A protester holds a drawing of Mahsa Amini during a protest in Berlin, Germany, on September 23. Amini was arrested by Iranian authorities in Tehran on September 13 for not wearing a hijab properly. She died three days later, apparently from a severe head injury.
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A protester holds a drawing of Mahsa Amini during a protest in Berlin, Germany, on September 23. Amini was arrested by Iranian authorities in Tehran on September 13 for not wearing a hijab properly. She died three days later, apparently from a severe head injury.
Sean Gallup / Getty Images
Protest continues in Iran after the death of a 22-year-old woman in the custody of the country’s so-called ethics police. Mahsa Amini, also known by her family as the Kurd, Jina, was detained for apparently violating police standards of modesty. Reports vary on whether they object to the way she wears the hijab or the style of her pants.
In both cases, the ethics police have been known for their seemingly arbitrary standards and punishment of women for decades. Iranian-American scholar Pardis Mahdavi says the current protests build on the resistance of previous generations.
Mahdavi’s 2008 book, Insurrection passion, chronicles a recent sexual revolution among young Iranians, despite the country’s conservative regime. Fifteen years ago, the ethics police – an offshoot of the Islamic regime’s police accused of maintaining a conservative dress code and code of conduct – swooped in while she was giving a lecture in Tehran.
“I started my lecture on Iran’s sexual revolution, and 13 minutes after my lecture, the auditorium door banged and about a dozen moral police members burst in,” she said. “I should have chopped up my lecture notes – that’s what I should have done, but I’m just clutching the podium in this suspended animation.”
Mahdavi was dragged from the classroom and placed under house arrest for 33 days, during which time she was repeatedly questioned about her research and intentions. In the end, the police blindfolded her and took her to the airport, where she was sent back to the US
“I was told that I have been stripped of my Iranian citizenship and that if I return to Iran, it will be a one-way ticket to Evin. [a prison in Tehran] and I should just be grateful that they sent me back to Great Satan, which is America,” Mahdavi said.
Now, University of Montana President Mahdavi wonders if the current wave of protests can lead to lasting change in Iran.
“I think many of us are wondering if what we see today in Iran can really overthrow the regime, which means we’re going home,” she said. “This is a new generation that was born and raised under a moment of protest, and they are showing incredible bravery by speaking out despite the high risks.”
Highlights of the interview
On the impact of the government’s violent crackdown on protesters
The protests are actually growing despite the violent crackdowns. … Not only are the protests showing no sign of abating, but what we’re really seeing are generations out there protesting. Some of the images that we are seeing yesterday are young schoolgirls, even, resisting, protesting, adding their voices to the protest. And for me, it’s exciting to see this generation, this is the generation born after the 2000s, the people who were born in the resistance, these are young people who are building decades’ worth of work. … feminists, women and men, have been doing since the revolution.
Over the past 44 years, you’ve seen resistance explode. But this is a generation born into an atmosphere where the resistance has really taken root, and as long as they’ve been alive they’ve seen people speaking out against the regime, which I think encouraged them to react. for that way. they are doing today.
About the Islamic regime that rejects the West and installs a moral police
The Islamic regime took power under Ayatollah Khomeini [in 1979], the regime runs on a platform and actually takes power by promising to bring moral order to Iran. They accuse Iran under the monarchy, under the monarchy, of becoming too infatuated with the West, and this is what we call “Western infatuation”. They accused the Shah of having a taste for lavish and ornate dress, and of leading Iranians into an immoral western drunkenness, where women were seen on the streets of Tehran and Iran wearing short skirts. size. People were drinking alcohol, violating Islamic tenets. So you have an Islamic regime coming to power under a moral fabric that promises to bring… an old Iran and “Iranianity” back to the era of pre-Western fascination, before fascination and overuse and an overt respect for the West.
They believe they are following the will of God, and so one of the things the Islamic regime did when they came to power was they created a number of different arms of the police. … They … created a group called the “ethical police” or “guided patrol,” and this agency is tasked with protecting right and banning false. And today, we are seeing more discussion outside of Iran about the ethical police. But it is important to understand in context that this group, this body, was created by Ayatollah Khomeini when the Islamic regime came to power in 1979.
Pardis Mahdavi is the author of Passionate Rebellion: Iran’s Sexual Revolution.
Christine Johnson
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Christine Johnson
Pardis Mahdavi is the author of Passionate Rebellion: Iran’s Sexual Revolution.
Christine Johnson
About how the ethics police work
They are responsible for protecting what is right and forbidding what is wrong. Now, how is that explained, that leaves a lot of room to explain, so moral police, they go on the streets looking for any sign of what they consider immoral. . So in Mahsa Amini’s case, it’s wearing a headscarf or headscarf [in a way] That is not true. Therefore, the Islamic regime stipulates that women must wear a proper headscarf that covers all of their hair and exposes only the oval part of the face, without any hair. …
Now, if women are seen with a headscarf loose or pushed back with their hair facing forward, that is considered immoral behavior and therefore they can be arrested. . Other signs of immorality can be red bagged nails, makeup. Again, these are for women.
For men, they will include eye-catching hairstyles, such as fake hawks, accessories, large jewelry and accessories, blinged watches, etc. And then, they also control the street about behavior. unethical behavior, such as young men and women holding hands, can do in the park. All these acts can be arrested by the ethics police.
Moral police are also known to raid private parties, raid private homes. And in that case, they round up everyone there drinking, dancing, smoking, engaging in heterosexual behavior that they consider immoral. So in the event of a party raid, they will arrest everyone, men and women. In terms of the street, I would say, about one in every three women brought in will be a man. And that’s actually from 2000.
With the daily stress of living with the ethical police
I will have nightmares that I go out without a hijab or that my hijab is blown off. And then I will be caught by the ethics police or I will be punished by those who see themselves as part of it.
No wonder people would revolt against that. The weight is too heavy. If you are living in a constant state of stress day in and day out, that means you will start to back down, that you will start to rebel, especially if you feel that the government has no interest in you. friend. … For me, one of the most striking things I’ll hear from young people is the frustration that here is a mode that focuses more on what they’re wearing – the hijab has slipped? Did they wear makeup? – … than they did in dealing with the country’s unemployment crisis or infrastructure problems like traffic.
About Iran’s sexual revolution in the 1990s and early 2000s
I initially studied feminism in Iran. I went to research the different forms of feminism going on, and the Iranian women’s movements. And then I was introduced to young people to call the sexual revolution and this entails opposing the regime by resisting moral fabrication. So in public, that means the hijab will slip back and you know, the outerwear catches the eye.
And privately, it means very elaborate parties. … What I observed were parties among all different socioeconomic classes. So I observed very lavish parties that included various forms of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. … I will also attend parties or parties just outside of Tehran. They were on the mountain. They were in the forest. I will attend parties at warehouses where sex, drugs, music, alcohol are flowing. And this is a way for young people to be born into the frustration of a regime that they don’t see fit their interests, this is part of the way they negotiate their identity, it’s pent-up frustration, and so the parties have found a way to eliminate that and eliminate the lack of joy to be had in the Islamic Republic. … This is a way to vent their frustration.
But parties are also used as spaces to organize. … One of the things that stays with me to this day is also the fact that at every one of these parties you will have people sitting in circles discussing the political situation, the political system. , the sociopolitical system and how they can organize , how can they come together to fight the regime . So yes, they drank, danced, and partyed, but they also protested and organized.
Amy Salit and Thea Chaloner produced and edited the audio for this interview. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Larry Kaplow adapted it for the web.
