By Maya Dusenbery • @mayadusenbery • 11 years ago

Thank You Thursdays: The cross-dressing Kurd Men For Equality

Earlier this month, in the city of Marivan, Iran, a judged sentenced a man convicted of domestic abuse to be paraded around town dressed in traditional Kurdish women’s clothing. This was a “punishment” since obviously being a woman is so embarrassing, amirite? In response, a local feminist group held a rally, and 17 members of the Iranian parliament wrote to the justice ministry complaining it was “humiliating to Muslim women.”

But perhaps the most creative protest has come from the Kurd Men For Equality campaign that sprung up on Facebook. In solidarity with the women’s protest, hundreds of men have submitted photos of themselves dressed in women’s clothing to visually send the message, “Being a woman is not a tool to humiliate or punish anyone.” And a few women have joined in too.

Kurd men for equality

See more photos after the jump. 

Kurd Men for Equality photo 2

Kurd Men for Equality photo 3

Kurd Men for Equality photo 4

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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