It is a gesture of solidarity - stars, politicians, women all over the world part with their hair in front of the cameras - some with more, others with less. But why? It's just a gesture, nothing is at stake for women in democracies. But at least these women do something.
In Iran, it is THE sign of the current protest against the regime's oppression: women cut their hair in front of the cameras. If hair cutting has always been a deep expression of grief - for example Kurdish women laying their braids in the grave of a close family member who has died - at the moment it has nothing to do with religion, only with the fact that women no longer want to be treated like second-class citizens.
In many cultures, the female hair is the epitome of seduction. In Iranian culture, since the shah was overthrown in 1979 and the mullahs established a theocracy regime, it has been veiled so that it does not deceive. However, being able to control your hair yourself is the symbol that is being sent out into the world right now. Women use it to demonstrate that they are "masters" (!) of their bodies. They want to own it, either show it, cover it up, or cut it down. Everything women are doing with their hair at the moment is therefore of great symbolic power.
In the past, mostly women with long hair were considered "seductive", the female head of hair was equated with beauty. How misinterpreted long hair can be is shown by the fact that guardians of morals believe that in some cultures they have to protect men from the sight of long hair - i.e. from the woman as the seductress of the man who cannot defend himself. Are we not further today? So long hair only in private, but never in public. Of course, this can be continued over the entire female body, which is why women in certain regions of the world are not allowed to show even a little bit of themselves.
Women have always worked through their hair. When something crucial changes in life, women often change their hairstyle, their hair color. And that hair can be a symbol of freedom is not new. In the 1920s, women were already wearing a "bob" to demonstrate their equality. The fact that women in Iran now risk their lives every day by either showing or cutting off their hair has to do with a great deal of courage and the unconditional will to change something. And in the system. In the system these women live in.
By showing their open, long hair, the courageous women in Iran show the dictators, the mullahs, ayatollahs, husbands, fathers and brothers: "You can fuck me, I'll do what I want!" By cutting off the hair, they go a step further – the man's territory, which is what a woman's body is widely considered to be in countries like Iran, is changed, injured, destroyed, no longer what the man knows and wants .
The woman shows unmistakably that only she has sovereignty over her body. The generally seductive aspect of long hair has disappeared. "I can now walk without a headscarf, because no man will look at me," he says. It is a massive protest by women against the masculine view of a certain form of femininity. Other women can help women in Iran by speaking, writing - or visibly cutting their hair - on the subject.
For the local women, it is sheer desperation that makes them act in this way. The severed hair is a message to the rulers: take our hair! But let's have our freedom. Or rather - give us our freedom back!
And anyone who says that there have been so many protests in Iran, so many attempts at change, but that ultimately nothing has changed, will probably still be surprised: This time it's different, many women in Iran believe. And her supporters in the rest of the world also leave this impression, for example on social media. Men also cut their hair, stand behind their mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, girlfriends. Men no longer want to put up with such an injustice regime.
As a non-Iranian, showing solidarity with Iranian women by cutting off their hair creates pressure. And simply shows the women that they can be seen thousands of kilometers away. The situation does not change suddenly, but our democracies must react when their citizens make a fuss.
