More Than A Magazine, A Movement
After accepting an award for “distinguished doctor” while not wearing a veil, Iranian Dr. Fatemeh Rajaei-Rad was punished by having her medical license revoked, the president of the hospital where she worked was ousted, and authorities shut down her private practice and expelled her from the board of advisors at a medical university she had been a member of.
Despite crackdowns on mandatory veiling in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s killing, Iranian women continue to resist.
Mona Heydari was forced to marry her cousin as a 12-year-old and birthed his child at 14. At 17, after fleeing the country and attempting to escape the abusive marriage, her life was ended by her husband.
Honor killings involving young women in Iran have become an all too common occurrence over the last two years, with a long list of victims. The lasting oppressive patriarchal and misogynistic ideologies prominent in law enforcement, government and Iranian society has allowed the killing of young women to become a crime without punishment.
For Iranian women in sports, overcoming social stigma is as much a part of the game as any technique to be mastered.
