Hair Too Sexy For TV

We have commented before on the strange obsession that Iran has for what it deems to be un-Islamic hair ...

Devil May Care Hair ...

Usually the objects of the regimes angst are 'rebellious teens'. Who not to put too fine a point on it, often sport what we in the West would consider to be rather old fashioned 'mullets'.

However, joining the prohibition on bad hair cuts (which could after all, be quite legitimately banned for sheer bad taste), it appears that males with long hair are also banned from appearing on state television in Iran. Why is not clear, after all its very likely that their prophet had very long hair (*scissors not being a general Arab accoutrement at that time), by Iranian current standards.

Peyman Hosseini And His Bad Iranian Hair ...

Still its a fact that the national Iranian TV has imposed bans on long male hair before. A few years ago the national beach football team's goalkeeper, Peyman Hosseini, was not allowed to appear on Iranian state TV because of his long hair. When asked to wear his hair up, he bravely refused. Now this event happened well before  IRTV3's long-serving TV director Ali Asghar Pourmohammadi, was replaced, with a director who more reflected Iran's ultra-religious hard-liners views on hair cuts and other matters.

Carles Puyol And His Bad Spanish Hair ....

So perhaps its not a surprise that this month saw them ban the famous ex-footballer Carles Puyol from the nations TV screens. He had been hired by the broadcaster to provide co commentary with Adel Ferdosipour on a Channel 3 special programme for the Iran-Spain match. He arrived in the country went to the IRTV3 Tehran studio, where he was promptly denied entry.

Mr Ferdosipour apologised to the nations football fans live on TV; "You must be aware that Carles Puyol was scheduled to be with us tonight. However, he is in his hotel right now. I did everything I could but it didn't happen. I apologise."

Rumours then swept Iranian social media that Mr Puyol had made last minute cash demands that had been refused .... but then it came out from Mr Puyol he had been told by the state broadcaster IRIB that he could not appear in the programme "because of his looks (long hair)." Now it doesn't take a genius to note that Mr Puyol has had long hair most of his adult life, and most  certainly was sporting long hair when IRIB had hired him at some expense to appear on TV. So the ridicule was long and mocking on the social media platforms that are widely available to Iranians, despite state banning.

So much so, that IRIB deputy chief Morteza Mirbaqeri, later stated in the conservative Jam-e Jam daily (owned by IRIB), that "the state broadcaster 100% denies this report," and that contrary to what Mr Puyol had told the world, that the story that Carles Puyol wasn't allowed on IRTV 3 as a pundit because of his looks was a "rumour" spread by the BBC.

What makes this even more stupid is that Iranian Women have just been allowed to watch football in a stadium with men for the first time since 1979 (pre-revolution). Female fans entered the Azadi stadium in Tehran to watch their team play Spain in the 2018 World Cup on giant screens (so not a real live game then). Apparently the stadium said that "there will be no problem" for women hoping to watch a screening of Iran's next match, against Portugal.

This stadium attendance, actually only occurred after those first women who tried to buy tickets to the game, were blocked by security forces, who were claiming that the plan had been cancelled due to "infrastructure issues" ... only after sit down protests, and social media (the banned but much viewed Twitter), comment did the Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli, issue a special order to let the female fans in an hour before kick-off.

Australia and Russia Are Noted For Iranian Women At Matches .....

Prior to this women had been forced to wear beards and wigs in order to disguise themselves as men to get into the stadium, or as in this world cup, they could simply fly (assuming a male relative gave permission), to another non Islamic country where Iran was competing, and go and watch the games, with no chador or hair covering at all. So on our TV screens, Iranian diaspora women are regularly seen at competitions outside of Iran , dressed like other female football fans around the world ....

Women Attending a Public World Cup Viewing Inside Tehran's Azadi Stadium For First Time

.....while inside Iran, supporters of the regime are barely allowed in to watch a giant TV screen (and are grateful for even that niggardly concession).
 
Meanwhile in the other bastion of the Muslim world, Iran's chief rival Saudi Arabia, women have finally been allowed to legally drive a car .... It was the only country left in the world where women could not drive .... progress indeed, and the hard-liners will have shuddered when pharmacy student Hatoun bin Dakhil, said "We no longer need a man." 

Saudi Woman Legally Driving A Car ....

However while some are driving now, several of the leading women activists who had challenged the driving ban, were arrested last month .... Shockingly they have been accused of treason.

What all this tells you about women's position in these countries, speaks volumes about the cultures and the religion that underpins them ... but remember this is Europe's fastest growing social group.