In the beginning of October I wrote a blog post about Marjane Satrapi graphic memoir Persepolis. However, for my blog today I wanted to re evaluate Persepolis by looking at it in through a different perspective. Satrapi’s graphic memoir embodies a prominent theme of feminism and gender inequality. Persepolis conveys issues of gender equality and how it is an ongoing problem, which still exists in today’s society. For instance, the boy’s clothing in Iran was altered but not the extent that they were restricted. Whereas for the women they have great limitations as they were forced to wear a veil and it was of great importance that they would do so. Setting the strict dress code for the women is fundamentally reducing their rights. Moreover, Satarpi emphasized in the graphic memoir that women are even told how to act, think, and how to raise their family.
Similarly, in my anthropology class I was assigned to write my term paper about anything that interest me in the field of anthropology. I decided to write an essay on female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation is a practice amongst countless of religions around the world for thousand of years. In 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East more than 140 million women have undergone this mutilating procedure, experiencing physical and mental trauma. The procedure is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights for girls and women. The reasoning for this practice is to have control over women’s sexuality where their virginity is a pre-requisite for marriage and is allied to female integrity. This entails that women will not be accepted into their society if they do not complete the procedure. On the contrary, men are not put in the position to be alienated from their community. Men that undergo circumcisions are not done for the equivalent reasons that women have to go through it.
With all the extensive research I have been doing the past couple of weeks for my paper it has made me think of how Marji is experiencing the same violation of rights because she is a women. While Iran’s government is imposing their thoughts about what women should wear it relates to how women in places like Africa are being forced to endure through this procedure. Both situations come back to the same theme because even though individuals are aware of the matter it is always going to be an ongoing problem in the world.
If you want to learn more about female genital mutilation you should take the time to watch this video by UNICEF. Thanks for reading my blog!