There was a time, a couple of years ago, when you could more or less wear what you wanted

international | gender and sexuality | other press Saturday August 19, 2006 09:33 by d'other

Repression against women in Iraq seems to be growing

There were some disturbing reports circulating on the net last year from the Workers Communist Party of Iraq on attacks on women by political Islamists. Now it seems in Baghdad Islamists are deepening their imposition of social morals on women. Anyone who has ever read Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, with its account of the slow disintegration of female autonomy in Iran will notice the striking similarity with the blog account below. Its by an Iraqi woman and is an award winning blog..

"I look at my older clothes- the jeans and t-shirts and colorful skirts- and it’s like I’m studying a wardrobe from another country, another lifetime. There was a time, a couple of years ago, when you could more or less wear what you wanted if you weren’t going to a public place. If you were going to a friends or relatives house, you could wear trousers and a shirt, or jeans, something you wouldn’t ordinarily wear. We don’t do that anymore because there’s always that risk of getting stopped in the car and checked by one militia or another." -Baghdad Burning

Baghdad Burning Blog: http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
Workers Communist Part of Iraq's resolute opposition to Political Islam: http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid=04/11/12/1...id=16
Workers Liberty Interview with Organisation of Women's Liberty In Iraq: http://www.workersliberty.org/node/5214