Barry Goodknight

This must stop!

12. January 2010

Iran's Green Movement has embraced a new symbol of protest: the woman's veil. In an unprecedented show of support for women's rights, Iranian men have posted photos of themselves wearing the head covering typically worn by Muslim women. The images show hundreds of men clad in bright green headscarves posing mockingly for the camera.

This campaign was sparked by the government's attempt to humiliate leading student activist Majid Tavakoli. Authorities arrested Tavakoli after he delivered a fiery anti-government speech during Iran's Student Day demonstrations on December 7th. Following his detention, the semi-official Fars News Agency published photos of him wearing a woman's veil, claiming that he had been found trying to escape from campus using it as a disguise. Many members of the opposition believe the photos were fabricated to discredit and disgrace the young activist.

Once again, Iran's young and tech savvy opposition has cleverly utilized new media to bypass government censorship and laugh in the face of authority. The online campaign highlights the absurdity of the regime's attempts at character defamation. A similar strategy was used after the government subjected hundreds of reformers to show trials following the disputed June election. People posted YouTube videos of themselves confessing to the most ridiculous things in order to show how baseless and empty the government's forced confessions and accusations against its critics have become. By co-opting the government's own tools of repression, the opposition has rendered such tactics ineffectual.

Given the politically fraught history of the veil, this campaign is deeply symbolic. In 1935, Reza Shah Pahlavi banned women from wearing a head covering in public in an attempt to move Iran away from what he considered religious backwardness and toward modernity. Prior to the Iranian Revolution of 1979, there was a revival of social traditionalism and women would don the veil to reaffirm their Iranian-Islamic identity against the perceived onslaught of Western influence. Today, young women flout Islamic dress codes by exposing their hair from under colorful headscarves in mass defiance of the Islamic Republic.

Now, men too have taken up the veil as a symbol of political protest. This campaign is not only a reaction against the mistreatment of political prisoners, but also against male chauvinism. From the government's perspective, it is insulting to be likened to a woman. This only highlights the divide between Iran's ruling clique and the mass of young, progressive students who have spearheaded the veil campaign. One Iranian blogger who calls himself Blondie writes:

“With great pride I will wear women's clothing, and I am proud to fashion myself as an Iranian women. Do you know why Dictator? Because they were the ones who demanded their rights from the very beginning…From now on, in a show of respect towards Iranian women and girls, I will take a veil with me as a symbol of protest to every demonstration I attend, whether in the streets or in the university.”

The world was surprised to see women at the forefront of the Green Movement, going face to face with baton-wielding Basij militiamen. The truth is, Iranian women are fearless because they have withstood years of harassment by the morality police who try to enforce Islamic dress and comportment upon them. They have fought tirelessly for democratic reform because they have the most to gain from it. For the first time, Iranian men have also organized to promote gender equality. As an Iranian woman, I am both amused and heartened by their rather unconventional show of support. I would even venture to say that this campaign marks an important milestone in the struggle for women's rights in Iran.

Nasim Novin is an Iranian-American writer based in DC.

Amid the anger, frustration, challenges and fights for women's health and rights in health care reform, there is a reason to celebrate. Lucinda Marshall notes the feeling of living in The Handmaid's Tale these days with the ways in which our government has thus far trampled upon, shredded and maintained tight control over women's health and lives in health care reform. Marshall goes on to write, however, that it's critical we keep our perspective broad and look through a wide windshield when it comes to what we term "reproductive health":

"…we need to not lose sight of the fact that
abortion is only one aspect of reproductive rights. There are many
other aspects to women’s health care in addition to abortion that need
to be assured."

Birthing rights, prenatal care, maternity care, safe childbirth and postpartum care are just some of the reproductive health issues that we seem to "lose sight" of at times. Here, then, is one provision in the Senate's health reform bill that shines:

The Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act makes provisions for postpartum research, education and services and is included in both the House and Senate versions of health care reform bills. This is great news for women in this country, undeniably. 

As Katherine Stone writes at the blog Postpartum Progress:

No matter how you feel about healthcare reform, it would be a blessing to women around the country if the MBSMA becomes law.

And the women of the Perinatal Pro Weekly Blog eloquently note,

The days of decreasing the stigma of maternal mental illness long borne
by silent suffering mothers and increasing the life saving awareness
and services so desperately needed seem imminent.

Postpartum depression, anxiety and psychosis are serious conditions but with funding (which has been nil on the federal front and spotty from state to state), there is much we can do in the areas of research, screening and treatment. For any woman who has experienced a postpartum mood disorder or who knows someone who has, it's heart-wrenching to think that, as a society, we have contributed next to nothing, in terms of funding and resources, towards helping mothers in this country deal with these conditions. 

In addition to the MOTHERS Act, our reliable women's health advocate in the Senate, Barbara Mikulski, introduced an amendment (which passed) to the health care reform bill that included provisions for postpartum depression screening.

Interestingly, the MOTHERS Act also includes a provision that addresses the "relative mental health consequences for women of resolving a pregnancy" through a proposed longitudinal study:

"The Director of the National Institute of Mental Health may conduct a nationally representative longitudinal study (during the period of fiscal years 2010-2019) of the relative mental health consequences for women resolving a pregnancy (intended and unintended) in various ways, includng carrying the pregnancy to term and parenting the child, carrying the pregnancy to term and placing the child for adoption, miscarriage, and having an abortion. This study may assess the incidence, timing, magnitude and duration of the immediate and long-term mental health consequences (positive and negative) of these pregnancy outcomes."

This kind of a study is fascinating in its ability to link the full spectrum of women's reproductive health lives and shows the kind of care, concern and attentiveness to women's reproductive health experiences that may help validate our experiences, no matter what they may be. 

Health care reform bills in both the House and Senate have been harsh for women's access to reproductive health care in terms of abortion care. But there is good news with the MOTHER Act, the Mikulski Amendment and the mandated inclusion of maternity care in all health insurance plans that participate in the health exchange. The challenge women's health advocates have before us, then, is to link these issues politically mirroring the ways in which they are connected authentically and so naturally in women's lives.    

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Published January 11, 2010 @ 03:16PM PT

Thursday, I pointed out that police in D.C., which has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the country, are reported to use possession of condoms as evidence of sex work. (Yeah, they can clearly afford to discourage safe sex techniques.) Turns out, the nation's capital isn't the only one.

After being tipped off by a commenter that San Francisco police use an unspecified number of rubbers as evidence of sex work, I investigated further and was shocked to discover that safe-sex devices have been used as evidence in my own hometown, New York — which is particularly ridiculous given that New York City has been distributing free condoms to combat STDs since 1971. Some businesses are even afraid to offer the city's snazzy free condoms because they can also be used as evidence of “maintaining a premises for prostitution.”

(Hello, readers: do you know of any other places where condoms are misused as evidence of sex work?)

Knowing that planning ahead for a night out could be used as evidence against you is enough to make anyone uncomfortable, but most people needn't worry about getting randomly arrested for condoms. The major problem is the impact of discouraging sex workers — which do include men, though women are the majority — from using protection. (Although the Urban Justice Center states that many transgender women, even those who aren't sex workers, fear carrying condoms because they are frequently profiled by police.)

San Francisco police defend the practice by claiming that “a pocket full of condoms alone is not a basis for arrest.” Guess what: condoms shouldn't factor at all into potential arrest for sex work. It's a health disaster.

The mere possibility that condoms could be used against them in a court of law deters sex workers from protecting themselves, putting their own lives in danger and contributing to the spread of STDs — furthering epidemic rates of HIV/AIDS. With enforcement practices like this one, it's no wonder a UCSF study found that only half of sex workers use condoms with first-time clients, and fewer with repeat customers.

In D.C., San Francisco, and New York, the use of condoms as evidence is not specified under law as either acceptable or unacceptable, so the practice has been left to the discretion of cops and prosecutors.

However, the harmful health repercussions of this practice have long been apparent. Back in the 90s, a San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution recommended, in no uncertain terms, that condoms stop being confiscated or used as evidence for prosecution. And in New York, a bill has been introduced (repeatedly … and let die, repeatedly) in the state legislature banning this improper use of condoms as evidence. This time, it's supported by a campaign by the Sex Workers Project, which has seen momentum starting to build.

It's time to stop throwing up dangerous obstructions to practicing safe sex, and start protecting the health of both sex workers and the public. Please sign the petition telling the mayors of D.C., New York, and San Francisco to issue a statement that fighting STDs, especially HIV/AIDS, is their top priority — and that nobody should be afraid carry condoms, because it won't be used against them as evidence of sex work.

Updated Jan 2010

Entry Filed under: Laws. Tags: aids, free condoms, health disaster, hiv, hiv aids, hometown, new york city, possession, premises, prostitution, rubbers, safe sex, san francisco police, sex devices, sex techniques, sex work, sex workers, transgender women, urban justice center, womens rights.