Iran

It was our last taxi drive before flying out of Iran in March 2018.

As we stepped out, the 60 year old taxi driver came out as well and took me by the shoulders: 

"Next time you will come to Iran, women will be like this" he said as he gently pulled my hijab down, revealing my hair. Multiple cars from behind us started honking angrily so my 15 year old embarrassed and pinked cheek self hurriedly put it back. Spending a little more than two weeks in Iran, I was not as much embarrassed about the honking but more because I felt as if I had been stripped of my clothes and seen naked.

I had gotten used to it for a short period of time. But some women never do.

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The man was right. A couple of months after our trip, women began tying white veils at the end of a stick and waving them as a sign of protest. This turned into the White Wednesdays movement.