Leadership Council for Human Rights

~ Feet in the mud, head in the sky ~

Monday, March 10, 2008

Iranians use fashion to protest social restrictions

A growing number of Iranians are using fashion as a form of protest against a repressive government, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on March 7.

The Islamic Republic has a strict dress code, requiring women to wear the head scarf and prohibiting men from wearing short-sleeved shirts or ties. The authorities often detain people with “improper clothing or haircuts” as part of a crackdown on those who violate this code.

Yet despite this, more and more Iranian are dressing according to a Western sense of style. “The more the authorities try to enforce the code, the more it seems Iranians want to push the boundaries of personal fashion – even at the risk of fines and imprisonment,” the article says.

Iraj Jamsheedi, an Iranian independent journalist, sees the drive to enforce the dress code as part of a larger effort by the government to control society. “Many people ignore the rules as much as they can, simply to protest this and other social restrictions,” he says.

For the full article, click here.

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