I nearly gasped with how beautiful she was. I admit, there had been something intimidating about seeing women in the full hijab, which probably made our elevator chat seem even more intimate. I got really emotional once I got into my apartment.

And I honestly got the impression that not a lot of American women started random conversations with her, intimidated as I had previously been. I hope she's doing well.
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Grandma Death
06/16/09

@Uncommon Whore: I'm not sure if I'm just over emotional lately or what, but I thought that your post was really touching, and my eyes started to water after I read it. Thank you for sharing that, I hope she's doing well, too.
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Uncommon Whore
06/16/09

@Grandma Death: Aww, thanks hon, I got all teared up remembering it.
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lacey in ak
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
Anyone read "Lipstick Jihad"? I read it a few years ago and want to re-read now. It addresses the issue of "primping" as subversive action. I highly recommend it.
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schlegs84
06/16/09

@lacey in ak: I'm not sure if this is related, but I remember a particularly haunting of woman applying full makeup under her burka. I'll have to check out that book!
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Cheap Shot
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
lv nt t fr frm Mslm cmmnty. hv nvr sn hppy lkng mslm wmn.
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thesciencegirl
06/16/09

@Cheap Shot: Too bad it's too late to nominate today's worstie.
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haguenite
06/16/09

@Cheap Shot: I hereby extend to you an invitation to hang out with me at The Hague. We'll go to the market and ride the trams. Your eyes will be opened to a whole new world.
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gherkinfiend
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
I feel very lucky right now to have the freedom to wear what I want, when I want and to have the right to vote in a democratic country.

I feel devastated that too many people here in Britain (and the rest of the EU) were too busy painting their nails and choosing their choice on June 4 to bother exercising the democratic rights some people risk their lives for.

Maybe the West could learn something from these images?
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Rosaxé
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
Why are the signs in English?
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kithkin
06/16/09

@Rosaxé: This attracts attention from English-speaking media like the BBC and American sources. I also don't think it's uncommon for Iranians to know English, especially in cosmopolitan areas like Tehran.
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haguenite
06/16/09

@kithkin: Not just English-speaking. They're also easier for many people whose first language may not be English, but who still know their way around that language better than most others. See: Europe, for example.
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kithkin
06/16/09

@haguenite: Quite right, my Anglocentrism is totally embarrassing here. Thanks, and I'll try harder to check it in the future.
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haguenite
06/16/09

@kithkin: Just realized I might have come off a bit pissy here. Really unintended. It's just that I've seen this explanation around quite often over the last couple of days and I was always too late to comment on them, and now I could and was all WOOHOO I GET TO POINT SOMETHING OUT.
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kithkin
06/16/09

@haguenite: I wish I'd said "Because it's on an international political stage." I wasn't thinking you were pissy, and just since tone is so weird online, I am quite embarrassed. mea culpa, and seriously, thanks.
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If_I_Had_a_Poodle
06/16/09

@Rosaxé: the signs are in english so that we can read them, obvs.
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stealthird
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
I think it was a couple of years ago that I saw an article in the NYT that showed a photo of this beautiful Iranian woman getting a citation for having like three inches of hair showing under her scarf. The way she wore her scarf made her look so lovely, and she was getting in trouble for it. So, yes, the pretty is relevant.
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Penny
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
Honestly, I never really noticed because I have yet to meet an unattractive, young Iranian woman. Maybe I have been checked out of the news (although I thought I was tapped in) but I've seen more photos of bloodshed than anything else.
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JudastheObscurest
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
Can we go easy on the cultural analysis? If there is anything that has complicated these issues on the Western side it's condescending and overly simplistic articles like these.

It's becoming clearer that Ahmadenijad was reelected (despite anecdotal reports of corruption). None of this is black/white, polished/unpolished nails. We Americans would love things to be simple and meaningful; but we are not there, have little concept of what it means to be there, and are really quite foolish for being aghast, shocked and incredulous at the outcome.
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Penny
06/16/09

@JudastheObscurest: Anecdotal reports, really? I think you're missing the point. I agree with the tendency to oversimplify, indeed, and we Americans have a tendency to assume democracy is the best path for every people, but I think it's pretty clear that this election was a farce.
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haguenite
06/16/09

@JudastheObscurest: Well, if you can do a better job...

Honestly, cultural analysis is not inherently condescending, no matter what Edward Said may have told you.
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kelsium
06/16/09

@JudastheObscurest: Really? Do you know exactly what is happening in Iran? No one does. It's entirely possible that no one will ever know who really won the election, and frankly at this point it doesn't matter that much. There have been many, many reports of brutal violence against peaceful protesters, and even preemptive violence against students just for being students. This is not something that we should just shut up about even if we don't fully understand it.

Until full communication abilities are restored in Iran the media is going to run with what it has.
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kelsium
06/16/09

@JudastheObscurest: And to suggest that there is NO meaning to the actions of these courageous women is FAR more condescending than exploring the possibility that there is.
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JudastheObscurest
06/16/09

@kelsium: Repression of free speech and the press happens there (and in much of the world) on a regular basis. Come on, guys. It's nothing new, just a bigger crowd than usual.
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JudastheObscurest
06/16/09

@JudastheObscurest: It was only how many years ago that US troops fired at peaceful protesters? Less than 40? Systemic political violence is a reality, even for most democracies, and the definition of democracy is a sliding scale. It just seems like a lot of Americans are suddenly interested and suddenly outraged.
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kelsium
06/16/09

@JudastheObscurest: Yes it is a bigger crowd than usual and that is what makes it worth discussing.

For fuck's sake, I am so sick of hearing this argument of "this stuff happens every day." Yeah, of course it does, but this IS bigger, something that hasn't happened in Iran in 30 years. Are you suggesting that the news media should not cover and analyze huge international stories? That it should only focus on the little instances of repression of freedom of the press here in this country? That is idiocy.

And last I checked riot police weren't tear gassing dormitories here.
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JudastheObscurest
06/16/09

@kelsium: There is meaning, but rah-rah articles like this don't do it justice. Americans love the 'liberal Iranians' vs. 'repressive mullahs paradigm' because it fits into what we can already swallow.
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haguenite
06/16/09

@kelsium: Navelgazing contributes so much more to the human race in general, really.
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kelsium
06/16/09

@JudastheObscurest: I do not understand how this argument = what is happening in Iran is not important. And frankly, considering how pathetically the American media performed in covering this story from the outset it is amazing that Americans are interested at all. How is something sparking an interest in international affairs ever a bad thing?

All the people who are having a problem with the interest in this story come off as the political equivalent of "I liked [band] before it was cool! Poseur!"

Iran is not a band. Yes, once this story dissipates the interest will dissipate, too, to a certain extent. But some of it won't. How can that be bad?
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kelsium
06/16/09

@haguenite: Really.
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JudastheObscurest
06/16/09

@kelsium: I never suggested it isn't important; I was suggesting that it's so important that the slew of simplifying and silly articles dumbing down complicated issues to bite sized pieces is silly. Iran doesn't care if we are interested. Interest doesn't really matter. What matters are the discrete actions of our government and the economic realities on the ground.
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kelsium
06/16/09

@JudastheObscurest: Yes, the story is being simplified, but consider how little news sources have to go on right now. Twitter updates, photos of protests, official government notices... that's about it. You are expecting some kind of in-depth, objective analysis of a situation from which the US media is only receiving short bursts of information through the static. Would you rather they didn't cover it until they know everything about how everything is going to fall out?

This post cites, yes, anecdotal evidence from women who are saying that this is the case. But shouldn't reports on personal political decisions be based on personal evidence? Obviously, some women in Iran are making these choices for these reasons, and that makes it worth reporting on in Jezebel. Jezebel is not the fucking New York Times.
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kelsium
06/16/09

@JudastheObscurest: You don't think the students writing signs in ENGLISH for the benefit of the English media care whether we care? Have you read any of the accounts coming out of Tehran? Many of them are desperate that the world continue to know what is going on there.

I can see that it's pointless arguing with you since while you argue that these "silly" articles are unimportant, you decry that they exist. If they have no impact, if they are of no importance, then why bother bitching about them in the first place?

I suppose we should all just shut up and let our government do whatever it's going to do. I suppose we shouldn't care, even a little bit, about political suppression in other countries. What the fuck ever.
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BlondeGoddess
06/16/09

@JudastheObscurest: A Dutch news film crew was deported, just because they were filming the protests on the streets. Go figure.
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JudastheObscurest
06/16/09

@kelsium: I never suggested that.
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SunburnedCounsel
06/16/09

@JudastheObscurest: it's not like Megan suggested this is the be-all end-all of coverage on Iran. But this is a piece, especially a piece of the pictures of young women (like the pictures of other women run from all over the world) and it keeps coming up in comments so it's useful to talk about.
Your dismissal just shows your arrogance and ignorance- there have been entire books written about the importance of outward representations of beauty and their relationship to Islam and scratching the surface here is a good start.
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haguenite
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
Yes! Also, there seems to be a bit of surprise underlying the comments regarding these protesters' looks. You could liken it to the response to Susan Boyle.

"She's not a 20-year old 6-foot knockout, and yet she can still sing? WOW!"/"She's socially and politically involved and very brave AND she's pretty to boot? WOW!"

I do like your analysis, Megan, that their looks are a manifestation of whatever Ahmadinejad is attempting to suppress, but you are right. We can register this fact without making it a hangup.

Damn, that made literally no sense, did it?
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LadyFabulous
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
I am so glad you wrote about this Megan! After reading some of the discussions on the SP earlier I think this will clear things up for people.
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morninggloria
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
The Iranian anti-government protesters that I've seen on TV and on the interwebs have all been fucking badass. There's no other way to put it.

I hope that the results of their standing up is different than the results of the Chinese outcry twenty years ago.
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sybann
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
Brava Jezzies - not everyone gets this.
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BeckySharper
06/16/09

In reply to In Iran, "Pretty" Is Sometimes The Protest
Every time I see these pictures, I'm surprised by the amount of hair and makeup and nail polish these women are showing. It's radical compared to the Iran of the 80s and 90s and it absolutely amounts to an act of social protest.

Also, the fact that the protesters--men and women--are young thing is going to be a given in a country where half the population is under 30.
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
06/17/09

@BeckySharper: Check out the woman to the left of photo, just behind the girl's hand. Totes not wearing her headscarf!
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