Iran to Mannequins: Cover it Up!
EmailABC's Lara Setrakian reports from Dubai: Iran’s store mannequins are too racy for the tastes of its conservative government. As of this week, authorities have ordered shopkeepers to put hijabs on the heads of their inanimate models and to keep their feminine curves covered up. "Using unusual mannequins exposing body curves and with heads without a hijab [Muslim veils] are now prohibited to be used in the shops," said a police statement, quoted by state-owned PressTV. Local news outlets also reported that bowties and neckties were also banned from display, and that women’s underwear could no longer be sold by men.
PressTV cited the moves as “part of a campaign against Western cultural influences in the Islamic Republic.” Bowties and neckties, for example, have long been rejected by Iran’s Islamic purists as Western conventions (notice how President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his fellow officials never wear a suit).
Stamping out signs of secular culture has long been a priority of Iran’s government – the oft-repeated notion of “gharbzadegi,” best translated as “Westoxification,” has been both a stern warning and a great concern of the conservative ruling establishment. Mass access to the internet and satellite television (pirated DVDs of “Lost” are all the rage) has piqued fears of the creeping cultural influence of the West. When it comes to women’s clothing, their fears may be justified. The ever-stylish Iranian women have found ways to jazz up the mandatory hijab and roopoosh (an overcoat that reaches mid-thigh). Seemingly in response, Ahmadinejad’s government has enforced criminal penalties for clothing that pushes the limit, widely referred to as “bad hejab” (the word “bad” is the same in English and Persian). Liberal women have chafed at the crackdown.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Islamists are such a joke, about women. They can’t exercise any control whatsoever, if women aren’t put into a box, out of sight, and out of mind.
It is at once amusing, and pathetic.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | September 24, 2009, 10:29 am 10:29 am
It’s a way of keeping women down and controlling them. Look how long it took for us american women to get the right to vote.
Posted by: Kathy | September 24, 2009, 11:25 am 11:25 am
Covering up their mannequins isn’t going to solve Iran’s rampant drug problem or prostitution business.
Yup, the country that is so concerned about covering up their women and pretending to be so virtuous, allow the virtue police to take bribes to “look the other way” when it comes to the ladies of the night and their pimps.
The Iranian people are yearning for real freedom people but are ruled over by a hypocritical and tyrannical government.
Posted by: littleleers | September 24, 2009, 11:32 am 11:32 am
It’s all about control.
Posted by: Jim Bob | September 24, 2009, 11:34 am 11:34 am
The truth sets one free…. these people aren’t free. Oppression, fear, extreme punishment… when I hear someone say ‘Islam means peace’ I wanna throw up. I feel sorry for the women of this culture and I thank God I wasn’t raised in that hideous evil and wicked belief
Posted by: Kristi | September 24, 2009, 11:43 am 11:43 am
If a man is agitated looking at a dummy, covering the dummy won’t free him from sex desire. Thus, this practice is useless.
Posted by: Duality in Harmony | September 24, 2009, 11:54 am 11:54 am
Definitely a bunch of perverts. They seem to be consumed with their inability to bridle their sexual urges. Even when their women are covered they can’t go out of the house without a male relative accompanying them for fear that the woman would be beaten or raped. Even kids can’t stand not knowing what is being hidden under a bunch of wrapping or locks. There could be nothing there but they’ll drive themselves crazy wondering what it could be. They’ll crush the package with their frustration of not knowing or rip it apart. So putting more wrapping on does not address their social mental illness. These people need some lessons on human anatomy, self mastery, and social responsibility. Blaming a woman for being a woman is wrong headed and reflects upon the weakness of those that are incontinent.
Posted by: TX_MBell | September 24, 2009, 12:33 pm 12:33 pm
It’s all about self control.
Posted by: Arthur | September 24, 2009, 12:40 pm 12:40 pm
This is exactly what would happen to America if the Republicans had their way about everything. Funny, huh?
Posted by: Faurtz8 | September 24, 2009, 12:45 pm 12:45 pm
Faurtz 8 ball: You couldn’t be more wrong. What’s in YOUR head that makes you think that?
Do you see any republicans going around making or suggesting their female relatives cover up? ‘
It would be like saying: if the democrats had their way, all females would be nude.’
That would be a goofy statement, and so was yours. None of it was funny.
Posted by: ddg | September 24, 2009, 1:02 pm 1:02 pm
Even the mannequins look depressed.
Do they have to wear that get-up (the coat and everything) even in hot weather? That’s torture.
Those Iranian mad men are sadistic.
Posted by: ddg | September 24, 2009, 1:07 pm 1:07 pm
How sad! Be very grateful for your freedom American women!
Posted by: Patricia,Grass Valley, CA | September 24, 2009, 2:31 pm 2:31 pm
I don’t believe that these women should be forced to cover up — for that is tyranny, not freedom.
That said, the first line of this story reeked of bias so badly that I didn’t read the rest of it.
Posted by: Henry | September 24, 2009, 4:15 pm 4:15 pm
In response to those making negitive statements on Islam, it isn’t the religon that’s the problem. It’s the people inturpreting it. No religon is “good” or “evil” in itself only when people get involved and use “religon” to further their own goals. Check your history, those who controlled Christinity used similar tactics to control their populations. Check the history of any population group that share a religon, at some point someone did exactly the same thing. Condem the people in charge, condem the actions, but don’t condem the religon.
Posted by: Barbara Leavitt | September 24, 2009, 4:21 pm 4:21 pm
LOL
Posted by: denn84116 | September 24, 2009, 4:48 pm 4:48 pm
It’s not negative statements on Islam.
It’s negative statements on Ahmadinejad.
denn84116, LOL about what?
Let Ahmadinejad and pals wear the coat and the head thing, and everything else that the women have to endure.
See how long this last.
It’s torture, plain and simple.
It has nothing to do with the religion.
It’s the mad men who has hi-jacked the real Islamic faith.
If you are still LOL, then I suggest you wear the clothing these women have to endure in the heat. That, I assure you, will wipe the smirk right off your face.
Posted by: easy for you to laugh | September 24, 2009, 5:06 pm 5:06 pm
I’m sure they tried the cut-off plan. However, Ahmadinejad is a bully and so are his followers.
The women need to keep trying if they are going to get anywhere.
Ahmadinejad knows where the true power lies: with the women.
That’s why he’s afraid of them and bullies them to death.
Posted by: Ahmadinejad is scared to death to lose control. | September 24, 2009, 5:44 pm 5:44 pm
Surely this is a joke, but if not, the Mullahs are idiots.
Posted by: Freedtoo | September 24, 2009, 10:55 pm 10:55 pm