'As the internet opened Iran up to the world, I started watching with awe as Iranian women began actively resisting this male ideal of womanhood.'
In Iran, morality police prosecute over 16,000 women per year for “violations” from wearing an improper hijab to walking with a male friend. A growing women’s rights movement uses the internet to fight back.I was 16 years old, on a trip to visit my family in Kerman,
After hours of humiliation and reprimands, I was forced to sign a confession and was released. The terms of my release: If I reoffended, my punishment would be 50 lashes administered in public to discourage similar “immoral” behavior among other women. In their ideal, a woman is a perpetually silent, self-sacrificing mother and homemaker, relegated to cooking, cleaning, raising children , and providing on-demand sexual services to her husband. And, naturally, her hair is dutifully hidden under a veil to be seen only by her husband.
In a country where there is barely any freedom of speech or expression left, women are finding ways to take action and act on their righteous anger. The internet has become Through social media, mobile apps, weblogs and websites, Iranian women are actively participating in public discourse and exercising their civil rights, mostly anonymously.