Stoned to death

[wombat2u2004]

To Moosmom:

Although I agree that in SOME countries, women are 'forced' to cover up, this is NOT the case in the majority of places where women cover. Women covering has nothing to do with cruelty. It has nothing to do with men making them cover. Muslim women, here in the US cover, while living under the same laws as you do.

Why do we cover up? It is for our dignity. We consider our bodies to be sacred and not an open market for men with bad intentions to feast their eyes on. How many sex offenders are out there in this country? How many times to we hear of the terrible crimes they commit against girls and young women in the news. What lures them to these women? There are many such people out there in this world, and the last thing I would want to do is expose myself to them while I am going about my business. Women in the West go out dressing SEXY. For who?..., I wonder. Is it to attract every single man on the streets? Now don't even try to tell me men don't get attracted when they see a beautiful women walking around nearly naked.

So that, my friend, is why we cover. It is our choice, and no one has the right to condemn someone else's choice in their clothing and attire. We all choose what we wear. The covering of the face is optional, which I, by the way, don't do, but I am otherwise covered head to toe when I go out of my house, and I love it, and would never go out without it. Don't judge others with ignorance. Just keep in mind that while you are judging others for covering their bodies and imagining they are oppressed, those others might be judging you and finding it unbelievable when they see how much some women show to every other person on the streets. Some people find THAT to be incredible degrading of oneself.

As to walking behind their husbands, I have been to Eastern countries. Have yet to meet anyone who follows such a thing. Sometimes the husband is fast and ends up in front of his wife, sometimes vice versa, but most of the time, I have only seen couples in all parts of the world, walking side by side, many times hand in hand. Again, don't judge blindly. Have you ever BEEN to other countries?

Thousands of Iranian women have been cautioned over their poor Islamic dress this week and several hundred arrested in the capital Tehran in the most fierce crackdown on what's known as "bad hijab" for more than a decade.
It is the talk of the town. The latest police crackdown on Islamic dress has angered many Iranians - male, female, young and old.


But Iranian TV has reported that an opinion poll conducted in Tehran found 86% of people were in favour of the crackdown - a statistic that is surprising given the strength of feeling against this move.

Police cars are stationed outside major shopping centres in Tehran.

They are stopping pedestrians and even cars - warning female drivers not to show any hair - and impounding the vehicles and arresting the women if they argue back.

Middle-aged women, foreign tourists and journalists have all been harassed, not just the young and fashionably dressed.

Individual choice

Overnight the standard of what is acceptable dress has slipped back.


I want the whole world to know that they oppress us and all we can do is put up with it

Tofiq, 15

Hard-won freedoms - like the right to wear a colourful headscarf - have been snatched away.

It may sound trivial but Iranian women have found ways of expressing their individuality and returning to drab colours like black, grey and dark blue is not something they will accept easily.

"If we want to do something we will do it anyway, all this is total nonsense," says a young girl, heavily made up and dressed up.

She believes Islamic dress should be something personal - whether you're swathed in a black chador or dressed in what she calls "more normal clothes".

Interestingly many women who choose to wear the all enveloping chador agree - saying it's a personal choice and shouldn't be forced on people.

"This year is much worse than before because the newspapers and the TV have given the issue a lot of coverage compared to last year; it wasn't this bad before," says Shabnam who's out shopping with her friend.

Permission denied

At the start of every summer the police say they will enforce the Islamic dress code, but this year has been unusually harsh.

Thousands of women have been cautioned by police over their dress, some have been obliged to sign statements that they will do better in the future, and some face court cases against them.


Even shop mannequins considered "too revealing" are dealt with

Though the authorities want coverage internally to scare women - they don't want the story broadcast abroad.

The BBC's cameraman was detained when he tried to film the police at work and the government denied us permission to go on patrol with the police.

"Really we don't have any security," complains Shabam's friend Leyla.

"Since we came out this morning many people we met have continuously warned us to be careful about our headscarves and to wear them further forward because they are arresting women who are dressed like this," she says.

Boutique owners are furious. Some shops have been sealed - others warned not to sell tight revealing clothing.

One shopkeeper selling evening dresses told us the moral police had ordered him to saw off the breasts of his mannequins because they were too revealing.

He said he wasn't the only shop to receive this strange instruction.

Respect

There's even been less traffic on the streets because some women are not venturing out - fearful they will be harassed.

And it's not even safe in a car. Taxi agencies have received a circular warning them not to carry a "bad hijabi".

"They have said we shouldn't carry passengers who wear bad Islamic dress and if we do we have to warn them to respect the Islamic dress code even inside the car," said one taxi driver.

And it's not just women who are being targeted this year.

Young men are being cautioned for wearing short sleeved shirts or for their hairstyles.

Morad - a hairdresser whose gelled hair is made to stand straight up - says it's necessary for him to look like this to attract customers.

"These last few days I don't dare walk down the main roads looking like this case I get arrested," he says.

"I use the side streets and alleys."

Morad is scared because his friends have told him they've seen the police seize young men and forcibly cut their hair if it's too long.

Fifteen-year-old Tofiq who'd also gelled his hair to stand on end said he too was afraid but he wasn't going to change.

"I want the whole world to know that they oppress us and all we can do is put up with it," he said.

Some parents have complained that harassing the young over their clothing will only push them to leave the country.

But one MP has said those Iranians who cannot cope with Islamic laws should leave.

Some commentators have suggested that the government is conducting this crackdown to distract attention from the rising cost of living in Iran and increasing tension with the international community over the nuclear issue.

If so, it's a strategy that risks alienating people who've got used to years of relative social freedom and do not want to return to the early days of the revolution when dress rules were much more tightly enforced.