Regards, Ivan
Posted on 07/17/2004 12:41:38 AM PDT by MadIvan
FORGET the nuclear inspectors, instability in Iraq, or soaring drugs use. The hot topic in Iran these days is fashion - what women can and cannot wear.
Morals police and Islamic vigilantes have launched a fierce crackdown on "improper dress", confiscating tight coats and cropped trousers from fashionable shopping centres and detaining scores of women every day for flouting the strict Islamic dress code.
The code, or hejab in Persian, was imposed after the 1979 Islamic revolution and requires women to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures.
Roshanak, 27, was arrested by police and held for two days when her scarf slipped off while parking her car.
"My husband had to pay ten million rials (£625) to free me and I am pending trial. My lawyer said I may be lashed as well."
While the crackdown on improper hejab is not new - enforcement typically peaks in the summer as soaring temperatures prompt many women to test the boundaries of the law - the level of debate accompanying it is unprecedented.
According to local media, the interior ministry is drafting new guidelines on the subject to clarify what can and cannot be worn.
For many, ruling on the acceptable length of women’s coats or whether sandals and earrings are banned imperils the tiny sartorial freedoms that women have gained in recent years.
"The way people dress is a matter for individuals to decide ... the government cannot approve a bill like this," the reformist Sharq newspaper said in an editorial.
But many clerics, alarmed by the growing number of women who have cast aside the traditional head-to-toe black chador in favour of colourful scarves, tight coats and calf-length capri trousers, think that the proposed bill has come not a moment too soon.
"Some women appear in the streets half a millimetre from breaking the Islamic dress code," said a hardline cleric, Ahmad Khatami. "It is a very dangerous trend."
One senior cleric proposed an anti-vice ministry, similar to that used by the Taleban to force Afghan women to cover up and men to grow beards.
A hardline vigilante group has blamed bad observance of hejab for rising rape cases, and urged police to stamp it out.
Political analysts say the issue could be a litmus test for the future of social freedoms, particularly now that Islamic conservatives have all but ousted reformists from power.
The pro-reform president, Mohammad Khatami, credited with encouraging more relaxed enforcement of rules, such as hejab, since his 1997 election, is serving out his last year in office. His allies lost their parliamentary majority to conservatives in a February vote which was marred by the mass disqualification of reformists.
"The moderates in the conservative camp know that a severe crackdown on social issues would cause a backlash from people, but the traditionalists want to make an issue out of hejab," said one political analyst, Hossein Rassam.
Reflecting divisions on how to treat the issue, many of the dissenting voices against stricter dress codes come from within the Islamic conservative camp.
"Any policy for cracking down on those who violate hejab which is imposed by the state will fail," the conservative Resalat newspaper said in an editorial comment.
Even the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, normally a proponent of strict adherence to Islamic values, sounded a flexible note in a key speech last week.
"Cultural mimicry is a big danger, but don’t get me wrong, I am not opposed to fashion, variety and innovation," he said.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
The slut.
<|:/~
First you let them start driving.....
I can think of many ways to describe these people, but will be content to sit back and watch their world collapse around them.
I keep saying, an important part of the war on terror is to instigate the women's movement and feminize the male population. Brings on different problems, but mostly non-violent ones.
These people are incapable of a rational thought. Please someone... DO NOT LET THEM HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS!
Unfortunately, there are folks on these threads who would agree with this statement.
These people are incapable of a rational thought. Please someone... DO NOT LET THEM HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS!
Don't they already!???
It is the hardline vigilantes doing the raping, isn't it?
When Muslim women appear in the Western press, as they have for decades, saying that the dress codes *protect* them, they mean it *protects* them from the fundamentalists.
We saw an excellent example of the truth of your statement yesterday.
no
Slippery slope. While not advocating Iranian theocracy, once you allow certain things, society goes to hell. Just look at our modern society and how people dress.
"Some women appear in the streets half a millimetre from breaking the Islamic dress code," said a hardline cleric, Ahmad Khatami. "It is a very dangerous trend."
I think they should be more concerend about "honor killings" than appearances.
I am proud of myself!
Your post almost prompted a withering *ss-kicking, but I controlled myself.
Thank you for being part of a successful test of my intellectual restraint system.
Have a great day - dress wisely.
LOL!!!
"You know these people are loons..."
And we have them here posting on FR... I remember a thread where posters complained about the appropriateness of what the Bush twin girls were wearing on this last Easter Sunday when they went with their parents to greet recovering injured soldiers at a hospital in the US.
"Next thing you know they'll be wearing 'open toed shoes' in public. Think of the children!"
Don't laugh... but I work in a juvenile correctional facility in AZ and guess what... I can't wear open toed shoes to work according to our gov't imposed dress code because of how it would corrupt the juveniles held in our facility...
The silence of western feminists about the suppression of women in Islamaworld is a disgrace.
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