Censoring fashion, religious sensibilities, and 'female virtues'
When Iran’s cyber police accused Kim Kardashian of leading a Western-led infiltration operation, Iran’s models knew they were in trouble. The announcement came hot on the heels of news that one of the country’s biggest models, Elham Arab, had been forced to publicly denounce her profession. Prior to this, several fashion models had been arrested and their Instagram pages taken down.
Iran might take the cake for its adept and unpredictable censors. But before other countries get smug about it, let’s not forget that Iran isn’t the only country that tries to control its people by controlling fashion.
From Taylor Swift’s new clothing line to Lady Gaga’s shoes on TV, we look at fashion censorship around the world.
Continue reading on IranWire
A chance encounter on the Syrian front
We were resting, hiding in the shade from the searing heat, when we saw the strangers arrive.
We were in the village of Fatisah, in northern Syria, which had just been captured from Islamic State by the SDF, the mainly Kurdish fighters battling the jihadists in this area. All the village residents have fled and the fighters, whom I’ve been following for several hours, were lounging in the shade of a house, resting up after a heavy battle.
Armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the strangers pulled up in pick-up trucks. They stood out right away. Most didn’t look like they came from the region and they spoke English between them, with that distinctive Yankee drawl.
Continue reading on AFP Correspondent
The Iranian state versus Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian has become the Iranian state's newest enemy. Tehran made this announcement in the wake of arrests of eight Instagram models—a campaign that began earlier this year, when Iranian authorities launched a series of operations they called “Spider.”
Accounts were blocked and the models arrested and put on trial. The most well-known of the models on trial, Elham Arab, had appeared on a popular Iranian television program called Honeymoon.
Continue reading on Global Voices
