a man was forced to wear womans clothes by a court

[hashem]

in Iran a court sentenced a 25 year old man to wear womans clothes and walk in streets like that. he was escorted in streets of Marivan (a city in Irans Kurdestan) by police few days ago. in other words: the law recognized that wearing womans clothes is a punishment and justice and order can be established by humiliation.

few weeks before the event, several worker and women activists were arrested in Marivan. they had committed no crime. they were only having a private meeting when they were arrested. i think these two events are related. government is trying to send a message: no rights will be recognized for women.

on 16 April some women held a demonstration in Marivan to protest against this event. police attacked this demonstration as well. some women were beaten but i dont have any information about people who were arrested.

tensions are becoming hard in Iran. instead of finding a solution, the government is even driving people who are usually indifferent and passive to active opposition.

[MrCool]

What did the man do?

[Il Medico]

Patriarchy holds that being a woman makes you an inferior person, thus a man dressing like a woman is seen as a degradation of his manhood/personhood and horribly humiliating. It's hardly surprising a government as steeped in sexism as Iran's would consider this perceived degradation as a suitable punishment for certain offenses.

[l'Enfermé]

Yeah no this isn't about sexism. It's about homophobia. The humiliation rests not in having to dress like a woman, but having to dress like a homosexual(cause all gays dress like women apparently).

[Quail]

Yeah no this isn't about sexism. It's about homophobia. The humiliation rests not in having to dress like a woman, but having to dress like a homosexual(cause all gays dress like women apparently).
Doesn't the idea of gay men dressing like women, presumably because they're not "real men", come from sexism though? Homophobia and sexism are sides of the same coin; LGBT people don't fit neatly into traditional gender roles so are discriminated against.

[hashem]

What did the man do?

i dont know exactly. but he was just an ordinary criminal.

this is not the first time which an Iranian court sentences criminals to walk in streets in humiliating ways. in past cases they were forced to hang a toilet pitcher from their necks or ... but this is the first time that womans clothes are being used.

[Quail]

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/04/19/iran-act-like-a-man-dress-like-a-woman/


A man dressed in a red dress with a veil on his head was paraded by security forces through the streets of Marivan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marivan) in the Kurdistan province of Iran on Monday, April 15, 2012. A local court decided this would be the punishment for three men, reportedly found guilty in domestic disputes. The exact circumstances are unclear, but the mere idea of this punishment has angered many.
Women in Marivan held a protest against the sentence on Tuesday, saying it is more humiliating to women than it is to the convicted men. According to one human rights activist, security forces physically attacked protesters (http://persian.iranhumanrights.org/1392/01/mariwan_zanan/) [fa]. A video shows women marching through the streets.
http://globalvoicesonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/manwoman-253x300.jpg (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=375143262600464&set=a.374365272678263.1073741826.374361076012016&type=1&theater)Shared on the Facebook page ‘Kurd Men For Equality’

Online, several Kurdish men have photographed themselves dressed as women as part of a Facebook campaign to say (https://www.facebook.com/KurdMenForEquality), “Being a woman is not an instrument to punish or humiliate anybody.” The photos appear on a Facebook page named Kurd Men for Equality (https://www.facebook.com/KurdMenForEquality).
Namo Kurdistani writes (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=375141935933930&set=a.374365272678263.1073741826.374361076012016&type=1&theater):

To show my solidarity and support to the “womanhood” and their suffers and torments during the history mostly have done by “men” [sic]. as we have faced recently a stupid judge”s order to punish a person by putting on him the feminine customs, so it is one of the times that we should gather around each other and condemn this stupidity, brutality and inhumanity against the womanhood; the half of society as well as at least half of the human being on the earth. I am supporting womanhood by the at least I can do for them.
The Facebook page of the Women's Association of Marivan also condemned the act and wrote (https://www.facebook.com/pages/%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AC%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%B2%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B1%DB%8C%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86/472884242783243) [fa]:

Security forces dragged a convicted Marvani’s man in the city. They dressed him as a woman and wished by this act to humiliate him. The Women's Association of Marivan condemn this action and consider it an insult to women. Kurdish women protested against this act [one day after].
Mohmmad Mostafai, an Iranian lawyer and human rights defender says (http://www.mohammadmostafaei.com/2013/04/blog-post_17.html) [fa]

Iran’s judiciary has no right to order such punishment which goes against human dignity. Dressing convicts like women is not something you can find in the laws of the Islamic Republic.
History repeats itself
More than three years ago, Iranian authorities attempted (http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/12/12/iran-men-in-hijab-to-support-jailed-student/)to use the same method of humiliation against a student activist, but failed.
Back then, Iranian authorities claimed (http://www.nowpublic.com/world/majid-tavakoli-arrested-iran-government-says-womens-dress-2535879.html) that Majid Tavakoli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majid_Tavakoli) dressed as a woman to escape after delivering a speech in Tehran on Student Day (http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/12/07/iran-student-day-demonstraion-in-you-tube/). However, human rights activists in Iran published (http://www.nowpublic.com/world/majid-tavakoli-arrested-iran-government-says-womens-dress-2535879.html) a report from an eyewitness saying: “All the pictures published by the state media are false and a clear use of immoral means against student and civil activists in Iran.” At the time, hundreds of Iranian men photographed themselves dressed as women in hijab to support Tavakoli.