In class this past week, we
were to read over half of “The Complete Persepolis”. This graphic novel brought
up a major discussion in class concerning the veil that Iranian women were supposed
to wear and what Satrapi was forced to wear as a young girl. Almost everyone in
class had something to say on the topic, so I thought this article would be a
great conversation started for our Blog. These women are fighting against the
oppression that they experience everyday through their country, religion, and
society by posing nude in a video to help promote liberation and freedom for
the females in their culture. I think it is interesting because Satrapi made it
seem like wearing a veil was sort of a choice and that there were fair
arguments on both sides.
This
article reaffirms Satrapi’s viewpoint in her graphic novel. For the majority,
the stereotypes of women having to be conservative in dress and action, no
having a say in anything, dependent on the man of the household, to not be
political or economic leaders, go through abuse by their husbands or fathers.
But there is also another side that the media so rarely portrays and that’s why
I think that it is so important that people read this article. Satrapi’s viewpoint
is dead on. There are some that accept and even praise the veil. There are also
some who fight with everything that they have against the veil.
There
is a little bit of warning that goes along with this video. There are pictures
of nude women, given that their body parts are blurred over, but just in case
some find it offensive, now is your chance not to click on the link. Here is a
link to the article from March of 2012: Exiled
Iranian women pose nude in video protest against sexual oppression on International
Women's Day | Mail Online. The video is in a foreign language that I do not
understand (I’m going to guess Arabic). But the messages of the women are in
subtitles below and are very bold statements for them to make along with saying
them in the nude. These women are not asking to be put on a pedestal. They are
simply asking to be equal with men. One statement even goes to be so bold as to
say “In place of those who want to…but can’t”. I’m personally proud of these
women for putting themselves in harm’s way to make their important voice heard
not only to the men of the country but also the women.
This is a very interesting topic. It is hard to believe how some of the women protest the veil. But it was a very clever thing to do. If women just stood on the street and were fully clothed, they would get very little public media attention. Since these women took the next step, maybe a radical decision to some and to others a great idea, they got the public's attention they needed. If you Google "Iranian Women Protest," tons of links and videos will appear. Many of the videos are of nude women protesting. They need to do what they feel is the best, and obviously this decision to pose and protest nude worked for these women, at least on the media aspect. But think about it, now these women have the media involved and I'm sure they made national news when this happened. If they wouldn't have done this, people would not really know how other countries really act toward their citizens. There are even videos of Iranian women in Sweden and Brazil protesting nude in the streets. When was the last time you saw a protest of just females that made national news? This was just the first major step in these women's protest that I will bet goes on for years, or until something is drastically changed in Iran.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very interesting in my opinion, not only does it relate to Iranian Women in the Persepolis, but many more class concepts. I think that the idea that the personal is political, and political is personal applies to this article. The women in this article, just like the main character in Persepolis want to fight for what they believe. They are the types of women that know that by going against the norm, or doing things that are seen as taboo will help them get their points across. They are oppressed by male figures and they just want equality. However, by taking nude photos, and other things will just get them harmed, but just like throughout United States history this is the way that many women figures helped women in general gain rights. By speaking out and showing that you aren't afraid of the outcome but just want a change then this can eventually have an affect. Each individual woman feels this oppression by rules such as the veil, but what is really occurring is a social issue on a bigger scale. There needs to be a radical change, but that is going to take a lot of women going against society and doing things like they are in this article. By going to the government, these women have little hope. They need to actually show that what is happening isn’t right because the male figures don’t want to hear the opinions of the women. This reading and Persepolis show at a much worse scale the oppression that women feel in general. I know that women here in this class, and in America have felt oppressed by men. Whether it be not getting paid the same wage, or having to do house chores. Women in other parts of the world get this and much more. I think that these readings opened my eyes to more serious examples of oppression, and male and female norms. There may be oppression here, but I know that some women have no say. I think that more things like going against norms in society should happen because this may be the thing that changes the rights of women.
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