Women

An Apology to a Woman I Didn’t Know

The violent crackdown of the Islamic Republic’s security forces on how women dress in public was well on its way when I arrived in Tehran last spring. One morning a few days after my arrival I decided to walk to the nearby Super Jordan food market , located at the corner of the famous Jordan Boulevard (aka Africa Blvd) and Golazin street, and do some food shopping. As I was approaching the store I noticed there is some commotion on the street not far from the store. The security forces had set up makeshift apprehension stations on both north and south bound direction of the boulevard>>>

What we want

The One Million Signatures Campaign seeks to bring Iranian law addressing women’s status in line with international human rights standards, these demands are in no way in contradiction to Islam. Iranian law is based on interpretations of Sharia law, but these interpretations have been up for debate by religious scholars for some time, not only in Iran but around the Islamic world. Shiite Islam, on which the interpretations of Sharia rely with respect to Iranian law, claims to be dynamic and responsive to the specific needs of people and time. Iranian society has changed much since 1400 years ago, but the interpretations of Sharia on which the Iranian law is based remain rather conservative>>>

V for Voice

My unselfish and greater wish is to represent the voice of our repressed Iranian people, of the women of Iran who endure human rights abuses that should not even be occuring in this day and age... I would love to use our current production of "The Vagina Monologues" as a springboard for both a show in solidarity with women's and children's rights from you, my community, and as a compassionate vehicle of greater involvement of our Iranian community within the American community at large. This is a fabulous video where Jane Fonda and Eve Ensler, the playwright and women's rights activist extraordinaire, passionately and so eloquently explain our cause >>>

قدرت و شوق

چه ارتباطی میان حقوق زنان و ارگاسم وجود دارد؟ از نظر فیلمساز و فمینیست های کارکشته و موفقی مثل وندی اسلیک و امیکو امری، همه جور ارتباطی! داستان از کتاب "تکنولوژی ارگاسم" نوشته دکترریچل مینز شروع شد . این کتاب به تاریخ اختراع وایبریتورهای الکترو مغناطیسی می پردازد که از دهه 1880 برای درمان هیستری زنان به کار گرفته می شدند. این فیلم مستند Power and Passion در واقع داستان این کتاب را پی می گیرد که تاریخ این اختراع ساده و ارتباط آن با یکی از رفتارهای پیچیده انسان یعنی ارگاسم را بررسی می کند. دکتر مینز مسیر گاه شهوت انگیز و گاه خنده دار زنان "هیستریک" و تلاششان برای آرامش جنسی را از روزهای ریاکاری ویکتوریایی تا امروز نشان می دهد>>>

Missing the point

Perhaps Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury thought his statement about Sharia Law will be received enthusiastically as well-intended and an effort to reduce racial tensions in the society. However, his proposal got him into trouble. He was attacked from right and left. Those who saw their “white Christian culture” under threat asked for his resignation. Women rights activists, secularists and such like attacked him for the negative effects of Sharia Law on human rights, particularly the disastrous effects of such a practice on women in so-called Muslim communities. In response to harsh criticism he tried to qualify his proposal by stating that he did not mean the whole Sharia Law, but in family matters. He has just missed the point>>>

زنی که دو بار اعدام شد

کتاب خانم وزیر تالیف منصوره پیر نیا آخرین شاهکار در بدنام کردن یکی از خوش نامترین زنان آزادی خواه، روشنفکر، دانشمند و مبارز ایرانی است که نامش در تاریخ اجتماعی نه تنها زن ایرانی، بلکه در جهان نیز می درخشد. شیوه محاکمه و اعدام این زن لکه ننگی است جاویدان بر پیشانی حکومت اسلامی. خانم فرخ رو پارسای را تنها به این دلیل که هرگز حاضر نشد در جلسات دادگاه یا حتی به هنگام اعدام چادر بسر کند در یک گونی بزرگ نهاده، سر گونی را محکم گره زدند و او را به دار آویختند. این واقعه ننگین البته در پرونده عدالت اسلامی ابدی است. آیندگان اگر هیچ چیز از کمالات و مبارزات آزادی خواهانه بانو فرخ رو پارسا که من و ما شاهد آن بوده ایم نخوانند و ندانند فاجعه اعدام او یادشان نمی رود و چه بسا زیر تاثیر این رویداد به دنبال شناخت حقایق تاریخی که او و پشت سر او ما ساختیم برود.>>>

Beyond elite demands

One of the main criticisms against the Iranian women’s movement is that it advocates for the demands of elite groups and disregards the demands and needs of women at the grassroots. Critics claim that the Iranian women’s movement is an elite movement rather than a grassroots movement, and given the fact that the discourse of elite classes differ from that of the masses, ordinary women cannot participate in this movement. Women’s rights activists in recent years too have heard criticisms that claim that the demands of the women’s movement are in reality the demands of a group of Tehran-based and educated women>>>

For men only

"You mean you would be willing to allow your husband to take on a second or even a third wife while married to you, with the law supporting him in doing so?" I ask. "What’s the problem with that?" She responds abruptly and forcefully. "I am the second wife to my husband." All the women surrounding us on the Tehran metro car are now staring at me. There is something in their gaze, waiting for me to put this woman in her place with a strong and reproachful response. But the woman does not allow me to respond, she continues: "I fell in love with my husband. I am still in love with him. If it weren’t for the law, I would not be allowed to be with him. Even if it is for one day a week, it is legal. This law gives us greater freedom of choice, why should I oppose it?">>>

Women vs. God

In 1936, Reza Shah ordered the public unveiling of women in Iran. The clergy vigorously protested; women of the mercantile middle class stayed home, refusing to appear „naked” in public. Lower middle class and rural women began to work outside the home, most of them in small textile shops. It is the labour of women and children, with their small fingers, which forms the backbone of the carpet industry in Iran. Any benefits relating to housing or childcare which they receive are given not to them but to their husbands. Their working conditions are harsh, with long hours, low pay and inadequate maternity provisions>>>

Right time, right strategy

Vahdati: My contact with Iranian women activists goes back to 2003, when I started writing for Women in Iran. The website was founded by Shadi Sadr and a group of women journalists and activists (womeniniran.net). Although it started mainly as a women’s news site it had other sections such as “Tajrobeh haye zananeh” (Womanly Experiences) which was my favorite section and I started writing for it. At the time Faezeh Tabatabaei was in charge of the column and encouraged me to continue writing. Soon, I started writing articles for the site as well>>>

The enemy within

One would expect that if there is one country in the world in which women have become equal to men, that country is America. In fact, the number one question of twenty first century is, why does America remain the only industrial nation in which a woman has not been allowed to become president, or even vice president when even in many developing countries that has happened many times. Therefore, the anti-women factions mentioned above, with some of the big media at their service have managed to neutralize the women's struggle for more equality or place it on the back burner>>>

شهید بوتو

یکی نبود به بینظیر بوتو بگه تو هم از این فرح خانوم خودمون یاد بگیر. الان سی ساله آزگار توی آمریکا و اروپا پرسه میزنه، کیفشو میکنه، کنسرت میره، به این موزه پول میده، از اون یکی خرید میکنه، عشق میکنه، روسری هم سرش نمیکنه! هرچند سال یکبار هم یکدونه ازون نطقهای چیزم به طاقی غم انگیز میکنه، که آدم دلش کباب میشه که چطور زنی با داشتن میلیارد، میلیارد دلار پول نقد، باز میتونه صداشو اونجور گه مرغی کنه>>>

آنجا که زنان برای آزادی دو بار می ميرند

درست همزمان با وقتی که خانم هيلری کلينتون، زيبا و درخشان، از پله های محل سخنرانی سالن نورانی يکی از کمپين های انتخاباتی خود بالا می رفت تا در مقابل ده ها دوربين فيلمبرداری و صدها طرفدار خوش لباس و سر حال خويش از فردايي بهتر بگويد، زن ديگری، به همان زيبايي و درخشش، در ميدان بويناک محله ای در راولپندی در مقابل هزاران زن و مردی که برخی شان روی صندلی های تاشو نشسته بودند و برخی ديگر پا برهنه از سر و کول هم بالا می رفتند، ايستاده بود تا او نيز سخن از فردايي بگويد که سال هاست بسيارانی از آن مردم در انتظارش نشسته اند.>>>

God and religion business

Benazir Bhutto's assassination reminds me of the number of rednecks and misogynists in the US who are ready to bet that if either Hillary or Obama are elected next year, they'll be assassinated by January 2010. It also makes me wonder when will the Iranians wake up and separate Disneyland/God/Religion from the State? Proud of their 2500 years history, will the Iranians ever wake up to realize that the whole concept of “God” is nothing but a mere figment of human imagination – no matter whether it is marketed by the Bible, Torah, Qoran, or any other fairy tale -- and no matter how many billions in South America or Africa believe in such BS>>>

Elena

When you are writing a series it is fatal to stop. If it takes too long between episodes readers, even the most avid fans, tend to lose track of the story. When you take as long as I have this time they lose interest completely. So it is with a very humble amount of hope of recovering my readers’ interest that I am writing this piece. The only thing I have going for me is that I write in a genre in which the plot and coherence of a story matters little. What matters is how well the writing conveys sex. Basically if the reader is turned on by what I write I have succeeded. So I will give you a Christmas episode from a while back that I have wanted to share for a long time and now that I am free from the linear confines of diary writing I will indulge you.>>>