Consider Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti our hero of the week. At a press conference on Monday for the movie “The Salesman,” photographers captured what appears to be a tattoo of the “woman power” symbol sticking out from under her sleeve. A minor uproar was caused as a result.
According to a report from The New York Times, Alidoosti’s fellow Iranians had mixed reactions to her feminist tattoo. Strict hard-liners were quick to criticize Alidoosti, claiming that the symbol meant she “supported abortion rights and was against the family.” Some fans on Twitter came to her defense, saying they were also feminists, while others attacked her for catering to foreign ideals.
Alidoosti answered critics herself, saying on Twitter, “Keep calm and YES I’m a feminist,” but didn’t confirm or deny having the tattoo, claiming that it’s a private matter. As the NYT detailed, “She also posted an explanation, in English, of the meaning of the feminist fist, which she wrote was ‘the woman power symbol and became a symbol of feminism.’”
Keep calm and YES I'm a feminist. پست مربوط به یک سال پیشpic.twitter.com/95nMY3H9kT
As the NYT points out, “Iran’s women’s rights movement is officially nonexistent, with the country’s judiciary, dominated by hard-liners, having convicted most organized groups trying to change laws that treat the sexes unequally. Despite the crackdown, many urban Iranians say they support equal rights for women. The word feminist, however, is often used by hard-liners as a negative label.”
یا به عبارتی "The Feminist Fist"pic.twitter.com/aG67rZETrD
We’re grateful whenever high-profile figures speak in favor of gender equality, and particularly in countries where taking this kind of stance is considered especially taboo, or controversial — possibly even dangerous. Alidoosti’s voice matters so much when so many others can’t speak up. As Alidoosti continued on Twitter, “Feminism doesn’t mean antiman or antifamily. Feminism means that each human aside from his or her gender has the right to an individuality and according to that, to choose the life that she or he wants.”
