But these historical grudges and traumatic memories have no particular hold on Gen Z youth, who are preoccupied with their own struggles: years of crushing U.S. Solemn portraits of soldiers lost in the Iran-Iraq War still line freeways, though in recent years the system (as Iranians refer to their enveloping government) has recast its propaganda into content that tries to be competitive on Instagram. The contrast between the lives they lead, especially online, and the inherited imagery and ideological messaging of the Islamic Republic couldn’t be more stark. Last winter, instead of the usual dreary billboards of a pious woman in black chador with some hectoring message about modesty, a panoramic image went up over Modarres expressway in Tehran of a woman in a minimalist, sport hijab sprinting up a mountain, with the words “ you chart the path. The state has known for some time it’s on the back foot with dress codes, and is clearly spooked. She was obliged to attend a mass lecture, the equivalent of moral traffic school, and after promising to abide by the rules, her fines were canceled.
#TIME OUT FOR WOMEN AZ 2017 LICENSE#
I was struck when a relative told me she’d received so many fines for driving without a headscarf that her driver’s license was about to be suspended. I felt ridiculous in a long black robe and a navy headscarf, as though I were a tourist who’d read all the wrong travel books. I was struck on a round of bureaucratic visits to government offices last summer by how casually and liberally young women dressed in even these traditionally austere official outposts. In the past two or three years, young women effectively already canceled the compulsory hijab. I can only conclude that when a generation’s aspirations for freedom appear tantalizingly within reach, the more humiliating the remaining restrictions seem, and the less daunting the final stretch of resistance feels.īuy a print of TIME’s Heroes of the Year cover, featuring the Women of Iran The average age of arrested protesters is notably low-Iranian officials estimate as young as 15. 16, setting off the most sustained uprising in the 43-year history of the Islamic Republic. I’ve often wondered what has made them so rebellious, because their ferocious character was evident well before 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini, arrested at a metro station by the morality police who enforce the dress code, died after being held in their custody on Sept. They are quite unlike those who came before them sometimes they feel more like transnational Gen Z than Iranians: they are vegans, they de-Islamicize their names, they don’t want children. The movement they’re leading is educated, liberal, secular, raised on higher expectations, and desperate for normality: college and foreign travel, decent jobs, rule of law, access to the Apple Store, a meaningful role in politics, the freedom to say and wear whatever.
These younger women are now in the streets.
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