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My wife's Iranian and she took issue with that meme as well, saying the "traditional" outfit wasn't accurate, in the case of Iran at least. But I wish someone w

My wife's Iranian and she took issue with that meme as well, saying the "traditional" outfit wasn't accurate, in the case of Iran at least. But I wish someone would make a version of it based on actual historical primary sources, because there really is a striking difference in dress codes when you go back before the 19th century. Google "eighteenth century iranian women" and you'll see very clearly what I mean: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Hasht-Behesht_Palace_santur.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Hasht-Be... There's no arguing that these are depictions of Muslim women by Muslim painters, so it's a bit simplistic to act as if Islam has always imposed the same interpretation of what "modest dress" means. Anyway, I'm not trying to wade into this larger debate but just wanted to point out that we don't need to speculate about what the traditional dress was like in regions like the Persian or Ottoman empires, there are abundant historical images that show us.

acqq 10y ago
I agree fully. Women elsewhere surely wore much more colorful dresses than the Bedouins. At least the younger ones, the black color was at least in some cultures common as the "mourning" color. Having women wearing black in the areas where the Sun could kill them while men at the same time wear white was surely practical for Bedouins restricting their movement and making them any kind of the "escape" riskier. Luckily, Persia was something else, thanks to its history. Kindly allow me to be very subjective, to my eyes, Iranian women are beautiful above average (the ones I've met didn't wear headscarves). I do understand the people becoming poets in their presence. As you are the OP, any chance of obtaining access to the other poems mentioned in the article? Any affiliation?

acqq 10y ago

I agree fully. Women elsewhere surely wore much more colorful dresses than the Bedouins. At least the younger ones, the black color was at least in some cultures common as the "mourning" color. Having women wearing black in the areas where the Sun could kill them while men at the same time wear white was surely practical for Bedouins restricting their movement and making them any kind of the "escape" riskier. Luckily, Persia was something else, thanks to its history. Kindly allow me to be very subjective, to my eyes, Iranian women are beautiful above average (the ones I've met didn't wear headscarves). I do understand the people becoming poets in their presence. As you are the OP, any chance of obtaining access to the other poems mentioned in the article? Any affiliation?