1 post tagged “basij”

Iran’s religious police, the Basij, whose mission it is to make sure the people adhere to an Islamic code, have a long and proud history of harassing women for their Western-style dressing tendencies. But it’s only recently that Iranian men have become the target of similar ultraconservative, style-cramping campaigns. What the Basij are mostly concerned about right now are the increasingly “jazzy” hairstyles guys are sporting. They’re deadly serious about combating the worrying spread of this particular trend. The main style, which has become a favorite among the hip young kids of Tehran, and consequently the one that the fashion police are determined to flatten (so to speak), is the khorusi, aka the rooster. While in theory we agree that this hairstyle sucks balls, we don’t feel like anybody needs to have their hand chopped off over it. A simple stern talking to would do, no? [from Vice Magazine]


Here's a photo I took on my last visit to Tehran in Nov. 2007. It's taken in a huge public park (larger than Central Park in NYC). Featured in this photo are girls with what I would like to call a whole lot of 'class'...I'm sorry 'sass'.  I had to document their outrageous hair peaking out from their roosari.They were more than pissed off that I was taking their photo from 500 feet away. They said some pretty nasty things to me - calling me a 'olagh' which I think translates to 'donkey' or something of that sort. My dad told the schoolgirls they should be ashamed to speak that way. They told him to mind his own business. Not a good idea....

And here's some video of the pack of schoolgirls. My aunt and dad are speaking about how cute the girls are (of course this is prior to them opening their nasty little traps), but my cousin doesn't share the same sentiment. He says only two in the group are worthwhile. Boys.