This past weekend in the north of Tehran, many women engaged in quiet acts of defiance against their regime. They went out publicly without their hijabs, hair flowing, and attended a rock concert—singing and swaying to the music.

In any other country, this would be commonplace. In Iran, this constitutes an act of rebellion.

Iranian women have noticed that the same restrictions that led to the death in September 2022 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman (as well as countless others), within the “Women-Life-Freedom Movement” have begun to be somewhat relaxed. For these women participants, the simple act of attending a concert without a hijab was not just about enjoying music, but about reclaiming their space in public and personal autonomy. Their visible defiance resonated w

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