I loved seeing this story last night about 5 Iranian women dressing up like men to sneak in to a football ground and watch their team win the league.
It tickled me for a number of reasons. First, it reminded me of this:
While I’m generally all for respecting regional custom and law, the prohibition of women doing things because of their gender is unequivocally abhorrent and an aspect that needs to change in any culture it is rooted (including my own obvs). So, the fact that these Iranians flouted the law, supported by the fact that so many of the other football supporters at least implicitly enabled the act, which was then shared through the power of social media, made me really happy for the prospect of humanistic progress in the world.
Also, it made me remember how great sport and play is as a tool for overcoming social and cultural division; something I wrote about in my paper ‘The Smooth Spaces of Play’.
It is rare that I see news that makes me happy – so thanks to those five brave Iranian women!