History, Poem and Abuse




One of my fantasies is traveling through history. I'm crazy about art history of Europe, but if I could, I'd stay in Iran for a while near the end of Ghajar time and after that around 1920-1930 too, to see and touch women's situation of that time. women of my country.

my grandma used to tell a story from "reza shah" time, when she was a little girl. reza shah came after Ghajar family and became the first shah of Pahlavi. He decided to remove hijab, and ordered the police to tear any chador they saw. One day one of my grandma's relatives ran to their house, and then passed out. As my grandma described she used a towel under her hat to cover her hair, and perhaps in a safe way.
. When she got a little better and could talk, my grandma's mother asked her what happened. she said a police man had followed her, and tolad her a poem he made at the moment, and that was:
"Hala ke resid be hole, ahval e ***et chetoreh?" ie; Now that it comes to towel, how is your...(down there).

Poor woman, I bet she never even dared to think about that part of her body clearly. hearing its name from a stranger man must had been a big deal.

When Islamic revolution took place, those who didn't like to see women without hijab wrote another poem, which remained on the walls every where in Tehran for several years, until I learned to read it myself.
That was: "Ya roosari, Ya toosari" ie cover your head or you'll get hit on the head.



Picture; Women as Photography model: Qajar period