This week I feel compelled to say something about Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian woman who was arrested by Iran’s “morality police” for wearing the scarf on her head too loosely, and who died in police custody. According to reports, Amini was beaten on her head with a baton and may have died as a result of those injuries.

Authorities in Iran, however, claim that she fainted and died as a result of underlying illness. This has sparked protests by women and girls in Iran, which have also resulted in the deaths of 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh, who died after being beaten, and 22-year-old Hadis Najafi, who was shot numerous times while protesting.

As a feminist, I am immediately irked by the concept of “morality police”, whose sole purpose seems to be to tell women how to dress so as not to “entice” or “tempt” men. In an interview with the BBC, a member of the “morality police” said: “They told us the reason we are working for the morality police units is to protect women, because if they do not dress properly, then men could get provoked and harm them.”

In August 2021, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi signed a law adding more restrictions for women, with surveillance cameras now being used to monitor and fine unveiled women or refer them for “counselling”, and a mandatory prison sentence for any Iranian who questions or posts content against the hijab rules online.

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There are two things at play here: Iran’s tyrannical regime under the guise of religion and the worldwide phenomenon of the violent policing and oppression of women.

These rules and explanations are absurd; all they continue to prove is the inability of men to take responsibility for their ac­tions, rather blaming their deviant behaviour on women, which is not restricted to Iran.

They are also being used as an excuse for the continued violence of patriarchy, which seeks to assert power over women by ensuring that they never have autonomy.

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The current protests are not in revolt against the Islamic religion but against it being corrupted and used as a tool of oppression. Whether a woman chooses to wear a hijab or not should be entirely her decision and not because of coercion or the fear of death.

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The voices of men are conspicuous in their absence with regard to this incident that has sparked global outrage, which in itself gives pause for reflection, as I am sure many men have distanced themselves from the brutal outcomes of the patriarchal regime. Yet if we are to progress as a society, men themselves need to take responsibility for their own actions and also denounce the abusive and misogynistic positions of other men who feel it is their duty to police women.

It’s not enough to shrug off the incident by saying: “Well, I don’t police women, so why should I do or say anything?”

It’s about recognising the injustice and speaking out against it so that the voices of progressive men can be amplified and not drowned out by those of regressive patriarchs. My hope is that many more men find the courage to do this. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.