The painful and obvious truth about our society today is that, if there is a single social and political issue on which one can see complete agreement—and even an alliance—between the most dogmatic strata of Iran’s present political establishment and the general culture of society across all social classes, it is our social view of women and their social rights.

From economically and culturally disadvantaged groups to the traditional middle class and even the educated classes, when we come to women and the social treatment of their rights, we all participate in an astonishing and unexamined harmony in the exercise of this systemic social violence under the names of “honour” (*nāmus*) and “protective zeal” (*gheyrat*). If it were otherwise, the oppression endured by your sisters and mine, and by Iranian women, could not continue even for a single day.
#Chivalry_or_Gheyrat
#Love_or_Namus

Aydin Areta