Dilar Dirik has written a wonderful piece, Kurdish Men for Gender Equality, about a story involving Iran that is worth knowing about. In April of this year, a local court in Iran started sentencing male convicts to being dressed as Kurdish women in order punish and humiliate them. In protest, Kurdish men began dressing as Kurdish women and posting their photos to Facebook. Dirik’s article is also interesting in the way she investigates the doubly oppressive nature of this sentence. Not only is it misogynist, but, in the context of Iran, it is also deeply racist against Kurds:
However, the case of Kurdish men wearing Kurdish women’s clothes is even more special, because it attacks two forms of oppression at the same time. It is important to consider the double discrimination that this sort of punishment implies. This “punishment” is not only sexist; it further constitutes an attempt to ridicule Kurdish culture. The Islamic Republic of Iran has executed at least 56 Kurds in the past year. It continues to enforce oppressive annihilation policies towards the Kurdish people and other ethnicities, or any dissident voice for that matter. While the misogynist regime forces women to cover in black cloth, traditional Kurdish (and of course traditional Persian) women’s clothes are very colorful and beautifully embroidered pieces of detailed handwork. The meaning of these sequined, extravagant robes on Kurdish men is a double strike against a regime that covers, hides, and silences women in plain black, discriminates against different ethnicities and believes that being an oppressive despot defines masculinity and power. After all, chauvinist concepts of gender and abusive power structures are inseparable.
The whole article is well worth a read, and if you’re on Facebook, please consider liking the page they’ve set up.
Re: The Islamic Republic of Iran has executed at least 56 Kurds in the past year. It continues to enforce oppressive annihilation policies towards the Kurdish people and other ethnicities, or any dissident voice for that matter
This doesn’t equate to evidence of ‘oppressive annihilation policies against the Kurds’, unless we know what crimes these people committed.
I’d be interested on your take on this, then:
Male Swedish train conductors wear skirts to protest dress code
The company’s response is to lift the ban. The question would be, why? What problem does wearing skirts create that they would need to reverse the ban on shorts?
RonF,
Well, obviously it creates the problem that most men find the concept of wearing women’s clothing revolting, and passengers would be discomfited by riding on a train staffed by men in skirts. i know I certainly would.
I’d have to say that this is quite a clever strategy on the part of the Iranian courts, and probably a cheaper alternative to putting the miscreants in prison as well.
“Revolting”? Really?
I must confess I do not have any desire to wear women’s clothing – I’m pretty conservative in my clothing choices – but the thought of doing so does not fill me with revulsion. Mildly disconcerting, sure, but not revolting.
Ron: The situation you describe is so radically different from the one I referred to in the post, that I am not sure how to respond to your comment, except to say that, in both instances, wearing women’s clothing is being used to reinforce traditional notions masculinity, to degrade women (since the point of the Swedish situation is to make people uncomfortable). The only difference is that the Swedish men are doing so consciously to “punish” others; the Iranian criminals are the ones being punished.
Hector:
This almost sounds like you agree with what the Iranian courts did. Do you?
Hector St. Clare: You could, if you were really interested, have googled the situation of the Kurds in Iran instead of using your ignorance implicitly to discredit the article I quoted from. I have done some of that work for you. Here is a link to a report about that situation; and here is an article from Foreign Policy’s website; and here is an article on Amnesty International’s website.
Note: “Hector” and “Hector St Clare” is the same person. (The same thing happens to me sometimes – when I post comments on some blogs, I’m either “Ampersand” or “Barry,” depending on what computer I’m posting from, I think.)
RonF, Richard – I think I have a more generous reading of the Swedish situation in that based on the excerpt RonF quoted, It’s not obvious to me that the men are deliberately viewing the idea of wearing women’s clothing as degrading, only that it is socially incongruous. Which is still problematic in its reinforcement of traditional gender divisions, but it’s not necessarily an example of willful misogyny. The Iranian court example leaves open no such possible reading.
Eytan:
You may be right about the men’s intent. I was thinking, though I didn’t write it this way, less about intent and more about impact.
Those wacky hyper-religious societies! Sure glad I don’t live in one.
Facebook page has been liked!
From the Facebook page, from May 13:
And I guess the article you linked to is from April. So maybe this has been stopped?
Swedish train operators:
I am also surprised that men in skirts would be described as “revolting”.
I’m sure that what the individuals think about the skirt-wearing varies, but I hope that at least some of them enjoy breaking arbitrary rules (without technically breaking the rules). (And I consider “only one sex can wear a skirt” pretty arbitrary, considering what some of my ancestors wore. I know, a kilt is not called a skirt, but it’s basically constructed like a pleated skirt.)
Closet Puritan,
Well, what I said was actually this:
Re: obviously it creates the problem that most men find the concept of wearing women’s clothing revolting
I don’t find the concept of *other men* in skirts to be revolting, I find the idea of *me* wearing one to be revolting. If the government sentenced me to walk around in women clothing- and to add an extra ‘cultural’ element, let’s say Muslim women’s clothing, so a hijab or something like that- I’d be extremely freaked out, and it would certainly deter me from committing similar crimes in future.
Hector,
Sorry.