The Veil versus Flip-Flops

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is a heartbreaking yet an interesting book. Memoir of Marjane Satrapi in comic strip about living in Iran during Islamic Revolution reminds us to how lucky we as Americans are in terms of the freedom to dress. As a women in Iran, Marjane is required to use veil and black dress to cover up her body whenever she goes out from her house. This is the law which was made by Iranian government back in Islamic Revolution to protect women's body parts especially their hair which is believed has the biggest appeal for men, and this law is still effective until now. “Government requires women to wear loose-fitting coats or cloaks in public such as the chador, as well as a head scarf that covers the hair” (“Freedom of dress”). As marjane stated, “We did not really like to wear the veil, especially since we did not understand why we had to” (Satrapi 3). I can comprehend how Marjane felt when she was required to use the veil; she had to do it for unclear reason. I believe this rule is not fair for Iranian women especially for female students. On her book Marjane describes that boys and girls are separated from each other (Satrapi 4); therefore, having the veil at the school on is does not make sense since boys are far away from girls and cannot see them. Moreover, it is hard for Iranian women to use veil during the day provided that the temperature in middle east reaches more than one-hundred degree on summer. On the other hand, I feel very lucky because in The United States we are allowed to use any dress according to what we want. I can freely use anything from short pants to sandals, and I do not have to worry about being caught by cops as Marjane experienced on her childhood. However, often times this freedom to dress is not used wisely by some people. For instance, I have seen some people use flip-flops while attending the church. I realized that this matter is not that really important for some people, and I know that the most important thing going to church is to prepare our heart to God not our dress. But if we come to think of it, people in Iran respect their religion so much and do not have as much as freedom as we do. Therefore, we as people who live in the most advance country in the world and have the freedom not only to use any dress but also to share our ideas should use our freedom wisely.