#WhiteWednesday: campaign against mandatory dress code in Iran

In Iran, women pre-1979 could practice freedom of choice regarding clothes but not anymore

A new social media campaign taking a stand against compulsion on Iranian women to wear headscarves has gained international attention.

According to the BBC, the #WhiteWednesday campaign is run by Masih Alinejad, the founder of My Stealthy Freedom, an online movement that debunks and opposes the mandatory female dress code.

It features many Iranian women posing without a headscarf, as well as wearing white headscarves to show their discontent towards the forced law implemented by the government of Iran.

PHOTO COURTESY: My Stealthy Freedom

While women pre-1979 could practice freedom of choice regarding clothes; women after the era were not given the same option. Iran's law requires women to cover their hairline and discourages the use of makeup.

PHOTO: My Stealthy Freedom

Alinejad's Facebook page and social media campaign has been running for three long years, and has managed to gather more than 3,000 pictures of women without headscarves pledging alliance against the mandatory dress code.

https://twitter.com/_Cafe/status/872325887865257984

"I'm so pumped up to be in this campaign," one contributor says in a video as she walks down a road in Iran. "I want to talk to you of my imprisonment. They imposed hijab on me since I was seven," she says, shaking the headscarf off. "I never felt committed to it and won't be."

Alinejad, who is on a self-imposed exile in the US, has received more than 200 videos, some of which have more than 500,000 views.

Screengrab: My Stealthy Freedom



 

Friday prayer called me a prostitute just because of wearing white headscarf. I'm louder from now on#WhiteWednesday #چهارشنبه_های_سفید pic.twitter.com/JzQBDAGvm5

— My Stealthy Freedom (@mystealthyorg) June 7, 2017