Iranian grooms, Javad Jafari, left, and his
brother, Mehdi, right, pose for photographs with their brides, Maryam
Sadeghi, second left, and Zahra Abolghasemi, who wear their formal
wedding dresses prior to their wedding... (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iranian rollerbladers wait to hear whistle of
referee, to start their competition, in a women's rollerblading
championship league... (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Covering her face with a traditional veil, a vendor works at her produce shop on the island of Qeshm, Iran, on December 24, 2011.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
An Iranian-Kurd woman talks on her mobile phone as
she walks in a bazaar while shopping in Marivan in Kurdistan province... (Reuters/Morteza Nikoubazl)
Noora (right) and Shahrzad Naraghi practice on a
motocross track in the mountains overlooking Tehran... Women
are banned from driving motorcycles on the streets of Iran. (Reuters/Caren Firouz)
Selections from a gallery of 42 images assembled at The Atlantic's
In Focus site, posted to help counter a variety of prevalent stereotypes.
As well that Iranians are actually caucasian.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently reading All the Shah's Men, primarily about the 1953 coup that ousted Iran's democratic ruler.
ReplyDeleteThen in 1979 they finally rebelled, but some hardline idiots unfortunately got control.
The country is RULED by crazy-pants islamicists but the average Iranian-on-the-street is just a normal person who is probably justifiably squicky towards the US/west because of the shit we've done to them.
Stan, thank you SO MUCH for posting this. Images like this do more than any amount of words could to dispel the notion the average American has of Iranian women (indeed, pretty well all Muslim women) as housebound, veiled-to-a-woman, meek, obedient, broodmares. Iran is a truly modern state in every sense; just because they're a theocratic state doesn't automatically make them in any way backward. The women of Iran reflect this, and stories/images such as this mirror that reflection to the world.
ReplyDelete"We are supposed to be soiling ourselves over the fact that Iran may be developing a nuclear weapon (like nine other countries in the world already have), and it may well be that the US or Israel will decide to initiate aggression against the Iranians. Canada will doubtless be pressured to join in. Before that happens, I think Canadians should get a better look at these scary people that may be killed, maimed, impoverished, or otherwise made miserable through the use of our tax dollars. As for me, I think it would be better if Canada (AND the US) simply eliminate all trade barriers, and then all immigration barriers, and then normalize the crap out of our relationship with them. Unfortunately, I don’t think there are many votes to be had from that."
ReplyDelete