Woman

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

A couple of recent Iranian male writers of Iranian.com have graciously voiced their concerns about the rising number of Iranian women claiming their rights as equal partners [See: " What has happened to Iranian men?" and "I'm the boss"]. Of course, no narcissist wants to lose his position in a power/control game; however, a narcissist always acts to his own detriment. Take the myth of Narcissus for instance: a beautiful man gazing at his own celestial image in the reflecting waters, frozen, immobile, eternally unaware of all other possibilities within himself. This is the death of the human soul: the rigidity and inflexibility of the mind.

As we observe in any patriarchal society, including the Iranian diaspora, we can always feel this air of perturbed unreality, the self-mortification of the Narcissus, the unrealized disease of many of our male counterparts. So you think you need to reclaim your generational throne because you are an Iranian male? Let’s talk about the natural disasters of this sinister dynasty. What is really the true cost of patriarchal chauvinism?

See Husband-killing on the rise in Iran. Also read the stories of some of these women here on the Amnesty International site.

Shahla Moazami, a criminologist in Iran, performed a conclusive research in 2003 on the topic of “spouse-killings”. These were her findings:

“From her interviews, Moazami found a clear and common pattern in the stories of the female killers. The women married young, often 12-14 years old, and they had from 5 to 7 children. At the time of the murder their average age was 29 years old. Many of them tell that their husband had lost interest in them, and they felt that their beauty was fading.

When a new man takes an interest in them, they fall easily for him. The law gives women few possibilities to get a divorce, and the murder of the husband is planned and done together with the new boyfriend. Only 33% of the women did the killing on their own. Moazami also found cases where women, sometimes with the assistance of their daughters, killed a violent husband.

Moazami thinks there are several structural causes to spouse killing. She mentions poverty, illiteracy, traditional opinions and Iranian women’s position in marriage and society. Young marriage age is also important. Moazami thinks that the women were too young to understand marriage when they married at 12-14 years old, and it was difficult for them make their own demands.” Source: Norwegian Information and Documentation Centre for Women's Studies and Gender Research.

Let’s tackle the first issue: marrying young. Who decides for a girl to marry young in the first place? Every one knows in traditionally male-dominated households, nothing takes place without the Father’s permission. So, the answer is a “Male”.
Who decides for women’s divorce? A male judge based on religious and patriarchal interpretations of family laws.
In 67% of the cases, who carries out the murder? A male lover.

Since illiteracy is indicated as one of the cultural triggers to spousal killing, in a traditionally male-dominated society, who decides when and why and how a young girl should go to school or if she needs to go to school at all? The Father; or any other empowered Male figure.

Isn’t it crucially striking that the Father, the Judge, the Killer, and the Murder Victim are all Males?

Of course, this is not to condone any form of killing! (as some of the opponents may love to conclude by reading this article); this is only to delineate the fact that male-domination is the first and foremost enemy of itself; patriarchy is its own foe. An insightful male effortlessly knows that holding an ax above a woman’s head ought to be a suicidal act; a will to self-mutilation.

So before you intend to get blinded by the false ideology of reenacting your forefathers’ mistakes; understand that the male psyche can not subsist without its female half-core; a stifled female Always means a Defeated Male. A Defeated Male means the endangered world we live in now.

[Rasputin]

On the first day of class, my professor said that this course would be modeled after her vision of the ideal world – one in which everyone was respected, honored, and free to choose. Perhaps this is why about seventy people showed up on the first day for a thirty-five person seminar titled “Critical Issues in International Women’s Health”. I was lucky enough to be able to stay in the class, and I cannot describe in words how much I have learned in just three class sessions. This is my first time taking a course specifically focused on women, and I highly encourage everyone to take a course specifically on women. Otherwise, this will be a fundamental piece missing from your education, regardless of your area of study.

During my time at Stanford, I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by brilliant minds and to openly exchange with them ideas and thoughts about biology, religion, politics, and many other features of this mosaic we call life. Many of these exchanges have opened my eyes in new ways, or have made me feel torn about an issue – but a good kind of torn, not one in which I feel that my soul is going to rip, but one in which I know that I am going to stretch. Many of these experiences have been transcendental ones which have transformed me in one way or another.


This past weekend, I had tea at my professor’s home, and as I listened to her and the other students in the course share the paths that had brought them to where they are today, I was changed. I was changed because my eyes were taught a new way of seeing. For the first time in a long time, I was able to see and appreciate the richness of life around me – of the beauty that lay in the evolution of each person’s walk through life, or perhaps better phrased as the dance through life. It is so easy to become overwhelmed, to feel hopeless, to think that too many things have gone wrong and that your ultimate destination is too far out of reach. But it is these obstacles and our responses to them that define our character and ultimately determine who we are. It is these twists and turns in life that make us reach into ourselves, into the depths of our being, and somehow, at some point in time, allow us to reach out to others.


One of the discussions that we have had in the course so far has been on the human rights that are most important to us as people, and then specifically as women. I wrote about education as being the human right most important to me. It is through education that women are given freedom of choice. Education empowers women by making them economically independent, so that they are able to support themselves and those they care about. I like to use the term education broadly, however, to describe not only the varying degrees of schooling through which people are able to advance if given the opportunity, but also to describe basic values that must be taught from an early age. Little boys must be taught to respect women, and little girls must be taught that they deserve to be respected. Women must be taught from a young age that they are smart and capable, so that they respect themselves. And in situations when a woman is not respected, then she must demand respect. I write these words because I know of too many girls my age that will let their boyfriends or other men in their lives yell at them or mistreat them as just another object of manipulation. None of this is okay, and if anyone tells you otherwise, they are lying.






There are women who will wake up today in Ghana and who are responsible for feeding five children and a husband. These women must spend hours carrying water to tend to their farms in order to sell their produce in a local market, because it is the woman who is responsible for the financial state of the family. When the husband comes home from work, he will eat first, before the children and the wife. The woman is the last to eat and she has little say over her own body and the sexual affairs of her husband.


You may not live in Ghana, but if you are willing to let a guy in your life trample over you and silence your voice, then you have not lived your day in a way that is true to you, your being, and your potential. If you have the means to go to school, then go. If you have enough to eat, then eat. If you can run, then run. Save yourself from living a life that is not yours. They say that a life is a terrible thing to waste. Maybe they should also say that a woman who does not know her worth will go to waste.


I’m only twenty-two years old and I’ve lived my entire life in one privileged suburban bubble or another, so my knowledge of the world is limited. I don’t know everything, but I do know one thing – women deserve to be respected, and if you are not respected, then you must demand respect. Tolerate nothing less.

[donsaeid]

be nazare man hejab yek entekhabe shakhsie!!! bas na mitoni kasiro zor koni ke bezare va na mitoni kasi ro zor koni ke nazare.....

[Rasputin]

I remember ever since I was little my mom drilled it into my head that one day I would marry a nice Iranian girl who comes from a good family, who has poise, dignity and self-respect. As I grew older those became the traits that I looked for in a woman, but on a much deeper level. It wasn't enough for her to have self-respect, but her respect for herself had to be justified and consistent with some principles.

Nowadays, women (and men) have a twisted view of what they consider to be right and wrong. If you ever watch Jerry Springer you'll notice that even those from the dredges of society consider themselves worthy of respect. An old Russian adage remarks on how to drunkards at the bar comment to one-another that the other is respectable and arrive at the conclusion that both are respectable men. And that is the case with people nowadays who get together only with their yes-men or yes-women so that they can always feel that they are in the right.

This issue of respect and self-respect is very evident in Iranian women. What makes an Iranian woman different than lets say an American, Canadian, or British one, what makes her special? When it comes to beauty, it can be found in all these races, and when it comes to cultural nuances they can be learned and emulated, so what is left for the Iranian woman? It is her character and her core beliefs and values with regard to family and fidelity ingrained in her from childhood that make her different than any other woman. It is her self-respect, her dignity, and her strong belief in right and wrong that makes her an ideal mate, friend, partner, and wife. And for that reason alone, an Iranian woman is hands down worth ten of each of the women mentioned above.

Sadly though it seems that is not a trend that has passed to the the current generation. Maybe it is the massive oppression that women have suffered in the past in Iran at the hands of the religious fanatics and at the hands of abusive husbands and fathers that they have decided to make of their daughters independent, strong women. They taught their daughters, and rightly so, not to bow to any man and be proud, stand tall, and speak their minds, but in their zeal what they stripped from their daughters was a sense of right and wrong, of duty, of justifiable self-respect, modesty, and dignity. What they failed to explain to their daughters was that sexual promiscuity and indecency are not a sign of liberation and independence, but a sign of poor moral values and lack of self-respect.

Now there is a generation of wonderful, beautiful, intelligent young Iranian women that sleep around and engage in activities that would shame their families if they knew and all for what? To be more westernized, to be more liberated? If the definition of independence, liberation, and civilization and westernization are incumbent ont those type of behaviors and activities then we can make the absurd conclusion that the more depraved a society is the more civilized it is. I won't try to connect anymore dots, but I think you get the point, that a woman can be liberated, independent, and retain her dignity by being modest AND outspoken, free to choose her mate AND maintain her dignity, to have a career, education, and have 'magham' in society AND be a mother and wife. How I would respect and honor such a woman!

Now at 32, I search and search for that kind of woman and though many think they are that woman it is eventually revealed that they are not, that their self-image is so deluded and twisted by a mixture of traditional Iranian and modern western ideas that they are no longer able to see themselves for who they have become: American women who happen to have some tenuous connection to Iranian culture.

So why should an Iranian woman have any more value to me than any other woman? What is important to me is to be with a woman who has values, is dignified, educated, intelligent, and has self-respect. Her race and culture are incidental and if she happens to be Iranian then I would indeed be the luckiest man in the world. Sadly that kind of woman either doesn't exist or is among a fast disappearing minority.

Yet the sadest and perhaps the greatest obstacle to reversing this problem is that many of these women don't realize this as a problem. Case in point is wonderful young Iranian woman I met over the summer. Though she lived in Canada and I in California we wrote each other long emails and had a wonderful long-distance friendship. I was amazed and impressed with her knowledge, education, articulation...

She not only could speak 6 languages, she also wrote beautiful poetry, had a wonderful singing voice, and played a musical instrument. She restored my faith not only in women, but in humanity! Until... until I found out about her past relationship and how poorly she was treated and how even with such treatment she admitted she was still in love with him and with that admission and poor show of judgement ruined any chances we might have had. I guess it is the hallmark of women to make poor choices in men and then blame it on mankind rather than their own poor judgement.

So what's the difference to me? American, Canadian, Mexican... who cares? There's nothing about one that makes her more special, more unique, or more desireable than another. I wanted an Iranian woman because I thought she would have those values that I could not find in American culture and came to realize that she doesn't have anymore than any other woman and the ones she does have are so twisted they can not stand the test of a good hard look.

My final outlook is hopefull though. I feel that if I can be a traditional Iranian man with family values, self-discipline, self-respect and dignity, not sleep around and be respectful to myself, my fellow man, AND my fellow woman... If I can respect a woman's rights, her need for self-determination, independence, and achievement... then there must be someone there who shares my values and maybe, just maybe I'll be lucky enough to find her and she'll be lucky enough to find me... whoever she is and wherever she's from.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

IRAN: WOMAN'S DEATH PENALTY SUSPENDED IN HIGH PROFILE CASE

Tehran, 13 Oct. (AKI) - The judiciary has suspended the hanging of Kobra Rahmanpour "while it waits for the husband's family to pardon her," said in an interview to Adnkronos International (AKI) her attorney, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi.The 24-year-old woman was sentenced to death for the murder of her mother in law six years ago. "The execution order of the death sentence has not been signed by Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the country's leading judiciaL authority," says Khorramshahi. The execution has been postponed twice but if Rahmanpour's family will not pardon her it will be inevitable, stressed the attorney, calling for international help.

"International solidarity for this young woman who has been awaiting death for six years has been essential in Shahroudi's decision but now the international public opinion must address its attention and pressure on the family of the deceased as they hold the keys to Kobra's cell," the attorney told AKI. "It is first of all necessary to convince Kobra's sisters in law that this woman was not the executioner but a victim and persuade them to forgive her."

The attorney said he is extremely worried by Kobra's health: "Six years spent closed in a cell while waiting to be hanged isn't easy and this woman has serious psychological problems. She is extremely depressed and could get worse if she will not be freed in time and returned to her family."

[Rasputin]

خيانت مشروع ـ عشق نامشروع

پلان 1:

داشت از سر کوچه مي پيچيد که احساس کرد دو تا چش دارن مي پانش. با احتياط سرش رو بلند کرد و زير چشمي نگاش کرد. يهو سر خورد تو ده دوازده سال پيش:

ساعت 2:10 دقيقه که مي شد، به بهونه اي ميومد لاي در رو باز مي کرد که ببيندش. با لباس يک دست خاکي رنگ سربازي مي اومد. خودش رو بي تفاوت نشون مي داد، وقتي که چشماي دختر زل مي زد بهش و تشنه، نگاش مي کرد. تو چشماش برق بود. خواهش بود. اما غرور بر خواهش برق آسا غلبه داشت. بي نياز جلوه مي کرد، اما دختر مي دونست که همش لافه. چيزي که آزارش مي داد، بي تفاوتي اون بود. و بعد شوهر کرد: شوهرش دادن. و صاحب اون نگاه برق آسا باز هم بي تفاوت بود.

نگاهش رو دزديد. ديگه وقت نگاههاي آتشين گذشته. بايد به بچه هاش فکر مي کرد. هر چند که دل خوشي از شوهرش نداشت. شوهر؟ نه اون شوهر نبود. فقط يه نام بود تو شناسنامه ش. نام پدري براي بچه هاش. پدري که پدري نمي کرد.

از اون روز بود که آتش عشق کهنه برگشت به وجودش و شب و روزش رو شعله ور کرد. چه شبهايي که پدر بچه ها خونه بود و چه شبهايي که مي رفت پيش زن صيغه ايش.

شوهر، از وقتي دستش رو شده بود، ديگه ابايي نداشت از خونه نيومدن. قبلا حتما دليلي مي تراشيد. ماموريتي! شب کاري! اما از وقتي دستش رو شد، ديگه قبح ماجرا ريخت: خلاف شرع که نکردم، صيغه مه! حلالمه!

شبايي که پدر بچه هاش نبود، آسوده تر بود. چشمهاش رو روي هم مي گذاشت و به برق نگاه پرخواهش روزگار دور فکر مي کرد. همين طور بود که نتونست "نه" بگه بهش، اون شبي که از ديوار پريده بود تو خونه ش و خزيده بود تو رختخوابش. شبهاي ديگر هم …

حالا دست اون هم رو شده. شنبه ديگه سنگسارش مي کنن. آخه عشقش نامشروع بوده.

نگران بچه هاش بود. کاش خاک مي ريخت رو شعله هاي اون عشق قديمي و خاکسترش مي کرد.

اون عشق قديمي ديگه فقط خواهش تن بود. از روزي که تو وجود اون چشماي براق پرخواهش اشتراکاتي با پدر بچه هاش پيدا کرده بود.



پلان 2:

شنبه ديگه حقش رو مي ذارن کف دستش، زنيکه ي پتياره رو. حيف نوني که تو اين ده سال گذاشتم سر سفره م کوفت کنه. نکنه بچه هام بهش برن؟ نکنه دخترم لنگه ننه ش بشه؟ بايد حواسم رو جمع کنم. بايد عيال صيغه ايمو بيارم پيش بچه ها تا مراقبشون باشه. بايد پسرم رو تير کنم تا حواسش شيش دانگ پي خواهرش باشه تا دست از پا خطا نکنه.

زنيکه دليل مياره واسه من: اگه تو به زندگي پايبند مي موندي، هيچ کدوم از اين اتفاقا نمي افتاد!

من زن گرفتم. شرعي و قانوني! اگر هم اوايل پنهان کردم، گفتم حسوديت نشه و چشمت به زندگي ت باشه و به بچه هات برسي. که ناخلف بودي و نموندي. هار شدي و رم کردي.

کاش خودم کشته بودمش. مثه اون مردک قرمساق خفه ش مي کردم. حيف که پليس رسيد و نشد اين يکي رو هم بفرستم درک.

به درک! بهتر! بذار سنگسارش کنن، زنيکه ي بي آبرو رو.

ساقي لقايي

[Rasputin]

آثار نقاشی دلارا دارابی، زندانی محکوم به اعدام

"مجموعه*ای که پيش روی شماست، کلکسيونی از عشق و شادی من است که تقديم ديدگان شما کرده*ام. تا بی*هيچ قضاوتی درباره دلآرا به تماشای روح او بنشينيد! بی*هيچ قضاوتی ببينيد! نمی*دانم از کدام جاده سرزمينمان برای ديدن نقاشی*های من آمده* ايد مهم هم نيست چون به هر صورت می*دانم که راهنمای شما 'عشق' بوده است. عشق به زندگی، به انسان، به ايمان که باورداشتن همه اينهاست." بخشی از خير مقدم دل آرا دارابی از زندان رشت به بازديدکنندگان نمايشگاه آثارش




دلآرا دارابی دختر جوان ۲۰ ساله که سه سال پيش به اتهام قتل مهين، دختر عموی ثروتمند پدر خود، دستگير و در شعبه ۱۰۷ دادگاه ويژه اطفال رشت و با تائيد شعبه ۳۳ ديوان عالی کشور محکوم به اعدام شده است.

[Rasputin]

خیانت زیان آورترین عمل در یک ارتباط است که نه تنها منجر به صدمات غیر قابل جبران به طرفین می شـود، بلـکه اعتماد و اطـمیـنان کسـی كه مورد خیانت قرار گرفته شده را نیز نسبت به افراد دیـگر از بین خواهـد برد. مـعمولا نارضایتی از مسائل گوناگون در یک رابطه باعث خیانت می شود ولی در کل هیچ عذری برای این عمل نکوهیده پذیرفته نیست و باید از آن دروی نـمود.

خـوشـبـختانه در جامعه ما بدلیل فرهنگ و آداب و رسوم غنی و اصیـل ایرانـی، تعـداد زنانی که بـه شوهـران خود خیانت می کنند بسیار اندک است. در زیر برخی از دلایل خیانت زنان را می خوانید.



دلیل شماره 10

فساد اخلاقی

فساد اخلاقی و عدم داشتن پاکدامنی برخی از زنان باعث میشود این عمل ناپسند انجام گيرد.

دلیل شماره 9

خیانت شوهر

اگرچه همه زنان برای انتقام جویی از هـمسرشان به آنها خیانت نمیکنند، ولی اکثرا" احساس می کنند حال که مورد خیـانت قرار گرفته اند آنها نیز مجاز به مقابله بـه مثـل می باشند. برخی تصور می کنند بایـد طعم تلخ دارویی که به آنها خورانده شده را به شوهراشان بخورانند تا متوجه اشتباه خود و آنچه که برسر همسرشان آمده بشوند.

دلیل شماره 8

ابراز علاقه بیشتر توسط دیگری

اگر فیلم "بی وفا" را دیده باشید متوجـه خـواهـید شـد که زنـان مـعمـولا وقـتـی مـورد وسوسه و اغوای شخص دیگری قرار میگیرند ممکن است دچار انحراف شوند. شاید او پشیمان شود و دوباره برگردد اما به چه قیمتی؟ آیا ارزش آن را دارد؟

دلیل شماره 7


تغییرات شدید شخصیتی و رفتاری شوهر

او دیگر مانند گذشته مهربان و با محبت نیست، زود عصبانـی می شـود، بـه هـر دلیل نزاع براه می اندازد، کمتر صحبت می کند، بهانه جویی مـی کنـد، ایـراد می گیـرد، بـه ظاهرش اهمیت نمیدهد، به همسرش اهمیت نمیدهد، دیگر از حرفهای عاشقانه اش خبری نیست و همه چیز به یکباره تغییر کرده است.

دلیل شماره 6

دیدگاه اشتباه

برخی مردان متاسفانه به همسر خود فقط بعنوان یک "شریک جنسی" نگاه می کنند و از ارزشهای دیگر زندگی مطـلـع نیــستـنـد که ایـن امـر مـوجـب ميـشود به امـور دیـگر نپرداخته و مسـیر اصـلی زنــدگی را منـحرف مـی سازند و درنـتـیجه سـرشکـسـتگی و پوچگرایی را برای همسر خود به ارمغان خواهندآورد که این نیز فکر "نادرست" خیانت را در او برای جبران کمبودهای زندگیش و بدست آوردن آنچه که شوهرش ازاو دریغ نموده، تقویت خواهد کرد.

دلیل شماره 5

عدم توجه و بی اهمیتی توسط شوهر

تنها چیزی که می توان با اطمینان کامل بیان کرد این است که هـمـه زنـان تـشـنـه و عاشق تعریف و تمجید توسط شوهرشان هستند بخصوص هنگامیکـه تغییری در آنها بوجود آید. اگر او موهای بلند و بلوند خود را کوتاه و تیره نمود و توسط شوهرش مورد توجه و تعریف قرار نگرفت باید انتظار داشت فرد دیگری زحمت اینکار را بکشد!!!

دلیل شماره 4

مورد غفلت واقع شدن

او احساس می کنـد کـسی که دوسـت داشـت تمام اوقـات خود را با او بـگـذرانـد اکنون بیشتر وقتش را در محل کار و با همکاران و دوستان خود صرف میکند، احساس تنهایی می کند چراکه هرگاه همسر خود را می طلبد با پاسخ منفی مواجه می شود، بخاطر آنچه که انجام داده مورد تحسین قرار نمیگیرد، احساس کمبود مینماید چون شوهرش حداقل انتظاراتش را برآورده نمی کند.

دلیل شماره 3


پول و وضعیت اقتصادی

با کمال تاسف برخی از زنان بدلیل اینکه شوهر آنها دارای وضعیت مالی خوبی نیست و به مـقدار کافی به آنها پول پرداخت نمی کند فقط و فقط بخاطر پـول ( و نه عشق ) و برآورده شدن نیازهای مادی خود سمت دیگری کشیده می شوند که این بسیار جلوه زشت و نا پسند دارد چرا که با کمی همدلی و تلاش می توان براحتی به خواسته ای معقول مادی زندگی دست یافت.

دلیل شماره 2

ارضا نشدن جنسی

مشکل برطرف نـشدن نـیاز جنـسی هـم از جمله مواردی است کـه گـاهـی توسل به پدیده نکوهیـده خـیانت را در برخی زنان موجب می شـود. امـروزه با پـیـشـرفـت علـم پزشکی بسیاری از مشکلات و کمبودهای جنسی چه در مردان و چه در زنان براحتی قابل درمان می باشد.

دلیل شماره 1

ماجرا جویی و حسادت

به نظر می رسـد پـست تـرین دلیـل بـرای انـجام خیـانت حس ماجرا جویی و برانگیخه شدن احساسات بر اثر حسادت نسبت بـه شـوهـران زنـان دیـگر مـیـبـاشـد. ایـن نـوع انگیزه ها معمولا در زنانی که به نوعی دارای مشکلات و کمبودهـای روانـی در زندگی می باشند دیده شده و خوشبختانه دارای تعدد بسیار اندک است.



نتیجه: خیانت به هر صورتی که باشد و به هر دلیلی که انجام گرفته باشد ناپسند و منفور است و تنها یک نتیجه در بر خواهد داشت: شرمندگی

[Rasputin]

The other side of oppression

Speech at the international women's rights conference in Dusseldurff, interrupted many times by audience's applaud. The resolution was endorsed by heavy applaud and hundreds signed the petition during the conference.

In describing women's conditions in a particular country, one either refers to laws governing that country or statistics. In this manner, one either exposes the extent of the oppression women suffer, or admire their achievements. As it regards women living under the rule of Islam, it is pure discrimination and oppression, subjugation and state violence. If women are considered second class citizens in many countries, in Islam-ridden countries they are not even considered as citizens. They are extension of men. In fact, according to Islam, the concept of citizen is non-existent. There is a relation between God and religious hierarchy and a collective of right-less, conscious-less men, with women as their slaves. As a matter of fact this is true about any other religion. However, this is beside our today's discussion.

You have heard a great deal about women under Islam, Islam a la Taliban, in Pakistan, in Bangladesh, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran under the Islamic Republic. The downtrodden situation of women, sheer discrimination, gender apartheid, Islamic veil, forced marriages, officially recognized pedophilia, by setting the legal age of marriage at 9 for girls, honour killing, polygamy, stoning women to death for engaging in sex outside marriage, encouraging men to hit their wives for punishment. The list is long.

If once the issue of Islam and women was an unknown topic, nowadays, thanks to the rise of political Islam, Islamic states in Iran, Afghanistan, and now in Iraq, it has become a well-known topic. I am sure that you all have heard about the non-existence of women's rights in Islam. However, some think it is not Islam's fault, they blame the patriarchy. They maintain that it is not Islam, but patriarchal interpretations of Islam that is responsible for the conditions of women in countries under the rule of Islam. In other words it is the ruling men's fault not the ruling Islam. We will not get into the debate that Islam as all other religions is the direct product of patriarchal era. It could not have escaped being permeated by patriarchic values and outlook. However, we must state one undeniable fact, that is, millions of women are violated daily by Islamic laws, customs, values and states. We must deal in an effective manner with this violation.

I am here on behalf of Organization for Women's Liberation. I am here to familiarize you with realities of Iranian society. You have heard about Iran. I do not mean the oil, or the nuclear project. I do not mean the mullahs or the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. I mean about the situation of women. Today, I want to talk to you about women's resistance, rather than women's oppression. You have heard long tales about women's oppression. I like to tell you that there is a mass resistance movement against this systematic oppression, this official misogynic ideology.

I like to break this encouraging news to you that Iran is the birthplace of a very important historic moment in international women's liberation movement, a movement more significant than the Suffragette, or as vast as the women's liberation movement in the Soviet Union during 1917-1930, or in the West during the 60s and 70s. I am here to ask for your solidarity and support. This movement has a great potential. If it materializes, it is capable of not only liberating women in Iran, but also it opens up the door to freedom to all women in the Middle East. We must recognise this fact.

The situation in Iran is different from that of Afghanistan, Iraq or Sudan. There is mass discontentment in these countries. There is resistance, but there is a lack of a mass movement in defence of women's rights. Such a movement exists in Iran.

In Iran there has never existed a secular state, the separation of religion from the state, or education. The laws have always been religious laws. There has always existed a dictatorship. The efforts to reform the family law in favour of women during the 60s, were very meager and not very effective. During the 1979 revolution a women's right movement was born. This was not a mass movement, but rather formed by left and intellectual women. I am from that generation. My struggle for women's rights and for freedom and equality goes further than that period.

Islamic Republic attacked women full-force after coming to power. The first phase of women's movement was short-lived. It put up a brave resistance but it was silenced after 2 years. Women's resistance continued in individualistic fashion, against the veil, gender apartheid and obligatory dress code. Many women have been imprisoned, tortured, or stoned to death. This brutal oppression was not able to obliterate the spirit of resistance. The new generation reignited this movement in mass scale and pushed it forward. Fighting against the Islamic veil and apartheid is one of the main battlegrounds.

When I hear the apologists of the Islamic movement or the defenders of cultural relativism (which, thanks to our relentless struggle has become a marginal tendency) say: "the Islamic veil and apartheid is their culture", I get furious and want to laugh at the same time. If this is "their culture" then it is supposed that they practice it voluntarily. Why then has this massive means of oppression become necessary? Why are all these special forces formed to deal with cultural disobedience, non-observance of the veil and gender apartheid? I like to ask, are these people bunch of masochists, who like to practice their culture by being tortured, imprisoned and stoned? What rubbish! Thousands of women who have been executed, stoned and tortured are the symbol of a vast movement against the Islamic laws, gender apartheid and the Islamic veil.

Perhaps, you may think that this is a peculiar way to demonstrate resistance. I believe there is a straightforward equation: a complex and sophisticated oppressive system only demonstrates that there is a vast and complex resistance to be suppressed. When there are more than one hundred thousand political executions, this bitter and tragic fact exposes that the society does not accept the existing order and wants change.

In Iran there is a special police force to deal with women, those who protest, those who do not observe the veil and those who are innovative in fashion. This special force was used in the July demonstration in Tehran. It crushed the demonstration. Despite all the laws against non-observance of the veil and dress code, despite prison sentence, fine and lashing, women in Iran ridicule the veil and in their demonstrations have also burned it. The new generation cannot be silenced, cannot be forced back home. This is the resistance I am talking about.

In Iran there is a vast secular movement and for a free and egalitarian society. The women's liberation movement is one of the main components of this general movement. The de facto status of women is much higher than their official and legal status. In the eyes of the dominant ideology and legislation, women's status is half of that of men. A woman is the man's slave. She cannot travel or work without his "master's" permission, does not have divorce or custody rights, cannot become a judge or a president. But women in Iran have not been subdued to accept this status and image. They want to be a whole person, independent and equal.

I like to mention a statistical figure: around 66% of university entrances are female. This is in a country that you need to pass difficult entry exams. There is a very high competition. You also have to take into consideration the state's efforts to push women home. Is this statistic accidental? No. This is a trend. Every year this figure has risen, from 30% to 66%. The parliament tried to pass laws to reverse this trend, to prevent women to get into university in this high number. They argued that this is very detrimental to Islam and the institution of family. The Islamic parliament becomes alarmed by this statistics, I become overjoyed. This shows a resilient resistance on the part of new generation of women in Iran. This brings hope that women's liberation in Iran is live and kicking.

8 March has become an established tradition in Iran. In the past few years, 8 March has been celebrated in different cities and in different ways. I recall in 1979, we organised several 8 March celebrations in Tehran. The society was free from monarchist dictatorship, and we, the women's rights activists, were celebrating 8 March for the first time. On the same day Khomeini ordered women to wear the veil. A large demonstration took the streets in protest to this reactionary order and demanded women's equality. This was the birth of a women's right movement which was silenced after 2 years.

Islamic Republic tried a propaganda tactic, it named the birthday of Mohammad's daughter the women's day. The specialty of this regime has been to suppress a movement not only by brutal force but by means of demagogic propaganda. It crushed the 1979 revolution by calling its state a revolutionary state, its brutal forces the revolutionary guards, and the revolution itself, an Islamic revolution. It disarmed the left by taking over the so-called anti-imperialist movement by manipulating the anti American sentiments and taking Americans hostage at American Embassy.

[Rasputin]

Naming the Prophet's daughter's birthday "women's day" was a similar tactic. However, this tactic worked only for a few years. Then it was forced to assign a women's week. This did not work either. Last year it was forced to admit defeat and a faction of the regime recognized 8 March as women's day. 8 March now is an established tradition in Iran. Last year there were many different rallies and meetings organised to commemorate 8 March. Some of them, including one in Tehran, were suppressed. 3 months later there was a large protest organised in Tehran, several thousand took part. This was crushed. Couple of months later a movement was initiated to collect 1 million signatures for changing the laws in women's favour. Women's liberation movement is not going to resign nor silence. They try to crush it, it rises again even stronger. It seems that all efforts to suppress it, only makes it more resilient and stronger.

These are the positive aspects of women's resistance. Unfortunately, there is a dark and sad dimension to it, as well. The number of suicides and putting fire to oneself has raised considerably among women, specially among young women. Women in Iran have always lived under discrimination. Forced marriages, extensive restrictions on their life, being in a servitude status vis a vis the men has always been the fact of life for the majority of women in Iran. It seems that they used to accept this as a divine and natural law, and resigned to it. However, in the past decade we are witnessing a significant rise in suicide. This is a protest. The new generation has different expectations and aspirations. It does not resign to its "fate". It wants to take it into its own hands. When it cannot protest collectively, when it cannot direct its anger and disapproval against the state, it directs it against herself. These self-inflicting harms are a means of protest.

It is our duty, it is the responsibility of women's right activists to transform this method of self-inflicting hurt into a positive resistance. We must change this desperation into hope for change.

Another negative fact is the high number of girls who escape the restrictions and violence in the home in search of freedom and end up in streets, homeless, unprotected, and become victims of prostitution. They are abused and exploited. Many of these girls wear male clothing, hoping to be freer and less harassed. However, there is no escape. The life of these girls is a telling story of brutality, exploitation and cruelty.

To my opinion, the last two factors are new sociological phenomena in a society undergoing profound social, cultural, political and economic changes. Analysis of this situation takes us to a massive and deep rooted social resistance against the ruling order, dominant ideology and culture, against the ancient and antiquated values of Islam.

And last but not least, we should mention the diverse cultural and NGO organizations which fight for women's rights. These organizations must adapt themselves to the suppressive state and laws. We are witnessing the coming to birth of many different organizations, festivals, and solidarity camps. These are the bright and hopeful aspects of women's resistance.

My friends,

There is a mass resistance movement in Iran against sexual discrimination and for gender equality. This movement needs your solidarity and support. If we succeed to free women from oppression and misogynic laws and values, this would open up a door to all women in the Middle East and countries under the rule of Islam. We must lunch a vast international movement against discrimination, violence and systematic oppression, against gender apartheid and Islamic veil. The Organisation for Women's Liberation calls upon you to join this movement. We have drawn a resolution against gender apartheid, I ask you to support it. Show your support by applauding and sign our petition. Thank you.

[Rasputin]

PROSTITUTION

Mr. S was a well-built big man in his late fifties who lived with his wife on the first floor. Unlike other men his age who used to sleep late and rest for long hours, Mr. S was known to be waking up early in the morning, jogging and playing volleyball with the youngsters in the neighborhood. He had a shop a few blocks away from his apartment where he worked till midnight. His children were all married and lived their separate lives in Esfahan and Tehran. Every once in a while his children would come to look in on their parents and stay for a few days in Shiraz, bringing their kids along.

Ensy always felt a kind of warmth emanating from Mr. S when she saw him. He always gave her a big smile, pinching her cheeks and saying nice things to her. Once or twice when the little girl happened to be climbing the stairs he materialized out of nowhere, offering her a candy and softly caressed her hair. He always called her by names like rabbit or mouse and other pet names. Sometimes when Ensy and Jomee were walking in the alley, they saw the boisterous Mr. S playing balls with some young guys. Ensy could not take her eyes off this vivacious middle-aged man who unlike her dad, was always in command, ordering and shouting everyone what to do next. When he saw them he would run forward pinching and kissing on Ensy's cheek before rushing back to his post in the court. While Dad was always too busy with his business and numerous love-affairs to pay his daughter any attention, Mr. S would always brighten up whenever he saw Ensy. He would usually titillate her palms and armpits to make her laugh. Once or twice he picked her up and gave her a crush, planting warm and wet kisses on her neck while Jomee watched amusedly.

It was one of those sweltering summer afternoons in Shiraz. Jomee was taking a nap in the living room and the bored girl decided to go out to the yard and find a kid to play with. She had barely reached the first floor when the door to Mr. S's apartment opened and he stood in the doorway, wearing a sleeveless white underwear and a pair of boxer shorts. Upon seeing Ensy, he smiled and came forward to caress her cheeks with the back of his furry fingers. Unlike Dad his chest and legs were covered with thick black hair too. He bent down and blew the bang off her face to look into her eyes.

"What are you doing here? Don't you ever sleep in the afternoon?" he whispered kindly. Ensy shook her head.

"Do you want to play with me?" reaching out for her hand, he almost begged. She nodded and took his hand. Soon she followed the big man into the apartment and the door closed behind them.

***

Ensy felt sick for the first few days after that encounter with Mr. S in his place. She did not have a clear picture of what had happened. One moment he was showing her some photos and the next moment his hands were pawing and clawing at her flesh. He was kissing her on her neck and shoulder moving toward her face and at the same time his hands were busy finding its way under her s***t and into her panties. He was kissing her skin here and there and he was touching her there. She wanted to break free and get out of his grasp. Although her ordeal could not have lasted for more than half an hour, for Ensy it took a lifetime to get out of that sweaty embrace. She was disgusted by the way his hairy hand touched her private parts and his red wet lips raped her mouth.

She was feverish for a few days after the incident and had problem eating and sleeping. Ensy could not tell any of these to Jomee who worriedly sat by the side of her bed all night long, praying for her improvement. After a few days she apparently felt better, when the fever and dizziness were gone, but a feeling of insecurity quickly took its place. A kind of feeling that never leaves a molested child alone mixed with the sense of guilt. Although nothing more than just half an hour of kissing and pawing had happened but Ensy felt she had committed a great sin. She did not want to admit to it but in the back of her mind she thought maybe she liked it. She had enjoyed the disgusting embrace of the sweaty man down there and that was what tortured her. Ensy never left the apartment by herself from then on. She never left Jomee's side and would not under any circumstances go out of his eyesight whatsoever. She had learned a big lesson. Men should not be trusted.

***

Years passed and everything in the family had undergone great changes. Dad was rarely home, always away with the women who were always at his beck and call. He did not even try to conceal the fact that he spent the night with a whore and told about his numerous affairs to his friends on the phone while the rest of the family were listening his loud voice in their rooms. Ensy felt so sorry for him. Dad was just trying to find solace in the arms of female strangers and bottles of bootleg alcohol. When Dad did not shack up with some woman in an unknown place he was either asleep or drunk. He had sold his shop and now lent its money to people and the whole family lived on the interest he recieved from the poor borrowers. In less than ten years the handsome, successful businessman who happily lived with his family in a palace turned into an alcoholic loan-shark who cared for nothing but the services he could by from prostitutes.

Jomee who suffered from various illnesses got worse and his condition deteriorated over a period of four or five years. He was still doing all the chores for the family around the house and played the part of a mother as well as a father for Ensy and Salar. He had to have several pills and capsules a day and rest long hours before the TV in the living room. Once he had collapsed before the eyes of Ensy on the ground but refused to visit a new doctor. He had different complications of heart and lung problems and yet had to take care of the two children one way or another.

Salar had grown to be a very handsome young man on the verge of getting his diploma. He remained the same remote and far-fetched brother that he used to be for Ensy, on whose shoulder she could neither rely nor cry. Following her father's footsteps, Salar had a large number of admirers too, with whom he had long chats on the phone with an ever-present wicked smile.

They heard tidbits of news about Mom from here and there. They knew she had a few kids by her second marriage and she was never allowed to contact Ensy and Salar. The last image of her mother for Ensy was that of a tearful woman standing in the threshold of the house with a small suitcase in her hand.

And Ensy... The ugly, dark skinned girl grew up to become a very pretty teenager. Her long soft black hair framed her lovely round face that in turn surrounded her onyx eyes and a pair of luscious ruby lips. The ugly duckling had turned out to be a lovely swan who could catch the eyes of beholders right away. She had a kind of untamed beauty that made young men gasp with widened eyes whenever she passed by. Jeans and casual clothes under the essential long and loose dresses could not hide her magnificent legs and slender hip. She noticed the impact of her wild beauty on people and ordinary passers-by, yet there remained one thing unchanged deep in Ensy's mind and conduct, her distrust of men. She could never forget her childhood abuse by their former neighbor Mr. S, although he had moved with his wife to another house in the city a few years ago. The tell-tale feeling of guilt had not left her alone either. Sometimes in the middle of the night she dreamed she was being touched by a familiar pair of hands and she did not want those hands to stop. And when she woke up in the morning she would feel sick and guilty all over again.

Then one day, when Ensy got home from school, she saw a heavily made up blonde woman sitting on the sofa in the living room, talking to Dad. Dad held up his face to look into Ensy's eyes. "Ensy, this is Shirin. She has come to stay with us and I hope she could be like a good mother to you." . Dad had chosen to marry one of his whores and had brought her home to live with his two children .

[Rasputin]

Dead woman painting

As art exhibitions go, the paintings on display at Tehran's Golestan Gallery this week are hardly designed to lift the human spirit.
The visitor is greeted by a harrowing collection of mostly monochrome images starkly conveying the soul-destroying effects of captivity.

Barbed wire and barred windows, unmistakable symbols of imprisonment and separation, are everywhere.

But as dispiriting as they are, the grim portraits are designed to seize the attention and prompt an active response.

Their artist, Delara Darabi, currently sits on death row. All but one of the three dozen or so works were painted in her prison cell as she waits for the authorities to confirm a death sentence handed down for the murder of a rich elderly relative.

Some were painted with her fingers after she ran out of paintbrushes, but all show a haunting awareness of her predicament and the sense of loss imposed by her imprisonment and coming fate. Most of all, though, they carry an overpowering message of injustice.

This is expressed with startling clarity in one painting of a young woman's ravaged face. On close inspection, the scales of justice can be seen in the right eye.
The picture tells the visitor that the exhibition has a higher purpose than the artist's traditional preoccupation with self-expression. It is about her asserting that she is innocent.

"The paintings in front of you are not wordless images and colours, they are the painful photo realities of our life," she writes in a stream of consciousness message pinned to the gallery wall.

"The only face I see in front of me every day is a wall. For three years, I have been defending myself with colours, forms and words. These paintings are an oath to a crime I did not commit. Unless the colours bring me back to life, I greet you who have come to view my paintings from behind that wall."

It may be the most unusual challenge to Iran's heavily-criticised penal code with its highly controversial use of the death penalty, but Delara's supporters hope the exhibition's novelty will raise public awareness and persuade the judiciary to overturn her conviction.

"In Iran, many incidents and events are just kept silent and people don't hear about them," Asiyeh Amini, the women's rights campaigner who organised the exhibition, said.

"We want to put Delara as a young artist under the public gaze to get people's attention focused on her. When she was doing these paintings, she had no aim of having an exhibition. Her only aim was to express herself.

"But we want to draw the attention of decision-makers to her situation. This young, pretty and emotional girl has been exposed to the cruellest of experiences."

Now 20, Delara was convicted and sentenced in a children's court three years ago after confessing to stabbing her father's cousin, a 65-year-old woman, to death.

She subsequently retracted her confession, claiming her lover had committed the crime. He had carried it out for money, she said, saying they would need it if they were to marry.

But she claimed he persuaded her to confess on the grounds that she would not face the death penalty because she was only 17.

If her story is true, it was a fateful error of judgment. Delara's death sentence has since been upheld by Iran's supreme court.

Her lawyer, Abdulsamad Khoramshahi, is currently trying to have the conviction quashed on appeal, which is due to be heard over the next two months. He said the criminal investigation was incomplete, and the conviction was based solely on her confession.

A reconstruction of the crime scene, he said, would show that she could not have committed the murder.

Innocent or not, the case bears one characteristic that human rights campaigners say is a dismaying hallmark of Iran's penal system.

Being 17 at the time of the murder should exempt Delara from the death penalty under the terms of the international covenant on civil and political rights and the international convention on the rights of the child, both of which forbid capital punishment for offences committed before the age of 18.

Last month, Human Rights Watch wrote to the head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, protesting about the presence on death row of several young people convicted of crimes committed as juveniles and demanding legislation to end the practice.

Lawyers say Iran routinely masks its policy of executing juvenile offenders by waiting until they are over 18 before carrying out the sentence, or by simply lying about their age.

Most of those put to death lack the artistic gifts of Delara, which might just serve to shame the authorities into mending their ways.

[donsaeid]

اولين مركز ترك اعتياد بانوان در تهران افتتاح مي*شود


مشاور شهردار در امور بانوان از افتتاح اولين مركز ترك اعتياد ويژه بانوان طي چند روز آينده در تهران خبر داد.


زهرا مشير افزود: بر اساس مطالعات صورت گرفته يكي از نيازهاي اصلي شهر تهران نبود مراكز ترك اعتياد ويژه بانوان بوده است.
به گفته مشاور شهردار در امور بانوان، بيش از اين زنان معتادي كه قصد ترك اعتياد داشتند، با مراجعه به پارك*ها، در كلاس*هاي ترك اعتياد آقايان شركت مي*كردند.
وي با اشاره به اينكه از سال گذشته شهرداري تهران تصميم گرفت، چنين مركزي را در تهران احداث كند گفت: مكاني براي اين منظور در پارك چيتگر در نظر گرفته و كار ساخت و ساز آن را آغاز كرديم ، قرار بود اين مركز در عيد سعيد فطر افتتاح شود ولي به دليل شرايط جوي نامساعد افتتاحيه به تعويق افتاد.
به گفته مشير، ظرف چند روز آينده اين مركز افتتاح وآماده بهره*برداري خواهد شد.
مشاور شهردار در امور بانوان در خصوص مركز بازپروري ترك اعتياد بانوان در تهران گفت: در اين مجموعه مهدكودك، مكان ورزشي و تفريحي و آسايشگاه به منظور رفاه بانواني كه در حال ترك اعتياد هستند، ساخته شده است.
به گفته مشير ،حدود 3 هزار زن معتاد در اين مركز تحت پوشش قرار خواهند گرفت.
مشاور شهردار در امور بانوان ادامه داد: بعد از افتتاح اين مركز بررسي*هاي علمي صورت خواهد گرفت و چنانچه اين طرح با موفقيت انجام شود و جامعه نياز به مركز ديگري داشته باشد،حتما مراكز ديگري در اين زمينه در تهران ساخته مي*شود.
وي در پاسخ به اين سوال كه آيا براي اشتغال اين زنان پس از ترك اعتياد در اين مراكز تدابيري انديشيده* شده است، گفت: اين زنان پس از ترك اعتياد كامل مي*توانند در مراكز توانمندي*سازي زنان سرپرست خانوار حضور يافته و مهارت*هاي لازم براي اشتغال راكسب كنند.
به گفته مشير مشابه اين مركز در شيراز و مشهد نيز وجود دارد.