ما (we)

Introduction:

After the Islamic revolution in 1979 hijab became mandatory in Iran. On 8 March 1979 thousands of women gathered on to the streets of Tehran to protest this ruling, which meant that women would henceforth be required to wear a headscarf when away from home. Since then, the Islamic Republic of Iran has commanded the police to enforce women to wear veil.

The “Gasht-e-Ershad”, (“Guidance Patrol”) or so-called morality police are the main bureau tasked with enforcing Iran’s Islamic code of conduct in public. They are watchers of those who don’t follow conservative Islamic modes of dress and behavior. Too much hair peeking out from under a headscarf, removing the scarf altogether in the car, wearing torn jeans, short dresses or a loose manteau can cause arrest.

My experience with police:

In 2018 the “Gasht-e-Ershad” arrested me for how I was dressed. In their opinion my clothing wasn’t appropriate. I was wearing a red scarf, long coat and ripped jeans. Two female police officers, stopped me and said: “You must come with us”. When I asked “Why”? one answered: “You are wearing torn jeans”! I refused and argued, trying to convince them to let me go. My persistence made them furious. They violently threw me into their police car. I was arrested. I saw many women in the jail arrested for their veiling. The atmosphere was terrible. Women were crying and debating with the police. To be released all of us needed to call someone to send an appropriate Islamic dress. After five hours a friend sent me a pair of pants and I was released. It was only five hours, but I was scared for months to walk on the street.

After this experience I wanted to find other women like myself to share their stories. I searched among family and friends. Of the women I found I chose to work with those who had been arrested or cautioned at least once. For my project asked them to wear the same outfit they wore when they were arrested or cautioned.

Some of the women who participated in my project asked me to hide their identities, so I photographed them in a way they could not be recognized and to avoid making problems for them.