Oppression of Women/Reading Lolita in Tehran

Today in our modern world women allegedly have the same rights as men, but women really aren’t looked at as equals. In fact, many women around the world are oppressed by their patriarchic societies, including in the United States. It’s tragic that half of the human population is oppressed just because of the reproductive organs that they’re born with; rather than looking at the person as a whole human being, with intelligent thoughts and ideas. Oppression is an unjust or cruel exercise of power or authority (Merriam-Webster p 508). In “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” the women are being oppressed into submission. The women must always be covered from head to toe when they go out in public. Even a misplaced piece of hair can land them in jail. In the U.S., women must conform to the ideal picture of a woman or they will not be accepted by society. It’s not as extreme as in Iran, but even women living in such a “liberated” country feel the need to please and be approved by men. Also, women in Iran are not allowed to socialize with men unless the men are members of their family and they’re required to have a male chaperone when they go out in public. This is just ridiculous. Women aren’t inferior to men, and they shouldn’t be treated like property. The worst part of it all is the conditions the women must survive just to get an education. The women and the men in this story are treated vastly different, and even more so in the academic establishment. The men get to walk into the school grounds through a huge green gate, they are welcomed and appreciated. While the women, must enter the school grounds through a veiled doorway. From there, these women are searched and inspected in a disgraceful manner. They can’t have even a trace of make up or a speckle of nail polish or else they will be punished accordingly. It is really sad that these men feel the need to make women feel as if they’re nothing. Opposed to the conditions in Iran, it’s really easy for