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Fault-Lines and Hem-Lines
28-Apr-2010
Recently, an Iranian cleric, Kazem Sedighi, stated that it is women’s immodest clothing which leads to promiscuity and is responsible for earthquakes and other natural disasters. The news quickly spread around the world and once again the Islamic Republic of Iran became the butt of many jokes. Sedighi, by no means a seismologist, was taken to task and his assertion put to the test by a Purdue State university student who created an event on Facebook called Boobquake. Jennifer McCreight wanted to test Sedighi’s theory and so asked women to bare as much of their cleavage as possible on April 26th, 2010, in order to see if volcanic eruptions and tsunami’s would ensue as a result of the women’s immodest dress.
A week after the call to action of Boobquake came the creation of another event, which billed itself as Brainquake. The project of two Iranian women, Negar Mottahedeh and Golbarg Bashi, who claimed that, “Everyday women and young girls are forced to show off cleavage and more in order simply to be heard, to be seen, or to advance professionally.” And so, Brainquake was formed for women to post what they are most proud of, including their CV’s and personal accomplishments, on-line as a rebuttal to Boobquake’s supposed further objectification of women. Although their intentions may have been to advertise that women are more than their boobs, Brainquake’s platform and written mandate speaks to something else; something that continues to create divisions and impede the global women’s movement.
Unlike Boobquake, which rightly raised awareness and exposed the absurdities of the ideological underpinnings of the Islamic Republic in Iran, and which was steeped in satire, Brainquake did not come about as an organic call to action against the comments of Mr. Sedighi, it was formed as a response to Boobquake, nothing more and nothing less. In fact, their statement of intent makes an unnecessary and illogical comparison between the words of Mr. Sedighi and the words of evangelical preacher and 700 Club leader, Pat Robertson. It reads:
“When Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi made his stupid comment that immodestly dressed women cause earthquakes, he of course joined fellow fundamentalist religious preachers such as Pat Robertson who have made similar claims about marginalized groups, women, the poor, third world nations, etc being responsible for natural disasters.”
What point could Brainquake have had in making such a comparison? Was it the old – “Hey we might have our moronic clerics but you have your own lunatic preachers” – or is it that tired ailment that some of us Iranians are afflicted with which does not enable us to speak of our country without mentioning the proverbial United States of America in the same breath? It is a childish tit for tat, or in this case tit for Pat, which relegates the Islamic Republic to a non-state entity; an intellectually odious and dangerous position to take.
What Brainquake conveniently fails to acknowledge is that preacher Pat and the 700 Club, do not run the United States government. However, Mr. Sedighi’s comments are the hallmark of the regime in Iran, a system of governance that has mandated that all girls, both Muslim and non-Muslim alike must cover their hair and dress in a modest manner from the age of nine on! Let’s talk about that! Let’s talk about the sexualization of pre-pubescent girls! These are not social constructs in Iran, this is the law for the past thirty-one years. Women’s bodies in Iran are legally not their own: women have no freedom of mobility, nor freedom to clothe themselves as they see fit. Brainquake’s churlish comparison between a woman’s CHOICE to show her cleavage and FORCED hijab is irresponsible and a further slap in the face to all those women being subjugated under such misogynistic and patriarchal laws. It is as reprehensible a comparison as breast augmentation would be to female genital mutilation.
Ms. Bashi and Ms. Mottahedeh’s further promulgations include: “Mr. Sedighi and the Islamic Republic of Iran are afraid of women’s abilities to push for change, to thrive despite gender apartheid (Did you know that over 64% of students studying at universities in Iran are women?).” Do Mottahedeh and Bashi care to know that the same regime that they assert is afraid of their accomplishments repeats this same statistic ad nauseum to show how advanced it is! Mr.Sedighi never lamented women’s brains and academic activity as being disturbing to Iranian society. He referred to immodest clothing and promiscuous behaviour on the part of women; to our strands of hair, that for the past thirty one years has been branded as potent potential threats to its national security.
The Islamic Republic occupying Iran does not care how educated, ‘nobled’, statured, or employed, we become. In fact, the more educated and accomplished, the more they will claim it as a victory of the revolution and will proudly proclaim: Look what OUR women have achieved! It only cares that women in Iran continue to be coerced and violently punished into remaining the only signifying marker of this regime; the living, breathing, walking, billboard signs of its Islamization process. Mandatory veiling of women was the first imposition on Iranian society after the revolution and so it shall remain the last.
Boobquake was rightly making a mockery of a comment made by a moronic cleric in the Islamic Republic. Brainquake’s - HEY EVERYBODY WE HAVE BRAINS! – project is further unpalatable because of its pandering to a challenge that women should not even be engaged in; we should not have to sell ourselves and our accomplishments, we should not have to sell our boobs or our brains; if after more than a century of struggle for our inalienable rights we are still shouting these banal and insipid statements as women - perhaps it is us and our movement that needs a shaking at the core, and not mother earth. You see, I am not interested in being invited to join the Islamic Republic at its table; I want to cut its legs off.
In the title of this editorial I have used the word censorship, in reference to my comments having been barred from Brainquake’s event site. The comments that were erased were no different than the one’s outlined above. In fact, it was Ms. Bashi, who referred to me as a “brain dead lunatic who has too much time on her hands.” For some reason, the creators of Brainquake found it necessary to silence voices of critical engagement with their project. We no longer have to worry about governments censoring us, it is our peers who have, as Ms. Bashi put it – “reserved the right to do so” – a sentence the Islamic Republic has frequently uttered when being rebuked for its censoring of dissidents. Congratulations Ms. Bashi and Ms. Mottahedeh for becoming that which you claim to abhor.
Since the creators of Brainquake denied this Iranian woman the opportunity to say what she is most proud of on-line, I will tell you now:
I am most proud of growing up and living in a society that did not try and shame my body, and that did not fascistically attempt to shape my mind. I am proud that I do not need the written permission of the male guardian in my family to board a train to Montreal. I am proud of my Masters in Women and Gender studies from the University of Toronto. I am proud that I am allowed to ride my bicycle throughout this beautiful city and I am proud that the country of Canada, for the past fifteen years has recognized my inalienable right to go topless, should I so choose to do so. But what I am most proud of is my ability to distinguish between something that is chosen by me and something that is physically forced upon me.
I was just informed that the Brainquake site has now changed drastically and that no one is able to post on their wall at all and that the creators have removed their names from being the administrators of the site.
* The Star: Women strut their stuff for Boobquake
* The Atlantic Wire: 'Boobquake' Spurs Feminist Infighting
- The writer, Samira Mohyeddin is an Iranian-Canadian feminist and activist. You can catch more of her at bnamus.blogspot.com
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|---|---|---|
| Gendar Apartheid | 3 | May 02, 2010 |
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vildemose,
by Midwesty on Thu Apr 29, 2010 07:37 PM PDTI look at the contents first then I look at the organizer. The assumption in here is that because such and such has this POSSIBLE political affiliation then his/her message is down the drain.
Then we say how much we love democracy.
Exir,
by Midwesty on Thu Apr 29, 2010 07:33 PM PDTPat is an evangelist and one of spiritual leaders for the Neo-cons. Neo-cons are still in power, they never left it.
midwesty: what do you think
by vildemose on Thu Apr 29, 2010 07:08 PM PDTmidwesty: what do you think the brainquake has to do with?? Preserving the IRI and its cronies, period.
Pat Roberts' Saga
by Exir on Thu Apr 29, 2010 05:58 PM PDTThere was no need for a symbolic gesture like boobquake against his Haiti remarks, simply because this Pat guy is not part of/does not represent the ruling force in the society.
.........
by maziar 58 on Thu Apr 29, 2010 05:37 PM PDTBeside from the western humor parts of getting to the point of women being abused in Iran and middle east , hopefuly the massage will rock a sort of women movement in which they are the heroes of the next Iranian revoulotion to get rid of theocracy in Iran.
rock on ............Maziar
Shishaki
by Midwesty on Thu Apr 29, 2010 05:01 PM PDTWhat Islam has anything to do with what "I AM SAYING" that makes you mock my name and to find another stage to bash Islam. Isn't it because you are exactly doing what you are accusing me of, to gather support?
It is childish of you at best if you think this campaign is not a campaign to meddle with the Iranian internal affairs to stir trouble, divide the society and then attack.
You have a very selective eye sight, so I ask again. Why the boobquake like campaign didn't come up when Pat Robertson made similar remarks with regard to earthquake in Haiti?
MID-ISLAMI
by mimi.shishi on Thu Apr 29, 2010 04:24 PM PDTLosing what?!!This is getting too childish for me to even reply to you from this point on....
It's very common of islamic apologists such as yourself to apply that noise which I am not allowed to type but obviously you can to shaghigheh and then add a dash of israel and imperialism to spice it up in the hopes of gathering support from other sheepish religious believers to follow...maybe you think Israel uses d-cups to fire bombs, but you are deeply mistaken my friend!
FYI I am strong against zionists as well, doesn't mean I will be gulping down every cent of islamic jibberish this modern version of sedighi couple will give me...what the brainquakers are opposing is actually what sedighi opposes and what they take pride in is exactly what the IRI takes pride in as well, the packaging might be different but the merchandise is the same...
SAMIRA HIT RIGHT ON BULLS EYE WITH THIS AMAZING ARTICLE!!
Someone please cite this article on Wikipedia.. It has become Golbarg Bashi's claim to fame on the coat tails of Jen McCreight and her brilliant Boobquake cause...
Kudos to SAMIRA and REAL feminists like her!!!
ROCK ON SAMIRA!!!
ROCK ON JEN MCCREIGHT!!! :)
Update from Brainquake's Facebook "fan page"
by Sandra on Thu Apr 29, 2010 03:28 PM PDTUpdate from Brainquake's Facebook "fan page" (//www.facebook.com/pages/Brainquake/105776612...) from about 1 hour ago:
"Brainquake's original event's page is now outdated (April 26th 2010) so we will now only be updating this Official Fan Page-- Brainquake is an everyday event :)"
Regards,
Sandra
Shishaki Jan,
by Midwesty on Thu Apr 29, 2010 03:21 PM PDTI tend to believe my non-sense cause brain-farts rather than shishaki. Either way the first step of professional conduct is to call out someone appropriately. So please go back and read your own comments on how you called me first. So don't cry foul when you are losing. It's the trend other zionists including the writer of this blog follow.
Feminism in Iran is another hijacked concept that some people sheepishly follow.
However, this article might on the surface looks like supporting women's right but the hidden agenda is to attack a respected couples who were always strong against the zionists.
MID-ISLAMI JAN
by mimi.shishi on Thu Apr 29, 2010 02:11 PM PDTThe only shishaki people hear is when u speak ur usual nonsense...and what makes YOU of all people the judge on who is professional or amateur?!! It's not like you are what Nietche might have envisioned either.!!..and it seems like you don't hang out too much with a wide variety of women, feminists or non-feminists come in all different sizes and shapes..
Cheers again to a wonderful article by a bright minded individual, can't wait to read more of your beautful thoughts Samira, and yes please DO put the link to your blog in all posts....Congrats! :)
Samira is also a great poet
by vildemose on Thu Apr 29, 2010 02:13 PM PDTSamira is also a great poet when she feel like writing poetry. Check ot her blog's archives.
Shishaki jan,
by Midwesty on Thu Apr 29, 2010 02:05 PM PDTIt seems you know her more that I do. Is your sudden appearance on this thread because I was right to the point about her lack of experience or did I step on your tow on different thread?
You are confused brother! Most feminists are far from being feminine, that's why they have to borrow their boob pictures from others! Don't think your washed out tactics can work on me or ALIKE.
So what did I refer to when I said 80's, bro? Share your experience see if you don't end up with the same conclusion as mine?
another gentle correction
by Sandra on Thu Apr 29, 2010 01:08 PM PDT"PS:Their names are still on the event page, ONLY because FB doesn't allow creators of events to delete their event or their names! No place to click on event pages to do that once you create an event, create one and you'll see"
Dear mimi.shishi,
I have created several Facebook "event" pages and I always remove all traces after the event for privacy reasons. It is easily done if so desired.
Peace and love,
Sandra
MID-ISLAMI
by mimi.shishi on Thu Apr 29, 2010 12:57 PM PDTYou said:
"Because you never experienced the horror of 80s in Iran from the first hand. "
FYI I have, yet support Samira's wonderful article, more than the likes of YOU ever will in a lifetime! Why? Not only is she 10 times more intellectual and real than Islamic Apologists like yourself, but also she's more in touch with her FEMININE side ... So she may have or have not experienced Iran's horror in the 80's but she has a DAMN good experience of being a woman...and a very bright, smart, progressive one at that! She is witty and brave and not like others who claim to fight for women's rights but their ideology is a far cry from any progress in women's lives and future outlook in Iran...
Kadivar thanks to you I am learning more about the Bashi, Dabashi clan...err.. clowns! :)
Chapeau !
by Rea on Thu Apr 29, 2010 12:05 PM PDTMore power to boobs. And too bad for those who don't understand.
Azarin, a lot of women in the West (unless the West means the US) are familiar with the women's rights issues in Iran. In fact, you'd be surprised.
"Your assertion that the
by Midwesty on Thu Apr 29, 2010 02:04 PM PDT"Your assertion that the Islamic Republic is harsher on men than women..."
Your comments and your article lack experience. What's the term? Analysis paralysis? You know why you don't know what I know about the indifferent treatment of men and women? Because you never experienced the horror of 80s in Iran from the first hand.
"Womens rights are human rights". I believe women's right is human's right no need to state the obvious. Read this first.
But the question is that if you believe that women's right is human's right, however your focus of article and stated mission on your blog is clearly stating otherwise.
"Iran's buses also and until we develop a universal refusal to obey such
prejudicial laws..."
Again, indication of your out of touch analysis. Have you researched how the transportation authority in Iran came to this transportation code and how many women are dissatisfied/satisfied with this?
The US code forced Black people (men and women) to give their seat to a white person, It was rather a race bias than gender.
I have a hard time to draw any relationship between this and that of civil unrest in the 50's. Unleass you are trying to intentionally mislead.
the BoobQuake (which was to
by vildemose on Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:55 AM PDTthe BoobQuake (which was to show the stupidity of the Mullah)...and instead it tried to present the BoobQuake as an anti-women-rights and femme-objet thing, etc.
Azarin jan: The entire brainquake propaganda is a orchestrated by some dubious oxymoronic Islamist Feminist groups with connection to MOIS and IRI to distract and confuse the naive masses.
I have been following your
by vildemose on Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:49 AM PDTI have been following your blog for a few years now. Always refreshing and original. I'm glad you decided to write for Iranian.com
Look forward to more of your essays.
Samira
by Exir on Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:47 AM PDTI've found your blog very interesting. Why don't you put a link to that blog at the end of your comments?
Anti-feminism: our brothers as prison wardens
by Samira Mohyeddin on Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:42 AM PDTMidwesty:
Your assertion that the Islamic Republic is harsher on men than women is totally unfounded and left me very bewildered as to how a person could even make such a suggestion. Please do some research read the penal code in Iran and then try and make such asinine assertions. Womens rights are human rights; if you don't believe in such an adge than i feel sorry for any women who might be in your life.
Also, my reference to Rosa Parks was about a womans transportation emancipation! If you don't know, women are made to sit in the back of Iran's buses also and until we develop a universal refusal to obey such prejudicial laws, we will be going around in circles. Of course with no help from you!
Darius, I am quite familiar with the Bashi Dabashi clan and thier perverse form of anti-colonialism mixed with a crude anti-feminist platform that they try and pass off as progressive thinking.
Excellent points!
by Azarin Sadegh on Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:20 AM PDTThank you dear Samira for writing this article!
I had the same reaction to BrainQuake and that's why I refused to accept their invitation on Facebook (where I'm way more active than on IC)...Great points! I couldn't have said it better...:-)
As you said, the BrainQuake totally missed the original point that initiated the BoobQuake (which was to show the stupidity of the Mullah)...and instead it tried to present the BoobQuake as an anti-women-rights and femme-objet thing, etc.
Of course, I totally understand the difference between the reaction of the women in the US compared to the women in Iran....But I think a little bit of humor goes a long way, and actually I think that BoobQuake was a very smart way of informing a majority of the people in the West who had no clue or interest about Iran and its women’s rights issues...So kudos to them!
Thank you also my dear Azadeh for being, as always, so thoughtful and thought-provoking (and so smart) in your comments! Great thinking!
Thank you girls! Azarin
the brain is a beautiful and sexy organ
by humanbeing on Thu Apr 29, 2010 11:15 AM PDTi should think patriarchal men would be as/more intimidated by a well-developed and exposed brain as by a well-developed and exposed boob.
kidding aside, i really respect what you are doing.
i would like to reiterate your clever statement in your last comment
"It is increasingly more difficult for women to come together as women when all we do is make paramount our lingual, racial, and religio-cultural differences....and who benefits? We have done the difference thing long enough! Let us learn a thing or two from patriarchy, which has not limited or confined itself to borders, languages, or religions."
and a final word: why can't the responsibility for dealing with temptation be projected onto the men? it's not a 9 yr old girl's fault or responsibility if a dirty old man insists on treating her as a sexually threatening creature to be caged in cloth.
to the benefit of women, and the men who really love them.
bon courage
Golbarg Bashi aka Hamid Dabashi's Wife ... ;0)
by Darius Kadivar on Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:55 AM PDTThe Iranian Version of the Leveretts ( Flynt & Hillary) : Mr. & Mrs We Know it All ...
//www.golbargbashi.com/
//www.hamiddabashi.com/
LOL
She wrote an amateurish article a few years ago at the hype of Ahmadinejad's Holocaust Conference claiming that the Pahlavi Kings were actually responsible for the Holocaust ...
Needless to say that Abbas Milani put the record straight
Iran, Jews and the Holocaust The beneficent legacy of Persia remembered by Abbas Milani (San Francisco Gate)
And so did others ...
Iranian Diaspora Intelligentsia Unite Against Islamic Republic's Holocaust Revisionism by Darius KADIVAR
to the dismay and Jealous Rant of This Shameless ANN TELECTUAL Couple ...
Oh Well ... As Long as Hamid is Satisfied with her Boobs ! ...
LOL
Samira,
by Midwesty on Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:35 AM PDTYour reaction is completely in line with an idealist, making a havoc rather than reasoning. If that's your fear tactic, it won't work for Iranians.
Why don't you bring up the fact that IRI this time around was treating all men and women equal. Didn't they beat women as good as they did men?
The face of restriction in Iranian society is different in shape and form when it comes to men and women but it is not any different in nature. Often they are harsher on men than women.
and if you want to go far with this, then let's remember that this type of behavior does not explicitly belong to IRI. It goes back centuries.
Didn't Reza Shah unveil women forcefully against their own will? How many men Shah executed and how many women?
Is Iran the worst country when it comes to "women's right"? (P.S. I don't believe in women's right, there isn't such a thing. It's called human's right).
One more thing, a while back there was a similar comment from a Chatholic bishop but it didn't cause a Boobhead for the creators of the boobquake!
By the way: Your Avatar says Rosa Parks: Tehran needs you. You should know that Rosa Parks was one of the symbols of "CIVIL" right's movement in the 50's that happened to be a woman.
Women are concrete and not abstractions!
by Samira Mohyeddin on Thu Apr 29, 2010 09:21 AM PDT"The refusal to demand one absolute standard of human dignity is the greatest triumph of anti-feminism over the will to liberation."
It is increasingly more difficult for women to come together as women when all we do is make paramount our lingual, racial, and religio-cultural differences....and who benefits? We have done the difference thing long enough! Let us learn a thing or two from patriarchy, which has not limited or confined itself to borders, languages, or religions.
Feminism started the critique of universality as currently practiced by showing how women are left out of the human episteme. 'Women' is not an abstraction - there is nothing obtuse or abstract about a fist in your face or being denied a hotel room or being told that your hair needs to be covered because you are corrupting society. These are the everyday reality of women's lives. This reality is not on par with some adolescent in north america who feels peer pressured to expose her belly button because britney spears and the girls at school do so. It is not on par with her developing an eating disorder because she overheard the boy who sits next to her in science class call her friend fat; these are societal pressures that girls MAY feel and this point needs to be hammered home because people do not place emphasis on the legal reality of womens lives and social constructs that bring about insecurities.
BTW Iran has the highest rate of nose jobs and rhinoplasty in the world.
EXCELLENT ARTICLE!! THANK YOU!
by mimi.shishi on Thu Apr 29, 2010 07:49 AM PDTNothing is more ridiculous than the hilarity Ms.Bashi created as a childish reponse to a humourous critic of a very serious problem.
I was also frequently blocked and censored from commenting on their site, under the false pretense of being offensive when I was ONLY criticizing their censorship on the site!It seems that having lived in the west has not taught Ms.Bashi that censorship might be an easy way out but it will ALWAYS backfire in your face. Islamic apologists revealed...
PS:Their names are still on the event page, ONLY because FB doesn't allow creators of events to delete their event or their names! No place to click on event pages to do that once you create an event, create one and you'll see!
Interesting...
by Midwesty on Thu Apr 29, 2010 07:14 AM PDTA reactionary and grass-root and more or less silly campaign, Boobquake a feminist populous ideology, being compared with a serious, organized and educational movement, Brainquake.
Feminism riding on the wave of ignorance. Isn't it always the way any radical ideology dominates?
gentle correction
by Sandra on Thu Apr 29, 2010 03:43 AM PDT"I was just informed by a friend that the Brainquake site has now changed drastically and that no one is able to post on their wall at all and one the creators, Golbarg Bashi has removed her name from being the administrators of the site."
Golbard Bashi is still listed as creator on the original Brainquake
"event" page and the wall is still open for posts. See original
Brainquake "event" page on Facebook here.
There is now also a Brainquake "fan page" on Facebook. That wall is
also open to comments. See new "fan page" for Brainquake on Facebook
here.
Love & peace,
Sandra
Mes Hommages Mesdames ... ;0)
by Darius Kadivar on Wed Apr 28, 2010 11:47 PM PDTBOOBQUAKE TRIBUTE:Eugène Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People" (1830-Louvre Museum )
I've read the objections
by Sargord Pirouz on Wed Apr 28, 2010 10:44 PM PDTI've read the objections based on the scientific method and its means of predict/control.
I've read the political objections, based on a woman's supposed right to expose herself (where carried to its farthest conclusion, any way she pleases and in any context).
But does anyone object to the essence of the sermon, which is the encouragement of marital fidelity and family values observed by the yet to be wed?
As in much of morality grounded in the language of religion, it is the desired outcome which is to be considered by believers, not contemporary fads or applications of technical knowledge.