+
upworthy
Democracy

Iranian women cut their hair in a heartbreakingly moving protest of the death of Mahsa Amini

This dangerous act of defiance is gaining momentum and could help make an impact.

Mahsa Amini; Iran; Iran protests; Muslim women
Screenshots from @sepdani TikTok

Iranian women cut their hair in protest.

Sometimes a movement brings you to tears; tears that are mixed with pride, solidarity and sorrow, and that's exactly what this movement is doing across social media. A 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, was arrested recently by the morality police in Iran for not fully covering her hair with her hijab. While in police custody, where she was supposed to be reprimanded and educated about the proper way to wear a hijab, Amini was severely beaten before falling into a coma and passing away. The untimely death of Amini ignited a movement that is taking over Iran.


After the 22-year-old's funeral, protests broke out in the streets where women pulled off their hijabs and burned them. Since the news of her death spread, Iranian women have been removing their hijabs and cutting their hair in a moving display of protest and solidarity. Many of the women who have uploaded videos of themselves cutting off their hair to TikTok have been in tears. Women revealing their hair in public and online is extremely risky. In 1983, the religious revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini began enforcing a modesty law that required women to cover their hair or face 74 lashes.

Since 1995, women caught without their hair covered in public can also face up to 60 days in jail as well as fines. Seeing women in Iran defiantly cut, burn or rip their hijab in public is truly awe-inspiring because the risks are so great. But the women are not alone in their fight to abolish the morality police and hold them accountable for the death of Amini. Men in Iran are not only showing solidarity by shaving their heads, they're showing up in the streets, seemingly acting as protectors and accomplices.

@sepdani So heartbreaking 💔 #mahsaamini#mahsaamini🖤😔#justiceformahsa#humanrights#iraniantiktok#iraniangirl#farsitiktok#نه_به_حجاب_اجباري#مهسا_امینی♬ Ali Zandevakili - ﮼نالی

In one video, a girl with beautiful long dark hair sections her hair off before taking small scissors and cutting it close to her scalp. She begins to break down with the first cut, but she finishes before crying into her hands. Music plays in the background and words are displayed over the video explaining why the unknown woman is cutting her hair.

This isn't the first time Iranian's have protested the hijab. When the idea of a national modesty dress code was introduced in 1979, people protested, which temporarily caused the country's leader to walk back on publicly pushing it before it became law a few years later. According to U.S. News, there has been a steady push back against the hijab rule since 2014 after the creation of an online campaign called My Stealthy Freedom. The campaign collected pictures of Iranian women without their hair covered.

@mhd__ahmadi

They Killed her,But Mashsa Amini is alive in our mind🖤 #mahsaamini #viral #protest #hijab #freedom #مهسا_امینی #گشت_ارشاد #مهساامینی #ایران @selenagomez @taylorswift @dailymail @amandacerny @samsmith @brodywellmaker

The protests going on today are large in number and happening despite the country shutting down internet and social media channels in an effort to control the narrative and reduce coverage of the protests. But videos continue to pop up online showing things burning and people filling the streets chanting. One video that has more than 900,000 views and more than 200,000 likes shows a crowd gathered while women burn their hijabs.

Videos are appearing on TikTok claiming to show the continued unrest in the streets. The hashtag #MahsaAmini on TikTok is filled with videos of people cutting their hair, crowds gathered in the streets and stories of the 22-year-old whose death may have spurred a revolution.

Events are still unfolding in Iran and with internet access being cut, the information about continued protests may become more difficult to come by. But the videos that are making their way to social media are as inspiring as they are heartbreaking. Hopefully protests on this scale will bring about real change for the women in Iran.

True

As AI makes daily headlines (and robots take over), I’ve been thinking more about the future of human work and the value of craftsmanship. Craftsmanship, the human trait that enables us to care for and love the work we produce, especially in the built environment.

Even as we make advancements and increase efficiencies in technology, the built world desperately needs more people who care about craft and want to work with their hands.

In construction specifically, the demand for housing—especially affordable housing—and safer roads and bridges is only increasing. And over 40% of skilled workers will retire in the next 10 years. We need new craftspeople more than ever. And, fast.
That’s why we started MT Copeland: to capture the craftsmanship seen in the built world around us (our homes, our workplaces, our cities), and help anyone learn directly from experienced professionals. We help craftspeople teach the skills they use on the job every day, and inspire others to make a career move into skilled careers. Carpenters, entrepreneurs building homes, painters, and even first-time homeowners can now use methods from generations past to make projects better.

The attention to detail in drywall, painting, or cabinet making requires a unique combination of technical prowess, problem-solving abilities, and an artistic eye. It’s the kind of work made only possible by human touch. Just when it starts to feel like everything’s destined to be automated, remember: some things simply must be made by human hands.

Keep ReadingShow less
Health

Psychologist explains why everyone feels exhausted right now and it makes so much sense

Psychologist Naomi Holdt beautifully explained what's behind the overarching exhaustion people are feeling and it makes perfect sense.

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

It seems like most people are feeling wiped out these days. There's a reason for that.

We're about to wrap up year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's been a weird ride, to say the least. These years have been hard, frustrating, confusing and tragic, and yet we keep on keeping on.

Except the keeping on part isn't quite as simple as it sounds. Despite the fact that COVID-19 is still wreaking havoc, we've sort of collectively decided to move on, come what may. This year has been an experiment in normalcy, but one without a testable hypothesis or clear design. And it's taken a toll. So many people are feeling tired, exhausted, worn thin ("like butter scraped over too much bread," as Bilbo Baggins put it) these days.

But why?

Keep ReadingShow less

His duck and goat follow him everywhere.

When we think of something "cute," we usually think of tiny humans, tiny animals or both. It's just hard to out-cute a small child with a puppy, you know?

But a little boy in Brazil is testing the boundaries of adorableness with his penchant for farm animals and his uncanny ability to get them to follow him pied piper-style.

In a series of mega-viral videos from @paidobebecampeiros on TikTok, we see a little boy giving various animals on what appears to be his family's farm a ride in toy wagons hitched to his little motorized tractor. But it's not just that he's pulling them around—it's the way the animals show zero fear and absolute trust in this tiny little person.

Keep ReadingShow less

Our home, from space.

Sixty-one years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to make it into space and probably the first to experience what scientists now call the "overview effect." This change occurs when people see the world from far above and notice that it’s a place where “borders are invisible, where racial, religious and economic strife are nowhere to be seen.”

The overview effect makes man’s squabbles with one another seem incredibly petty and presents the planet as it truly is, one interconnected organism.

Keep ReadingShow less
Education

How the Titanic's only Japanese passenger was shamed for surviving and won back his honor

Masabumi Hosono was subjected to what the Japanese refer to as "mura hachibu," or social ostracism, after jumping on a lifeboat.

Masabumi Hosono, with his handwritten account of the Titanic tragedy

On the cold, fateful night of April 14, 1912, hundreds were spared a watery demise as they clamored onto the too-few lifeboats that accompanied the sinking Titanic on its one and only disastrous voyage.

Among the survivors was Masabumi Hosono, a 42-year-old civil servant and second-class passenger from Tokyo—and also the only Japanese passenger onboard.

Hosono would escape death that night, but his life would be forever changed, and not for the better. In many ways, he never escaped the Titanic’s curse.

Keep ReadingShow less

Can't wait to use these at the club.

There’s just something so uplifting about a person boldly, unabashedly letting their geek flag fly.

When someone dares to be “uncool” and is just enjoying being themselves—quirks and all—it reminds us all that cool is a little overrated anyway. Suddenly throwing on that Lisa Frank t-shirt from middle school that still fits doesn’t seem as embarrassing as we thought it would be, and creating a dumb parody music video just to get a few laughs sounds like a totally respectable way to fill a Saturday afternoon. We’re better able to fearlessly express parts of ourselves because someone else showed us just how fun that kind of wild abandon can be, and it’s a beautiful thing.

Cue: The Math Dance.

Keep ReadingShow less

Therapist lists benefits of having an anxious attachment style.

"Therapy speak" or "psychobabble" has infiltrated the daily lives of average citizens thanks to social media apps like TikTok and Instagram. Everyone seems to be an expert on something, and terms get thrown around with a very loose understanding of their actual meaning, which can cause confusion.

Chatter about knowing your "attachment style" has been making the rounds as of late. There seems to be a belief that if you know other people's attachment styles then you can better understand their behaviors and pick a more compatible partner if you're on the market. The problem is, attachment style isn't everything. It doesn't tell you everything. It's not even a very good predictor of your potential as a mate.

Attachment styles are simply part of a whole. Imagine a car being a whole person and attachment style being the doors. Are the doors important? Sure. Do they make up the entire car? No. Can you drive a car safely without doors? Hello, Jeep Wranglers.

Keep ReadingShow less