Gender Trouble in Iran

Posted on Dec 11, 2009

guardian.co.uk / Iranian state television

An image from Iranian state-run media shows Majid Tavakoli, a prominent student activist, in a chador and head scarf.

In a move that seems more apropos to the “girlie men” critique that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger once used against opponents, Iran has published an image of a student activist in Islamic chador and maghnaeh in an attempt to humiliate the man. 

The pictures have been repudiated by the anti-Mahmoud Ahmadinejad camp, which considers the depiction emblematic of the current Iran regime’s vindictiveness and contempt for women. Many individuals, in solidarity, have posted similar photos on sites such as Facebook.  —JCL

The Guardian:

The images are incongruous and unconvincing: a young man with heavy stubble looks shame-faced while forced to pose wearing Islamic chador and maghnaeh, the female headscarf.

The images were published by Iran’s state-run media in an attempt to humiliate one of the theocratic regime’s harshest critics, Majid Tavakoli, a student activist arrested last Monday in the latest demonstrations against the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Now the pictures have provoked an angry backlash from Ahmadinejad’s opponents who claim they display his government’s vindictiveness and contempt for women.

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