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My Stealthy Freedom

April 11, 2024

My Stealthy Freedom is an online movement that was started in 2014 by Masih Alinejad,[1] an Iranian-born journalist and activist based in the United Kingdom[2] and the United States.[3] This movement started as a Facebook page, called My Stealthy Freedom, where women in Iran post photos of themselves without scarves, as a protest against the compulsory hijab laws in the country.[4] By the end of 2016, the page has surpassed 1 million Facebook likes.[5] The initiative has received wide international and national coverage,[6] and has been both praised and criticized.

Chronology edit

The Facebook page called Stealthy Freedom was set up on 5 May 2014[1] and it is dedicated to posting images of women with their hijab (scarf) removed.[6] Many women have submitted their pictures without hijab, taken in various locations: parks, beaches, markets, streets, and elsewhere.[6] Alinejad said that the campaign began rather simply:

Once I posted pictures of [myself] in London, free, without a scarf. I received messages from Iranian women saying: "Don't publish these pictures because we envy you." Soon after I published another picture of myself driving in my hometown in Iran, again without a scarf. And I said to Iranian women: "I bet you can do the same." Many of them started to send me their photos without hijab, so I created a page called "My Stealthy Freedom." . . . If I were in Iran this website wouldn't exist. From far away those voiceless women can express themselves for the first time [in] more than 30 years.[6]

In a few days, the page had received over 100,000 likes. In early 2015, it jumped up to 760,000 followers,[6] and by the end of 2016, it reached over 968,000 likes.[7]

In an interview with BBC in 2014, Alinejad insisted that women who have sent their photos are "not women activists, but just ordinary women talking from their hearts". Many of the pictures were accompanied by captions, some in a poetic language, and others were mischievous or defiant. Many captions have placed the emphasis on a right to choose or freedom of choice.[8] In January 2015, Alinejad also launched #myforbiddensong as part of the My Stealthy Freedom campaign, and two months later she revived the Green movement slogan "You are all media".[9]

My Stealthy Freedom has been described as an extremely active and lively space, publishing each month around 35–50 new pieces of content which are shared by hundreds of people.[7] In mid-2014, #MyStealthyFreedom became an internationally used hashtag on Facebook and Twitter, averaging one million shares per week.[10] By the end of 2016, the page had shared over 2,000 photos of Iranian women without the hijab. The page has gained many international supporters, posts are published mostly in Persian with English and French translations.[11]

In May 2017, Alinejad launched the White Wednesdays campaign, encouraging women to remove their headscarves on Wednesdays or wear white shawls as a sign of protest.

Reactions edit

Related and rival initiatives edit

See also: LGBT rights in Iran

Following Alinejad's initiative, gay people also opened a Facebook page, My Stealthy Homosexual Freedom, posting images with the inverted aesthetics of covered faces with rainbow flags or headless images.[12] Iman Ganji, a doctoral student from Free University of Berlin, sees both pages as a result of general political transformation in mid-2010s, when a new middle-right government replaced the far-right one, and states that the struggle for the liberation of desire has long allied women's and queer movements together in Iran.[12] In mid-2016, some Iranian men started Men In Hijab campaign, expressing their thoughts as well as briefly wearing the hijab themselves. This Facebook page has received over 100,000 likes and is largest among rival initiatives, but it has been criticized by foreign commentators as "laddish" for containing juvenile jokes, cartoons and videos.[13] Among other smaller rivals is the Real Freedom of Iranian Women page, launched exactly a week after the My Stealthy Freedom, with a message celebrating the veil: "Beautiful Hijab, My Right, My Choice, My Life".[13] Former page has received less than 10,000 likes and has also been criticized for insisting that Stealthy Freedom is part of a soft war against Iran, and also for trying to generate fear.[14]

Praise edit

Alison N. Novak from Temple University and Emad Khazraee from the University of Pennsylvania stressed importance of breaking boundaries of the state's internet censorship efforts: "The goal of My Stealthy Freedom is to mobilize public opinion regarding the issue of women's rights, hijab, and the female body."[15] Gholam Khiabany, a reader in media and communications department at Goldsmiths, University of London, has praised Alinejad's campaign,[16] as has Victoria Tahmasebi-Birgani, an assistant professor of women and gender studies at the University of Toronto.[17] According to Gi Yeon Koo, a cultural anthropologist from Seoul National University, "This online movement finds its value in that it has become a new platform for women to raise their voices in the public sphere."[18] As Iman Ganji,[12] Koo also aligns the movement with social changes started since Hassan Rouhani assumed the presidency.[19] In 2015 the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy gave Alinejad its women's rights award for "stirring the conscience of humanity to support the struggle of Iranian women for basic human rights."[20]

Criticism edit

There are no official statistics to show what percentage of Iranian women is against mandatory wearing of the hijab. One western researcher[who?] says, "It is true that there are still many women in Iranian society who choose, of their own will, to retain the image of the hijab and wear the most conservative type of hijab. Furthermore, it cannot be said that the women participating in this stealthy movement of removing their hijab are the majority."[21]

Misinformation edit

In early June 2014, Masih Alinejad was the target of a misinformation campaign by Iranian state television, which falsely claimed that Alinejad was a target of sexual violence.[22] Alinejad said that the story is false.[23]

See also edit

References edit

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ a b Khiabany 2016, p. 225; Seddighi & Tafakori 2016, p. 925; Tahmasebi-Birgani 2017, p. 186.
  2. ^ Novak & Khazraee 2014, p. 1094; Koo 2016, pp. 142–143; Seddighi & Tafakori 2016, p. 925.
  3. ^ Moorhead, Joanna (2 June 2018). "The Wind in My Hair: One Woman's Struggle Against the Hijab". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  4. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the : "My Stealthy Freedom: Fighting Iran's Hijab Rules | DW News". YouTube.
  5. ^ Fathi, Nazila (20 April 2015). "Meet the Iconoclast Inspiring Iranian Women to Remove Their Headscarves". Vogue. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d e Khiabany 2016, p. 225.
  7. ^ a b Tahmasebi-Birgani 2017, p. 186.
  8. ^ Khiabany 2016, p. 226.
  9. ^ Khiabany 2016, p. 227.
  10. ^ Novak & Khazraee 2014, p. 1094.
  11. ^ Koo 2016, p. 143.
  12. ^ a b c Ganji 2015, p. 114.
  13. ^ a b Khiabany 2016, p. 228.
  14. ^ Khiabany 2016, p. 229.
  15. ^ Novak & Khazraee 2014, p. 1095.
  16. ^ Khiabany 2016, p. 230.
  17. ^ Tahmasebi-Birgani 2017, p. 193.
  18. ^ Koo 2016, p. 154.
  19. ^ Koo 2016, p. 153.
  20. ^ "The Iranian hijab campaigner who won't be silenced". The Independent. 9 October 2015. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  21. ^ Koo 2016, p. 154; Khiabany 2016, p. 229.
  22. ^ "Video from IRINN". www.aparat.com.
  23. ^ "Iranian State Television Faked My Rape". Time. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2023.

Bibliography edit

  • Ganji, Iman (2015). "The Silent Movements of the Iranian Queer". In Tellis, Ashley; Bala, Sruti (eds.). The Global Trajectories of Queerness: Re-thinking Same-Sex Politics in the Global South. Thamyris/Intersecting: Place, Sex and Race. Vol. 30. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. pp. 105–120. doi:10.1163/9789004217942_008. ISBN 978-90-04-30933-3. ISSN 1570-7253.
  • Khiabany, Gholam (2016). "The Importance of 'Social' in Social Media: The Lessons from Iran". In Bruns, Axel; Enli, Gunn; Skogerbo, Eli; Larsson, Anders Olof; Christensen, Christian (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics. New York: Routledge. pp. 223–234. doi:10.4324/9781315716299. hdl:11343/124284. ISBN 978-1-138-86076-6.
  • Koo, Gi Yeon (2016). "To Be Myself and Have My Stealthy Freedom: The Iranian Women's Engagement with Social Media". Revista de Estudios Internacionales Mediterráneos. 21 (2016). Madrid: Autonomous University of Madrid: 141–157. doi:10.15366/reim2016.21.011. hdl:10486/676926. ISSN 1887-4460.
  • Novak, Alison N.; Khazraee, Emad (November 2014). "The Stealthy Protester: Risk and the Female Body in Online Social Movements". Feminist Media Studies. 14 (6). Basingstoke, England: Routledge: 1094–1095. doi:10.1080/14680777.2014.975438. ISSN 1468-0777. S2CID 143773123.
  • Seddighi, Gilda; Tafakori, Sara (August 2016). "Transnational Mediation of State Gendered Violence: The Case of Iran". Feminist Media Studies. 16 (5). Basingstoke, England: Routledge: 925–928. doi:10.1080/14680777.2016.1213575. ISSN 1468-0777. S2CID 151547466.
  • Tahmasebi-Birgani, Victoria (2017). "Social Media as a Site of Transformative Politics: Iranian Women's Online Contestations". In Vahabzadeh, Peyman (ed.). Iran's Struggles for Social Justice: Economics, Agency, Justice, Activism. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 181–198. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44227-3_11. ISBN 978-3-319-44226-6.

Further reading edit

  • "نگاهی متفاوت به ماجرای کاپیتان تیم ملی فوتبال بانوان و همسرش" (in Persian). Tehran: Mehr News Agency. 20 September 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2017.[romanization needed]
  • "دفتر رهبری: دوچرخه سواری زنان جایز است – نامه نیوز". نامه نیوز (in Persian). Tehran: Nameh News. 25 August 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2017.[romanization needed]
  • Gheytanchi, Elham (2015). "Gender Roles in the Social Media World of Iranian Women". In Faris, David M.; Rahimi, Babak (eds.). Social Media in Iran: Politics and Society After 2009. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. pp. 41–56. ISBN 978-1-4384-5883-0.
  • Lewis, Reina (April 2015). "Uncovering Modesty: Dejabis and Dewigies Expanding the Parameters of the Modest Fashion Blogosphere". Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture. 19 (2). Oxford: Routledge: 243–269. doi:10.2752/175174115X14168357992472. ISSN 1362-704X. S2CID 145073784.
  • Sreberny, Annabelle (April 2015). "Women's Digital Activism in a Changing Middle East". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 47 (2). London; Tucson, Arizona: Cambridge University Press; Middle East Studies Association of North America: 357–361. doi:10.1017/S0020743815000112. ISSN 0020-7438.
  • Strootman, Rolf; Versluys, Miguel John (2017). "From Culture to Concept: The Reception and Appropriation of Persia in Antiquity". In Strootman, Rolf; Versluys, Miguel John (eds.). Persianism in Antiquity. Oriens et Occidens. Vol. 25. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 9–32. ISBN 978-3-515-11382-3.

External links edit

  • My Stealthy Freedom (official website)

April 11, 2024
stealthy, freedom, online, movement, that, started, 2014, masih, alinejad, iranian, born, journalist, activist, based, united, kingdom, united, states, this, movement, started, facebook, page, called, where, women, iran, post, photos, themselves, without, scar. My Stealthy Freedom is an online movement that was started in 2014 by Masih Alinejad 1 an Iranian born journalist and activist based in the United Kingdom 2 and the United States 3 This movement started as a Facebook page called My Stealthy Freedom where women in Iran post photos of themselves without scarves as a protest against the compulsory hijab laws in the country 4 By the end of 2016 the page has surpassed 1 million Facebook likes 5 The initiative has received wide international and national coverage 6 and has been both praised and criticized Contents 1 Chronology 2 Reactions 2 1 Related and rival initiatives 2 2 Praise 2 3 Criticism 2 3 1 Misinformation 3 See also 4 References 4 1 Footnotes 4 2 Bibliography 5 Further reading 6 External linksChronology editThe Facebook page called Stealthy Freedom was set up on 5 May 2014 1 and it is dedicated to posting images of women with their hijab scarf removed 6 Many women have submitted their pictures without hijab taken in various locations parks beaches markets streets and elsewhere 6 Alinejad said that the campaign began rather simply Once I posted pictures of myself in London free without a scarf I received messages from Iranian women saying Don t publish these pictures because we envy you Soon after I published another picture of myself driving in my hometown in Iran again without a scarf And I said to Iranian women I bet you can do the same Many of them started to send me their photos without hijab so I created a page called My Stealthy Freedom If I were in Iran this website wouldn t exist From far away those voiceless women can express themselves for the first time in more than 30 years 6 In a few days the page had received over 100 000 likes In early 2015 it jumped up to 760 000 followers 6 and by the end of 2016 it reached over 968 000 likes 7 In an interview with BBC in 2014 Alinejad insisted that women who have sent their photos are not women activists but just ordinary women talking from their hearts Many of the pictures were accompanied by captions some in a poetic language and others were mischievous or defiant Many captions have placed the emphasis on a right to choose or freedom of choice 8 In January 2015 Alinejad also launched myforbiddensong as part of the My Stealthy Freedom campaign and two months later she revived the Green movement slogan You are all media 9 My Stealthy Freedom has been described as an extremely active and lively space publishing each month around 35 50 new pieces of content which are shared by hundreds of people 7 In mid 2014 MyStealthyFreedom became an internationally used hashtag on Facebook and Twitter averaging one million shares per week 10 By the end of 2016 the page had shared over 2 000 photos of Iranian women without the hijab The page has gained many international supporters posts are published mostly in Persian with English and French translations 11 In May 2017 Alinejad launched the White Wednesdays campaign encouraging women to remove their headscarves on Wednesdays or wear white shawls as a sign of protest Reactions editRelated and rival initiatives edit See also LGBT rights in Iran Following Alinejad s initiative gay people also opened a Facebook page My Stealthy Homosexual Freedom posting images with the inverted aesthetics of covered faces with rainbow flags or headless images 12 Iman Ganji a doctoral student from Free University of Berlin sees both pages as a result of general political transformation in mid 2010s when a new middle right government replaced the far right one and states that the struggle for the liberation of desire has long allied women s and queer movements together in Iran 12 In mid 2016 some Iranian men started Men In Hijab campaign expressing their thoughts as well as briefly wearing the hijab themselves This Facebook page has received over 100 000 likes and is largest among rival initiatives but it has been criticized by foreign commentators as laddish for containing juvenile jokes cartoons and videos 13 Among other smaller rivals is the Real Freedom of Iranian Women page launched exactly a week after the My Stealthy Freedom with a message celebrating the veil Beautiful Hijab My Right My Choice My Life 13 Former page has received less than 10 000 likes and has also been criticized for insisting that Stealthy Freedom is part of a soft war against Iran and also for trying to generate fear 14 Praise edit Alison N Novak from Temple University and Emad Khazraee from the University of Pennsylvania stressed importance of breaking boundaries of the state s internet censorship efforts The goal of My Stealthy Freedom is to mobilize public opinion regarding the issue of women s rights hijab and the female body 15 Gholam Khiabany a reader in media and communications department at Goldsmiths University of London has praised Alinejad s campaign 16 as has Victoria Tahmasebi Birgani an assistant professor of women and gender studies at the University of Toronto 17 According to Gi Yeon Koo a cultural anthropologist from Seoul National University This online movement finds its value in that it has become a new platform for women to raise their voices in the public sphere 18 As Iman Ganji 12 Koo also aligns the movement with social changes started since Hassan Rouhani assumed the presidency 19 In 2015 the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy gave Alinejad its women s rights award for stirring the conscience of humanity to support the struggle of Iranian women for basic human rights 20 Criticism edit There are no official statistics to show what percentage of Iranian women is against mandatory wearing of the hijab One western researcher who says It is true that there are still many women in Iranian society who choose of their own will to retain the image of the hijab and wear the most conservative type of hijab Furthermore it cannot be said that the women participating in this stealthy movement of removing their hijab are the majority 21 Misinformation edit In early June 2014 Masih Alinejad was the target of a misinformation campaign by Iranian state television which falsely claimed that Alinejad was a target of sexual violence 22 Alinejad said that the story is false 23 See also editBlogging in Iran Communications in Iran Internet Death of Mahsa Amini International Women s Day Protests in Tehran 1979 Iranian clothing Iranian protests against compulsory hijab Kashf e hijab Mahsa Amini protests Persian clothing Topfreedom Yasmine MohammedReferences editFootnotes edit a b Khiabany 2016 p 225 Seddighi amp Tafakori 2016 p 925 Tahmasebi Birgani 2017 p 186 Novak amp Khazraee 2014 p 1094 Koo 2016 pp 142 143 Seddighi amp Tafakori 2016 p 925 Moorhead Joanna 2 June 2018 The Wind in My Hair One Woman s Struggle Against the Hijab The Observer ISSN 0029 7712 Retrieved 31 May 2019 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine My Stealthy Freedom Fighting Iran s Hijab Rules DW News YouTube Fathi Nazila 20 April 2015 Meet the Iconoclast Inspiring Iranian Women to Remove Their Headscarves Vogue Retrieved 19 February 2020 a b c d e Khiabany 2016 p 225 a b Tahmasebi Birgani 2017 p 186 Khiabany 2016 p 226 Khiabany 2016 p 227 Novak amp Khazraee 2014 p 1094 Koo 2016 p 143 a b c Ganji 2015 p 114 a b Khiabany 2016 p 228 Khiabany 2016 p 229 Novak amp Khazraee 2014 p 1095 Khiabany 2016 p 230 Tahmasebi Birgani 2017 p 193 Koo 2016 p 154 Koo 2016 p 153 The Iranian hijab campaigner who won t be silenced The Independent 9 October 2015 Archived from the original on 18 June 2022 Retrieved 23 April 2018 Koo 2016 p 154 Khiabany 2016 p 229 Video from IRINN www aparat com Iranian State Television Faked My Rape Time 4 June 2014 Retrieved 29 October 2023 Bibliography edit Ganji Iman 2015 The Silent Movements of the Iranian Queer In Tellis Ashley Bala Sruti eds The Global Trajectories of Queerness Re thinking Same Sex Politics in the Global South Thamyris Intersecting Place Sex and Race Vol 30 Leiden Netherlands Brill pp 105 120 doi 10 1163 9789004217942 008 ISBN 978 90 04 30933 3 ISSN 1570 7253 Khiabany Gholam 2016 The Importance of Social in Social Media The Lessons from Iran In Bruns Axel Enli Gunn Skogerbo Eli Larsson Anders Olof Christensen Christian eds The Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics New York Routledge pp 223 234 doi 10 4324 9781315716299 hdl 11343 124284 ISBN 978 1 138 86076 6 Koo Gi Yeon 2016 To Be Myself and Have My Stealthy Freedom The Iranian Women s Engagement with Social Media Revista de Estudios Internacionales Mediterraneos 21 2016 Madrid Autonomous University of Madrid 141 157 doi 10 15366 reim2016 21 011 hdl 10486 676926 ISSN 1887 4460 Novak Alison N Khazraee Emad November 2014 The Stealthy Protester Risk and the Female Body in Online Social Movements Feminist Media Studies 14 6 Basingstoke England Routledge 1094 1095 doi 10 1080 14680777 2014 975438 ISSN 1468 0777 S2CID 143773123 Seddighi Gilda Tafakori Sara August 2016 Transnational Mediation of State Gendered Violence The Case of Iran Feminist Media Studies 16 5 Basingstoke England Routledge 925 928 doi 10 1080 14680777 2016 1213575 ISSN 1468 0777 S2CID 151547466 Tahmasebi Birgani Victoria 2017 Social Media as a Site of Transformative Politics Iranian Women s Online Contestations In Vahabzadeh Peyman ed Iran s Struggles for Social Justice Economics Agency Justice Activism Cham Switzerland Palgrave Macmillan pp 181 198 doi 10 1007 978 3 319 44227 3 11 ISBN 978 3 319 44226 6 Further reading edit نگاهی متفاوت به ماجرای کاپیتان تیم ملی فوتبال بانوان و همسرش in Persian Tehran Mehr News Agency 20 September 2015 Retrieved 23 February 2017 romanization needed دفتر رهبری دوچرخه سواری زنان جایز است نامه نیوز نامه نیوز in Persian Tehran Nameh News 25 August 2016 Retrieved 23 February 2017 romanization needed Gheytanchi Elham 2015 Gender Roles in the Social Media World of Iranian Women In Faris David M Rahimi Babak eds Social Media in Iran Politics and Society After 2009 Albany New York State University of New York Press pp 41 56 ISBN 978 1 4384 5883 0 Lewis Reina April 2015 Uncovering Modesty Dejabis and Dewigies Expanding the Parameters of the Modest Fashion Blogosphere Fashion Theory The Journal of Dress Body amp Culture 19 2 Oxford Routledge 243 269 doi 10 2752 175174115X14168357992472 ISSN 1362 704X S2CID 145073784 Sreberny Annabelle April 2015 Women s Digital Activism in a Changing Middle East International Journal of Middle East Studies 47 2 London Tucson Arizona Cambridge University Press Middle East Studies Association of North America 357 361 doi 10 1017 S0020743815000112 ISSN 0020 7438 Strootman Rolf Versluys Miguel John 2017 From Culture to Concept The Reception and Appropriation of Persia in Antiquity In Strootman Rolf Versluys Miguel John eds Persianism in Antiquity Oriens et Occidens Vol 25 Stuttgart Franz Steiner Verlag pp 9 32 ISBN 978 3 515 11382 3 External links editMy Stealthy Freedom official website My Stealthy Freedom official website former domain Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title My Stealthy Freedom amp oldid 1193249206, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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