Women In Persepolis

In the midst of the Cold War in the late 1970’s, Iran was on the brink of revolution. Citizens had grown tired of what they perceived as the attempted ‘westernizing’ of their culture. The tension over this in Iran dated back to the early 1900’s, when the country was then known as Persia. The ruling Qajar Dynasty gave the British access to oil wells in the region. Persians became united over the supposed western threat, leading to a constitutional revolution that created a parliament, weakening the powers of the King. In 1953, Iran was still facing issues concerning foreign influence on oil. Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq led a coalition of four different political parties who advocated against Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the current Shah

In the book Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Marjane Satrapi illustrates what this was like, as she was a young girl growing up in Iran when revolution broke out. In one instance, Satrapi details how females were forced to wear a veil, covering all strands of hair from view.3 The veil was a way for females to project a sense of modesty and show dedication to conservative values. Dress code enforcement did not stop at just a veil. When out in public, women had to wear not only the veil but a robe covering their entire body. This became standard islamic fundamentalist apparel. Prison became a potential punishment if women to not adhere to the new obligatory law. Regular dress for Iranian men also experienced a change. Before 1979, men were typically clean shaven and wore shirts tucked in. With Islamic fundamentalists in power, men began to untuck their shirts and grow beards, as Islamic culture was essentially opposed to the idea of shaving.4 Along with the new dress code, schools became separated by gender. This was a complete cultural shock for Marji. She recalls simpler times in Persepolis when boys and girls were educated side by side and not restricted by dress code laws.5 The transformative nature of these laws and how they upended Iranian society is well represented in a scene in Persepolis 2. As Marji prepares to return to Iran

In her return to Iran in Persepolis 2, Marji sees the streets are covered with images of individuals who are praised as martyrs of a revolution and war that had claimed so many victims. 10 War and conflict had became the norm in Iran. The struggle between Islamic fundamentalists and those who had differing views was a never ending cycle. Class division was also inherent in society after the revolution. Later in Marji’s life, she becomes engaged to a man. Upon presenting this information to her father, he asked the man for one thing: that he give Marji the right to divorce him if she would ever desire to.11 Iran gave the man all the authority in a marriage. Societal class division was shown also during Iran’s war with Iraq. Poor young boys were given plastic golden keys that were said to get them into heaven if the died in the war. The key was simply a tactic to boost morale in the poor class and change their view about fighting a battle.12 It was another way for fundamentalism to influence the