Tossing Turbans To Kissing: 7 Ways Iranian Women Are Opposing Radical Islamic Laws

Iranian women and protesters have been using creative ways to retaliate against the radical Islamic regime. Read on. 

iranian women protest against islamic regime anti hijab

On September 16, protests erupted in Iran after Mahsa Amini’s custodial death in the hands of the moral police for violating strict hijab regulations. So far, thousands of protesters, including teenagers, have been detained, and hundreds of people, including kids, have been killed by the oppressive regime. But the strive to attain freedom from radical Islamic laws continues.

Even amid all the regulatory laws, women have taken their protest to the streets and have been getting creative with their retaliation against the patriarchal notions oppressing women, their thoughts, individuality, and dreams.

It is not only women, who are part of these protests. Even men are chanting anti-government slogans, tossing off cleric turbans and indulging in public displays of affection, which is considered a sin by many preachers of Islam and other religions around the world.

Take a look at how Iranian women have been opposing patriarchal Islamic rule.

Tearing Down Gender-Separating Walls

Both Iran and Afghanistan have radical governments that have imposed gender segregation in schools, colleges, sports, transport, and hospitals. In most places in Iran, a wall is created in rooms or buses to separate men from women. The video below shows students tearing down such walls and shouting ‘freedom, freedom, freedom’.

Burning Hijabs

After protesters took to the streets of the country asking for justice for Amini’s death, women were spotted burning their hijabs. Wearing the headscarf became a compulsion for women after the Islamic Revolution happened.

Many actors, celebrities and school girls removed hijabs, walked without headscarves, burnt them, and even chopped off their hair. In India, Sacred Games actor Elnaaz Norouzi, published a video in which she stripped in a symbolic gesture to reclaim agency over her body. She seem to have deleted it.

Protesting Through Sports

Many female athletes have showcased their support for protests in Iran by letting go of their hijab during various sports competitions. Elnaz Rekabi was hailed for not wearing a headscarf at a sports event in Seoul, South Korea.

However, she later published a statement saying it fell off, and she did not realise. Many people said that athletes like her were pressured and threatened by the government to issue such clarifications.

Indulging In Public Display Of Affection

According to Islamic laws, women have to adhere to a strict dress code. They cannot indulge in public displays of affection or dance among people with a person of the opposite gender.

However, protesters have been defying these archaic, sexist, and patriarchal laws by hugging, dancing, and kissing in public. Not only did they need the courage to do it but also had to bear the brunt of men in power ordering them to be sent to detention and jail.

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Protesting Through Art

Art is and has always been the most convenient, vocal, and impressionable medium of protest. Iranian women have been conveying their retaliation against Islamic laws via poems, paintings, songs, etc.

One can see that most of the art is centred around the freedom of women, expression and individuality.

Tossing Turbans

Many people in Iran were spotted tossing the turbans of clerics who consider themselves in the highest regard. These clerics are supposed to be the most learned people, who are there to preach the word of God, but instead their misogyny has led them to do nothing but suppress the voices of women.

These clerics decide what women should wear, how they should act in public and what they should study. These brave acts of retaliation have even astounded clerics.

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Making Funeral As Venues Of Anti-Regime Protests

To make their voices heard, Iranians have been turning funerals of murdered protesters into venues for anti-regime protests. In the clip below, thousands of protesters can be seen marching to Mahsa Amini’s funeral in Saghez.

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