Gender In Ayn Rand's Persepolis

In the above panel from the book Persepolis, from a gender lens perspective, I can claim from my observations and understanding of the book that as illustrated in the panel, there has been a more drastic change in the appearance of women than men. This can also be understood and observed in many scenes throughout the book and is explained through many quotations and images. By restricting women in regards to their dress code, this showed the power of men in that society. So, this observed “change” also was a change with boundaries, even for the “modern” woman.

In this panel it is showed that men and women were treated differently because in the picture to the left (the fundamentalist woman) is fully clothed and the modern woman is still pretty much fully clothed, with the exception of the hands and the few strands of hair out of the veil. Women have experienced a greater/more drastic change than men from the fundamentalist period till the modernist period. Her type of clothing however has changed, it has become more “westernized”. The progressive man, however, has only his shirt tucked in and his

All of the characters pictured here still look unhappy. As explained in the panel, “...letting a few strands of hair show” (page 75) was considered a big deal. So, both the modern woman and the progressive man are showing their opposition, just in different ways. The woman by wearing less covering clothes and letting strands of her hair show, the man by shaving his beard. The quotation, “...so to protect women from all the potential rapists, they decreed that wearing the veil was obligatory.” (page 74), illustrates why a fundamentalist woman would have to have not only her body, but also her hair completely covered. In the panel, it claims “there were two types of women” and “two types of men” it is shown that no one could be any different, and everyone was one of only two