Badass women in Iran share why they're ignoring a new fatwa against cycling
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a fatwa on women riding bicycles Monday, but that hasn't stopped a bunch of defiant women from doing it anyway.
The religious edict forbids women from cycling because it's viewed as a practice that "exposes society to corruption" and "contravenes women's chastity," according to The Independent.
However, a video showing a mother and daughter cycling freely down the road is just the latest piece of social media demonstrating that many women are not interested in obeying the new rule.
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Appearing on the Facebook page of a group called My Stealthy Freedom, the video shows a woman explaining that when they heard about the fatwa, they "immediately rented two bicycles to say we're not giving up cycling."
She added, "It's our absolute right and we're not going to give up."
The Facebook page, which promotes women's rights, has been collecting a bunch of images of similarly defiant women, each with a different story to tell.
Since May 2016, signs have appeared prohibiting women from cycling in certain areas and, according to The Independent, police officers have previously said that women breaking the bike-riding rules would be prosecuted.
One such rule-breaker said on social media, "In order to be able to lead an ordinary life, I, as a woman, have to engage in a daily 'war.' Am I a criminal because I love life and I love cycling?"
The hashtag #IranianWomenLoveCycling has been created as a platform for women to share their stories of cycling, and reasons why they won't be stopping anytime soon.
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Jerico Mandybur is the editor of Mashable Australia. Previously, she worked as a digital editor at SBS, Oyster Mag, MTV and ASOS. Tweet her at @jerico_m.
