328 Mediated Publics
(before Khatami came to power), in reaction to the Western and modern
culture promulgated under the Shah, public spaces were highly desexual-
ized, de-Westernized, and regulated by religious and revolutionary norms.
t first, in the summer of 1980, the hijab was made obligatory only A
in government and public offices; then, three years later, in April 1983,
veiling became compulsory for all women, including for non-Muslims,
foreigners and tourists. Along with the mandatory hijab, a complex set
of Islamic performances and new patterns of predetermined social roles
based on Islamic and “traditional” values in terms of body language,
speech, and codes of interaction, especially in relations with members
of the opposite sex, were implemented by the moral police.^9 Interactions
with government institutions necessitated a specific model of self-pre-
sentation. Men were required to wear three-day facial stubble and long-
sleeved shirts buttoned to the neck. Women had to appear without any
makeup in a black chādor or dark-colored manteau [long coat] and
maqna‘eh [a headscarf] that covers the neck and shoulders.^10 The newly-
formed moral police appropriated patriarchal authority and became the
guardians of the morality of Iranian families and especially of women and
youth.
espite all these impositions, Iranian women and youth have been D
able to introduce major and irreversible changes in their situation, by
affecting small and seemingly unimportant, yet continuous changes in
their appearance, demeanor, and social presence. These changes have
ultimately changed dominant models of self-presentation and led to new
and spontaneous forms. In the early 1990s after the end of the Iran-Iraq
war, different kinds of hijab gradually appeared, changing the dark image
of urban public spaces. Although the chador remained the “better hijab”
[hejāb-e bartar] for most traditional, religious or government employees,
other women opted for more colorful and relaxed scarves and the man-
teau. The presence of this new kind of hijab along with the traditional
ones became a kind of social distinction and public expression for Iranian
women from different milieus.
ilüfer Göle, discussing the new trend of veiling among young N
Turkish girls, notes how the Islamic dress code can influence the way that
the body occupies space: