Masih Alinejad, an Iranian women’s rights activist and founder of the “My Stealthy Freedom Movement”, which fights against the country’s Islamic laws which require women to wear headscarves, has delivered a sharp rebuke to feminists in the West over their alleged inability to grasp certain cultural nuances.
Described by the Daily Mail as the person spearheading "Iranian women's struggle against the head covering", Masih bashed foreign female dignitaries who visit Iran and wear hijabs out of "respect for the culture of Iran" instead of challenging this custom.
"So the female politicians who go and visit Iran, the tourists, athletes, actresses — all of them, when they go to my beautiful country they say that this is a cultural issue, we wear it out of respect to the culture of Iran. Let me be clear with you: calling a discriminatory law a part of our culture — this is an insult to a nation", she insisted.
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According to the newspaper, Masih also commented on New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s decision to wear a headscarf in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack, claiming that while she admired the politician’s "compassion" for the Muslim community, it "broke her heart" to see Ardern wearing the hijab.
"I also felt that you are using one of the most visible symbols of oppression for Muslim women in many countries for solidarity", she remarked.
Masih’s message quickly elicited numerous supportive and sympathetic responses on social media.
Some, however, did not seem to appreciate Masih’s reasoning.