During the past week, extraordinary protests have shaken Iran. Since the death of 22-year old Mahsa Amini on September 16, tens of thousands of men and women in almost 80 cities have marched and chanted “Woman! Life! Freedom” and “Death to the Dictator!” The police has used live ammunition and hard suppression methods, and dozens are feared dead. Mahsa, who had come to Tehran on vacation with her brother from the small Kurdish town of Saqqez, died in custody three days after she was detained by the morality police for wearing her hijab too loose. Heart failure, said the police, but circumstances point to her being beaten. The protests started at her funeral and quickly spread. Among the protesters are hundreds of women that have taken to burning their hijabs and cutting their hair in public and on social media. They are not all secular. Somayeh Tohidi, an observing Muslim woman living in London, chopped her hair online to let other Muslim women and the world know that one can be religious and anti-government at the same time. Shedding one’s hair is “a symbolic act of mourning in my culture,” she told the HuffPost UK. If widows have indeed been cutting their hair in mourning since ancient times––and men in power have cut women’s hair in punishment––across cultures, the recent acts are best read as ultimate protests against male hegemony and oppression, acts of indelible defiance that are not self-mutilation, but rather ways to attain freedom by shedding a cardinal symbol and tool of subjugation. The protests continue. Dancing above the crowds are pictures of Mahsa, some of her auburn locks visible under her hijab, resplendent with youth and enthusiasm for life. Respect to her, and to all the men and women risking their lives in Iran to try and make the world more tolerant and compassionate. rp @paolantonelli @design.emergency #mahsaamini #zhinaamini #iranprotests #haircutting #iran #designemergency #mahsa_amini