Finally, this thoughtful post from Salon's Tracy Clark-Flory, is a thoughtful reaction to the shock of Westerners that women are out on the streets of Tehran protesting right alongside their brothers.
It also reflects a little on armchair activism. I myself have mixed feelings on the subject.
As per my eariler post, cliches about young women coming out from behind the veil drive me nuts. The Middle East and Islam do not the monopoly on misogyny, and women there, as in all societies, have resisted repression and found ways to work the system throughout history.
Though I do not find any of these women to be particularly good role models, how is it that patriarchal societies such as Turkey, Pakistan, India and others managed to have female heads of state, and the US has yet to have one?
Every society, and every movement, are inherently full of contradictions.
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