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Swedish "Feminist" officials wear headscarves in Iran

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
I think blaming the Swedish officials for abiding by the law forcing a particular dress code on women amounts to barking up the wrong tree. You don't change laws by breaking them in your capacity as a government official while visiting another country. Instead, I think the problem here--along with Iran's religious tyranny--is that there isn't enough opposition to and condemnation of such authoritarian laws by countries, leaders, and lawmakers both inside and outside Iran who are actually in a position to significantly pressure Iranian authorities and other countries with such regressive laws to change their laws.

The fact that foreign officials have to wear religious dress code in Iran is a mere extension of the fact that the dress code is imposed on women in Iran to begin with. The former is just a symptom of the latter.
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
I think it's hypocritical of them to call themselves feminists and submit to this misogynistic law.

If I were a government official and had to visit Saudi Arabia or Iran, I would abide by their laws and not openly criticize religion there even though I'm an atheist. Do I agree with their laws? I think the answer is obvious. Do I think it would be futile and pointless to break their laws while visiting voluntarily? Yes.
 

Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
No, it's good and right what they did.
In Rome, do as Romans do.
This means that any person who visits European countries is supposed to respect the secular laws and the rules of those countries. And if we forbade head-covering, that rule would have to be respected by anyone.

I think a distinction needs to be made between respecting a law and merely abiding by it; I don't think the two are always the same. I would abide by the rules of many countries if, say, I visited them voluntarily, but that doesn't mean I don't think a lot of those rules are reprehensible.

This is a very good point, but in my opinion they are the same thing. Because if I were a woman, and I would visit Iran, I wouldn't find despicable to wear the headscarf: I would think it's a rule, a custom and it must be respected. If I choose to go to a foreign country (and nobody forces me), I am fascinated by that culture, and I don't intend to criticize the customs or the laws of that country.
Maybe because I have a cosmopolitan mindset that prevents me from comparing different cultures with one another. Also because any culture deserves respect and not criticism.
 
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Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
No, it's good and right what they did.
In Rome, do as Romans do.
This means that any person who visits European countries is supposed to respect the secular laws and the rules of those countries. And if we forbade head-covering, that rule would have to be respected by anyone.

I think a distinction needs to be made between respecting a law and merely abiding by it; I don't think the two are always the same. I would abide by the rules of many countries if, say, I visited them voluntarily, but that doesn't mean I don't think a lot of those rules are reprehensible.
 

icehorse

......unaffiliated...... anti-dogmatist
Premium Member
Do I think it would be futile and pointless to break their laws while visiting voluntarily?

I think your argument is a false choice.

And I think everyone who assumed I was advocating for breaking the law was creating a strawman.
 

YmirGF

Bodhisattva in Recovery
I think your argument is a false choice.

And I think everyone who assumed I was advocating for breaking the law was creating a strawman.
The absurdity here is the suggestion that foreign diplomats would be arrested for not wearing the headscarf. Diplomats by their very nature enjoy diplomatic immunity.... in civilized countries, at least.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
If one goes to a country which has a dress code, I don't see a problem with following the code.
Don't like it....then don't go.
If a Yanamami came to Americastan in their normal attire, they'd get arrested.....& they'd be cold.
So we all have some standards we impose upon others.
We can make minor accommodations when in ferrin lands.
 
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Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
I think your argument is a false choice.

And I think everyone who assumed I was advocating for breaking the law was creating a strawman.

How is my argument a false choice?

Also, wouldn't not wearing the headscarves--as you say the Swedish officials should have done--have broken the law?
 
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