‘I will NOT wear a hijab’: U.S. chess star refuses to attend world championships in Iran

[ericson00]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/df9532f1-6a4a-32d9-9f69-40686995d957/ss_%E2%80%98i-will-not-wear-a-hijab%E2%80%99%3A.html

(Nazi Paikidze) announced last week that she will boycott February’s Women's World Chess Championship in Iran because the players will have to wear hijabs.

Paikidze’s decision will deprive the tournament of one of the game’s brightest stars and biggest draws — the U.S. champion who once told a magazine she would “do everything I can to help more girls get into chess.”

Islamic coverings for women in public — required in Iran and some other nations such as Saudi Arabia — have increasingly become a target for both protests and struggles over Muslim identity. Some activists in Iran have launched online campaigns against the hijab rules, while other women continually test the boundaries by pushing back headscarves to near gravity-defying levels.

[apcalc]

1. Good for her.

[lsewpershad]

23. No sure if it's good

But she definitely has the right to refuse and not attend.

[Lucky Luciano]

24. Fuck those religious freaks. She is above having to wear that crap. Nt

[stopbush]

26. Yep. Let's be clear, this is religious bullshit, not some "cultural" stricture.

[mdbl]

25. I'm sure it's good

[Democat]

33. Standing up to rigth wing extremism is good

This is DU.

[get the red out]

92. Yea, women should put up and shut up

It is good! She is making a valuable statement. Unless it's not "good" that women stand up for themselves and other women.

[GulfCoast66]

117. How is this not good?

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Damn straight.

a government forcing her to wear one is no better than a government forcing women not to wear them.


...right?

[randome]

14. Not the same. And no one is forcing anyone to not wear something.

If you're referring to some towns in France passing beach rules prohibiting them, that is not germane to your statement. The hijab is a symbol of oppression, whether you or others agree or not.

I will point out that Cannes, one of the towns, is the very essence of inclusivity due to its central role in filmic endeavors from across the world. Yet with your broad brush, you want to label them, perhaps, discriminatory?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[Exilednight]

22. The hijab is a symbol of oppression to you, and those that are forced to wear it.

Those women who CHOOSE to wear it, and are allowed to, are not being oppressed.

When a woman CHOOSES to wear a hijab, but is told she can not, then that is a form of oppression.

It's no better or worse than Hasidic men who grow beards, or nuns that wear Habits, or monks who shave their heads.

Oppression is about not having a choice, providing that the choice does not harm others.

As far as the chess player goes, I support her choice.

[ck4829]

27. Indeed

And this line of thinking is something that is potentially showing a first world bias.



Here we have a young woman wearing a hijab, wearing a shirt that has 'USA' on it, in front of an American flag.

If you were in Iraq, Iran, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile, Argentina, etc. in recent history or even today, where is the symbol of oppression in this photo?

[msongs]

42. maybe the symbols of oppression are all that makeup she is wearing

[Squinch]

105. What makes you think this is hijab? You do know there is a difference between a headscarf and hijab

right?

Looks to me like a woman wearing a scarf.

So, what is it about this that makes you think this is hijab?

[randome]

45. How would you EVER know if someone is being oppressed or not? You can't know.

So because some want to use the hijab as a fashion choice, are we to ignore all others who are abused and controlled by their husbands?

What alternative is there other than doing absolutely nothing and saying, 'Let the chips fall where they may'? That sounds like a sort of Libertarian idea, actually.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[Exilednight]

66. It's not an all or nothing absolute. How do you know that

any woman is being suppressed? Are we to be relationships completely because some people abuse their significant other?

[randome]

72. No one knows but the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of that.

That's what the majority of the culture is all about. Even in America, assimilation to the idea of gender equality is an uphill climb.

This sense of outrage about some stupid article of clothing is every bit as ridiculous as the outrage when 32 oz sodas were banned in New York.

It is so minor, that drawing a line from this to a different type of oppression is ludicrous in the extreme, imo.

Is this worth spending the blood of 'patriots' on? I say it isn't. I say it's nothing. And fuck Iran for putting professionals in this kind of dilemma.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[get the red out]

93. When the law requires women wear it

Or face persecution, that is the definition of oppression. I give a fucking damn about women's rights and don't give a fucking damn about men's religions ruling their every move. Fuck religion, fuck laws that oppress women, fuck misogyny.

[Exilednight]

95. I'm not sure what you're replying to.

My comments were based on the laws of Cannes, France.

[GulfCoast66]

118. You are incorrect

In Iran it is all or nothing. All women wear it, their desires mean nothing.

[Exilednight]

135. I'm not sure what you're replying to.

I was speaking of Cannes, France.

[patsimp]

48. i feel it is more complicated. Many are wearing it because of direct or indirect pressure

from families and friends.

[Exilednight]

68. I agree with that , but we can't kneejerk and go the complete

opposite direction. I was forced to pray before meals as a child and drug to temple every Saturday because of my family's belief. As an adult I am free to make chouces, even if it upsets my family.

[oberliner]

114. Drug to temple?

What is that?

[Exilednight]

134. A Jewish church. Some call them Synagogues.

[oberliner]

136. Never heard "drug to temple" used to describe a synagogue

Where does the drug part fit in?

[Exilednight]

137. Drug:

verb, Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S. Nonstandard.
1.
a simple past tense and past participle of drag.

[oberliner]

138. Aha!

I got it now. Misreading on my part.

[jberryhill]

36. The Mayor of Cannes runs the film festival?

Who knew.

[randome]

44. I don't know about his political leanings but i doubt he'd help pass a rule like this w/o support.

The point is that we turn a blind face to oppression by doing nothing. I could see the point being made that hijabs should be welcomed but strongly discouraged because of what they symbolize.

But to simply say that we will not have anything to say about oppression because some are not oppressed is, in essence, doing nothing.

There is no other way to do something about the oppression that a hijab signifies, is there? We can't march into every home and look for signs of oppression, can we? So what alternative is there other than shrugging our shoulders and doing nothing?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[Warren DeMontague]

78. it's very simple.

Don't pass laws telling people what they can or can't wear.

[patsimp]

47. I completely agree

[Warren DeMontague]

73. I think people should be allowed to decide for themselves what the fuck to wear, or not.

Period. End of "statement".

[randome]

96. So white sheets and Nazi armbands are okay with you?

I think it's more complicated than that. We either do nothing and expect those who are being oppressed to take care of the matter themselves, ("pull themselves up by their bootstraps&quot or we make a symbolic gesture of our own and brand the hijab as what most see it as: a symbol of oppression.

I only see those 2 alternatives and doing nothing sounds too easy.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[Warren DeMontague]

100. Um, yes, because I understand how the 1st Amendment works.

Saying something shouldn't be outlawed isn't the same as endorsing it, either. I supported the ACLU's defense of Nazis right to march in Skokie, and I also come from a family that had people die in the camps.

Because I understand that the best answer to totalitarianism is freedom, even for assholes and shitwits.

There is a difference between calling something a symbol of oppression, and making it illegal to wear it. I see people here who think the sports illustrated swimsuit issue is a symbol of oppression, and want to make it illegal for women to take their tops off for photographs in a magazine. Because oppression, or something.

I see women in hijabs all the time. Maybe they're being oppressed or forced to wear them, but that's a case for local law enforcement should they decide to press a complaint. Because at some point you have to give adults in a free society the benefit of the doubt that they're making their own decisions unless they specifically indicate to you otherwise.

Beyond that I can't imagine that setting the same local law enforcement into the business of headgear policing, is really an effective use of taxpayer dollars.

Outlawing everything we don't like is exactly what control freaks and authoritarians do.

[randome]

104. Good points but we're not talking about outlawing everything we don't like.

As far as prohibiting something, we're talking about France, really, and France is under no obligation to behave the way Americans dictate.

I don't have a problem with some beaches in France prohibiting a very common symbol of oppression. The residents there have a much different experience with culture clashes than we do. America is big enough that we don't feel 'overrun' by immigrants, although obviously some on the Right want to think that.

The hijab is clearly a symbol of oppression because Iran makes it so. That's the only reason they mandate it: because it "keeps the women in line".

I can understand saying it is not a symbol of oppression in America but even then it's hard to separate the origins of the oppressive laws from the garment itself.

I hope we can all agree on this: fuck Iran and it's embarrassing obsession with women's bodies.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[Warren DeMontague]

106. Yes, we can agree.

And the point about France and the 1st Amendment, I get that too.

I actually wrote the post upthread as a pre-emptive answer to the people here who might be inclined to defend Iran on this matter, but were complaining about the Burkini ban a month or so ago. But it probably came off as coming from the other direction.

I'm generally pro-freedom, I think that is the answer to all these things, including cultural oppression. The way to defeat the people who can't deal with sex and nudity is to simply exercise, flaunt if you will, the freedom which makes them so bothered. Maybe instead of arresting the woman in the burkini, have a day where 10,000 women go topless at the same beach. Or every day. Either make the uptight people move into the 21st century, or else get so uncomfortable that they find a Theocracy more to their liking.

But I can't tell France how to manage their own affairs, no.

[scscholar]

101. This. There should be more laws wrt what is allowable to wear.

[Missn-Hitch]

3. Good. I sure as hell wouldn't but

I am a white male between the ages of 18 - 45.

Hoping for change in the muslim world.

[scheming daemons]

4. Good for her. Islam is anti-woman and we should not accommodate their backwards belief system.

[Rustyeye77]

107. No multiculturalism for you.

[emulatorloo]

133. It isn't about "multiculturalism." It is about fundamentalist religion making women servile

[brucefan]

5. Really?

Her first name is Nazi?

[MicaelS]

7. Yes really.

Pronounced. NAH ZEE.

Paikidze currently is a full-time chess professional. She is married to American engineer Greg Barnes and resides in the Las Vegas, Nevada area. Her first name, Nazí, is a Georgian name and is not uncommon there. It is pronounced, she explains, “nah-ZEE”. It means “delicate” or “tender”. She was named after her grandmother.

[ret5hd]

9. Well, just phuket...

Whooda thought words have different meanings in different languages!

?ver=6

[AlbertCat]

62. words have different meanings in different languages!

Yeah... if someone who speaks German gives you a "gift"...don't accept it!

[DFW]

110. Or, as we say in Germany, "what's in a name?"

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[eissa]

19. Assyrians use that name as well

It's pronounced "Nah-zeh" and it refers to a type of flower. I think it's quite common in northern Mesopotamia and the Caucuses.

[athena]

63. It's also a man's name in Turkish.

The feminine form in Turkish is "Naziye".

(Edited to remove information duplicated elsewhere.)

[athena]

69. Ironically, the origin of the name is Farsi.

http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Culture/iranian_elements_georgian.htm

Due to many centuries of close contacts between Georgia and Persia, a large number of Iranian loanwords came into the Georgian language. These belonged to various spheres of vocabulary and were borrowed at different periods and from different dialects: from Eastern Iranian Scytho-Alan-Ossetic, and from Western Iranian Median, Parthian and, to an even greater extent, from the Middle Persian of the Sasanian period (3rd-7th cent.) and New Persian. Only a brief survey of these loanwords can be given here, but analysis of the borrowed vocabulary reveals its versatile semantic character: technical terms, basic vocabulary pertaining to all aspects of everyday life, and expressive vocabulary.

(snip)

The Georgian female name Nazi can be found in Iranian languages as a male name (Med. *Nazuka-, Mid. Pers. Nâzuk).

[MicaelS]

6. Fantastic. n/t

[davidn3600]

8. But wait! The good folks here at DU tell me Muslim women wear hijabs by choice!

[Revanchist]

10. Yes, they choose not to be beaten or killed if they don't wear them nt

[patsimp]

49. Some have the choice to wear it or face consequences that can be dire depending on the country

of residence.

[Codeine]

11. But, but, hijab is classy and mainstream now!

or so I've been told!

[Marr]

131. Everybody's wearing one they're so popular there!

Kind of like orange jumpsuits. Man, prisoners just LOVE those things.

[cwydro]

12. Good for her indeed.

I can't believe any women would agree to that nonsense.

[Ohioblue22]

13. “do everything I can to help more girls get into chess.”

I guess the hijab is a bridge too far. That being said I don't blame her. But then again America makes me wear pants
So...

[DLevine]

15. She's teaching girls self-respect, which is more important than chess. nt

[bettyellen]

58. Men in NYC, SF and Scotland feel free to rock whatever bottoms they want ....

And you could too. You might upset some homophobes, but that would be an awesome way of weeding out the assholes from your life. Go for it! Stop oppressing yourself!

[athena]

64. Exactly! There is no law against men wearing skirts or dresses.

The law is what forces Iranian women to cover their heads. There is no equivalence.

[Warren DeMontague]

86. Im not even allowed to wear cargo shorts, anymore

What the fuck is up with that?

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-no-man-should-wear-cargo-shorts-2016-3

[GulfCoast66]

119. There is no law making you wear pants

You can sport a skirt, kilt, sports, bikini bottoms. Even capris. And the government will leave you alone. Well, maybe not bikini bottoms.

[Ohioblue22]

125. Bikini bottoms ...lol I couldn't do that to my neighbors....eom

[GulfCoast66]

126. I hope I am oppressed

If I ever put the on. Starting with my wife!

[Cakes488]

16. Ridiculous! It's like mandating Iranian women to wear bikini's if they came here !!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

17. Don't give Trump any ideas ... (nt)

[ck4829]

18. It should be a choice to wear one and it should be a choice to not wear one

So she needs to be heard just like Noor Tagouri in the other thread needs to be heard.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028194846

[eissa]

20. Good for her

Enough of this bullshit. They can wear whatever they want anywhere they go, but we're not allowed to adhere to our customs in their countries. Fuck that.

[Skittles]

31. they want women oppressed everywhere

f*** that

[patsimp]

50. agreed

[MadDAsHell]

21. This is interesting given the celebration of the hijab at the Olympics just 2 months ago.

60 days ago I was being told it was empowering for women; now it's oppressing them?

[etherealtruth]

28. The issue is not the hijab ... the issue is scheduling a world championship in a place where ...

... women are not afforded the same rights and freedoms as men. The hijab is merely an example

[LisaM]

38. And that is the real point.

I don't think international federations should agree to have their events in places that are repressive. Heck, look how many events pulled out of North Carolina because of their stupid bathroom law.

I doubt if whatever the chess governing body is will take the same stance as the NCAA, but I'm glad she's elected not to go.

[etherealtruth]

39. Exactly!!!!

[MadDAsHell]

56. The same NCAA who hosts bowl games in the anti-LGBT Bahamas every year, including this December?

The same NCAA who has whispered nary a peep about the fact that sexual orientation and gender identity are conveniently left out of the Bahamian constitution's prohibition against discrimination?

The same NCAA who has whispered nary a peep about same sex marriage and civil unions both being illegal in the Bahamas?

The same NCAA who has whispered nary a peep about the fact that there is no hate crime law protecting LGBTQ folks?


If you're going to have a spine NCAA, have a fucking spine, not just when it scores you political points to your local fans. Bahamian LGBTQ folks should have just as many rights as those in North Carolina.

[LisaM]

75. I certainly can't argue with that.

I mean, anything is a start, but yeah, there's clearly work to be done. I was just singling out an example, but the NCAA does lots that I do like and plenty that I don't.

[LisaM]

87. One question though..

Is it the NCAA or the conferences hosting games in the Bahamas?

[MadDAsHell]

91. Fair question. I assume the NCAA has to sanction the game though.

Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled the NCAA has finally decided to take a stance this year. But yet as far as I know, the next Bahamas Bowl is only a couple months away and the NCAA hasn't indicated any concern whatsoever regarding the country's LGBTQ stance.

[LisaM]

141. They should, but....

the basketball championship is an NCAA event. The separate bowl games and the basketball tourneys have different sponsors. So who knows if the NCAA actually has control over already-scheduled events that presumably have contractual obligations to fulfill.

[eShirl]

30. cute, but NOTHING mandatory is empowering.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

35. welcome to the great big logical fallacy that is the cultural left

[Warren DeMontague]

77. The thing itself doesn't empower OR oppress. It's a scarf, basically.

What oppresses, for instance, s the context in which someone might be forced to wear one- like, for instance, a law saying they have to.

If a woman is forced by law- or coerced by people around her, for that matter- to wear the damn thing against her will, then it is absolutely oppressive.

But I'm not going to go so far as to say there are NO women who choose to wear them on their own.

In a free society, people should be able to make their own decisions. And ideally we all should live in free societies.

[CharlotteVale]

29. Good for her, I would never wear one either.

[Democat]

32. Standing up to right wing extremism

DU is usually against right wing extremism. Except for some people who love right wingers in special cases.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

37. The core belief of the cultural left is West = Bad

The cultural left will tolerate all sorts of extremism and fundamentalism as long as it isn't of the Judaeo-Christian variety. Because to not make a full loving embrace of it is "colonialist" you see.

[MicaelS]

57. Bingo. 100 % on the money.

The Cultural Left has the mindset that the West in general and the US in particular is the root of all evil and opression, and everything bad that has ever happened is ultimately the fault of the West and the US.

[Warren DeMontague]

74. yeah, well, some people are fucking idiots.

doesn't matter what they call themselves.

[romanic]

82. You nailed it.

[apcalc]

90. Baloney

Religious extremism of any kind is not tolerated.

[Warren DeMontague]

108. I guess you missed the Charlie Hebdo threads.

you know, the ones where some people here said that drawing "blasphemous" cartoons ought to be against the law because they might make some people real mad?

[apcalc]

109. Missed those threads....

[Warren DeMontague]

111. apparently you "can't shout fire in a crowded theater", no sir

and because of that torturously overused and actually fundamentally incorrect from a constitutional standpoint metaphor, if you say something blasphemous that "forces" someone religious to do something violent to you, you not only deserve it, but you're also the one breaking the law.

derp.

[GulfCoast66]

121. Now that you mentioned that

I am surprised he has not chimned in on this discussion. Maybe at political rally?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

129. It even has a name

"Human Rights Neo-Colonialism"

[cheapdate]

34. We make women cover their breasts, which is every bit as oppressive.

But everyone just bitches about the hijab, like the idea that different societies have different ideas of "modesty" grounded in religion is an alien concept.

Lots of Muslim women in liberal societies DO wear the hijab voluntarily. In Iran its the law.

I'm an active and vocal supporter of equality, women's rights, and free thought everywhere.

But why does it seem we bitch about the hijab and wallow in self-righteous outrage over "those" countries and "those" religious societies, but we just accept that it's perfectly okak for a man to bare his torso when its warm outside but not okay for a woman?

Same oppression. Same rationale.

[AlbertCat]

43. which is every bit as oppressive.

Oh please....

the hair on your head...and boobs are JUST the same.


But really..... even though it is not "every bit as oppressive", it is prudish and silly.


She should agree to go play if she can wear a hijab..... and nothing else.

[cheapdate]

51. If you can't see that the two situations are essentially identical

then I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise.

Men in the United States go to the beach uncovered. Women in the United States go to jail if uncovered.

No difference whatsoever, except that we're so conditioned to accept that "modesty" or whatever requires women to cover their chests that some people can't even imagine that it's open to question.

[randome]

53. Not quite as identical as you may think.

I agree it is an oppressive tragedy that women can't go about as freely as men. I in no way want to minimize what I just said. However, in America there are nude beaches, nude colonies, and in New York the freedom to be nude outdoors.

That is NOT "good enough". I can't emphasize that enough. But it is also not the same as an entire culture pressuring women to conform under threat of death.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[cheapdate]

80. I recognize that.

It's a difference of degrees and not the fundamental nature of the prohibitions about what women can and can't wear.

[randome]

98. Maybe all decisions about women's bodies should be made by a conclave of women only.

I don't think I'd have a problem with that.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[MicaelS]

59. If women want to go topless fine.

I have no problem with that. But I don't want to hear, see, or read any complaints when men stare.

What percentage of American women do you think would go topless given the chance?

[cheapdate]

76. Fine? It's against the law in about 99.9% of the United States.

It might be "fine" with you but it's a crime in most of the country. Eh?

[MicaelS]

81. I support changing the law.

If it's that important to you, work to change the law. Hell, I think nude beaches would be fine.

Although, I doubt many would avail themselves of either going topless or nude. I think Americans are Prudes.

[cheapdate]

83. Whether or not it's "important" to me isn't the point.

My point is that whenever this "hijab" thing comes up regarding Iran, people start talking about how awful it is that Iranian women are forced to dress in a certain way to protect some social-religious idea of "modesty".

Fine. But don't let the "mote in your eye" stop you from seeing that we do the exact same thing, even if the penalty is less severe. There's nothing more or less strange about a head covering being required for modesty than a chest covering being required. We're just used to one and not the other.

[MicaelS]

85. Disagree.

The hijab is a representation of the across the board second class status women are accorded in the Islamic world. I don't for a second think they're equal.

Frankly I'm sick and fucking tired of all the criticism of Islamic values being deflected by "well, we're just as bad as them".

Fundamentalist Islam is incompatible with Western Ideals and the Enlightenment.

[davidn3600]

88. Are women marching to have the freedom to uncover their breasts

Women are being forced by the government in Iran to cover their HAIR. And many women are protesting these laws. Many feminists groups are protesting these laws in Iran and have tried over and over again to bring change to Iran. Many are prison for doing so.

Yet you want to sit there behind your computer, create false equivalences, and defend these religious tyrants?t!

I want you to understand something....this government in Iran. They are not our friends. They never will be. There are religious fanatics. It is a religious dictatorship. They have absolutely no intention of being tolerant of anything else but their religion and their views. Yet this woman who refuses to cover herself is the one being attacked by liberals? That is fucking insane! Why are you defending that country?

[cheapdate]

99. I'm no friend of Iranian theocracy.

I oppose them with every fiber of my being. I shared an office with an evangelical who used to rail against how women were treated in Iran and then without skipping a beat would rail just as hard against the "feminists" in the United States, who he believed were at the very root of our supposed moral decay.

I'm not talking about the entirety of Islamic society and government, I'm talking about about two countries with laws that force women to dress a certain way.

Women were robbed, beaten, abused, and oppressed for 350 years in America.

Fuck the Ayatolla and double fuck the so-called Council of Experts.

[CBGLuthier]

120. No it isn't . It is completely legal in New York for instance. Now there are 50 states

I believe that already knocks your claim down to 98%.

Your comparison is a complete non-starter.

[cheapdate]

127. The legal landscape in New York

regarding women going shirtless in public is way less clear than you imply.

[AlbertCat]

61. If you can't see that the two situations are essentially identical...

.... then you are a realist.

They are not "essentially identical".

Do the same things happen to you if you go topless here as happens to women in Iraq who don't wear a hijab?

[cheapdate]

79. Oh, so that's the important difference?

The punishment is less severe in the states?

Both societies force women to dress in accordance with religious-based ideas of "modesty" in ways that don't apply to men, but the important difference is how severely the two societies punish women.

[AlbertCat]

89. Oh brother....

How about this?

All religions aside, swollen, large breasts in primates indicate it's a good time to fertilize the females. Males react to that no matter their religion. (and y'know, only one primate has religion) Breasts remain looking "I'm fertile" in humans whether the female is or not.... perhaps an adaptation to keep the males from wandering off.

Hair.... not so much.

Breasts are a distinctly sexual and female thing. Both men and woman can grow their hair. This is biology, not society. And whether philosophers agree or not on the role of nature and instincts in homo sapiens, we are obviously still under the thumb of hormones and instincts.

The nature and character of hair and female breasts is nowhere near the same. It's not all about religion.

[cheapdate]

94. "Oh brother" is right.

You say it's perfectly reasonable to force women to cover their "swollen, large breasts". What about small breasts? Swollen, red lips? Flushed cheeks and ears?

"Oh brother" is right.

Stable, monogamous, societies have existed at many times and places around the world without any such taboo or obsession over women's breasts.

[AlbertCat]

97. Stable, monogamous, societies have existed at many times ...

Yes yes... But society is not forcing the hijab on women.... Over-religious men are. Comparing that to societal norms is a bit much.

[kcr]

143. Yeah, you are going to have a really hard time convincing people of that.

Because that's fucking ridiculous.

[JanMichael]

102. Personally I think men who wear tank tops or half shirts in public should be shot.

Do not even get me started on flipflops.

[cheapdate]

103. Everyone who isn't me annoys me sometimes.

[AtheistCrusader]

140. I'll allow flip flops, but if they are also wearing socks; gas chamber.

[Marengo]

40. Just another reactionary refusing to promote tolerance & diversity

[dembotoz]

41. if we support the ncaa pulling shit from carolina we need to support her on this

freedom is freedom

[patsimp]

46. Good for her - she is a hero

[KamaAina]

52. Who on Earth names their daughter "Nazi"?!

[MicaelS]

54. Georgians do.

Paikidze currently is a full-time chess professional. She is married to American engineer Greg Barnes and resides in the Las Vegas, Nevada area. Her first name, Nazí, is a Georgian name and is not uncommon there. It is pronounced, she explains, “nah-ZEE”. It means “delicate” or “tender”. She was named after her grandmother.

[athena]

65. Iranians do, too.

Not everyone in the world speaks English. Those who don't speak English are under no obligation to make sure that they give their children names that sound acceptable in English.

Take a look at this:
http://torontolife.com/city/urban-diplomat-barista-nazi/

[DFW]

112. Who on earth names their son Božo?

Only about half of Serbia, where it is sort of like "Bobby" in English-speaking areas. Pronounced BAW-zho. An old friend of mine who makes amazing 12 string guitars was born in Novi Sad, and is named Božo. It didn't hurt him or his guitars at all.

By the way, in German, the "z" is pronounced like our "ts," but if you're referring to the bad guys of the 1930s and 1940s, it's an abbreviation of "National Socialist," or "Nationalsozialist." "National" in German is pronounced "Natsional," which is where the "Natsi" pronunciation comes from. "Nati" on its own in German would just be "NAH-tee," so the abbreviation changed the "t" to a "z" which how the spelling of "Nazi" came about.

[whathehell]

128. Probably the same people who named a son Stanko

Another name found in the Balkans.

[GulfCoast66]

123. Who names their sons

Randy

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

130. I work with one

She was at the court house soon after her 18th birthday to get the spelling changed to Nazee although somewhere along the way decided she really wanted to be called Natalie.

[BainsBane]

55. I can't get past someone being named Nazi

How someone gets that name and what it means in their native language.

[MicaelS]

60. Well obviously she's happy with it

As were her parents and grandmother. An American man married her, so it's not a big deal to him.

She's smart, talented, strong-willed and beautiful. Seems like an all around fantastic woman to me.

[athena]

67. Please let's try to accept that there is more than one language in the world.

English is not the only language. Obviously the name is foreign, and obviously it doesn't mean in that language what it means in English.

As has been pointed out earlier in the thread, Nazi means "delicate" or "tender" in Georgian:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naz%C3%AD_Paikidze#Personal_life

There are also men named "Nazi", and women named "Naziye" in Turkey. The origin, in all cases, is, ironically, Farsi.

[BainsBane]

70. More than one language in the world

Is how the word Nazi came into use in English--from German, as a short pronunciation of Nationalsozialist.

[athena]

71. OK, more than two languages, then.

In any case, "Nazi" means something in English today. If you see someone who is named "Nazi", clearly the name is not referring to Germany's National Socialists.

Even within English, there are words that change meaning depending on context, such as "bow", "seal", "duck", "sign", etc. So, this is something we are able to deal with, especially when the pronunciation is different.

[CBGLuthier]

122. She is Russian. I think if the Russians can get over it, maybe you should too.

[GulfCoast66]

124. Are you multilingual?

Because words have very different meanings in different languages.

[Gothmog]

84. I do not blame her

This young lady is an amazing chess player

[dhol82]

113. When I visited Iran two years ago I had to wear a hijab

Did it because it was the only way I could get in and see the country.
It was a pain in the patootie! Very hot and uncomfortable. And that does not include the full length schmata I had to wear.

I don't blame her for her stand.

Thought it interesting that most of the local women have submitted to the rules.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

115. Good for her

[Marr]

116. What were the organizers thinking?

Why put an international competition in a country that does not treat men and women equally?

[Starry Messenger]

132. I wouldn't either.

I support women wearing it if and when they want to, but wouldn't visit a place with mandatory dress codes for women that don't include men.

My husband has family in Iran, and I've already told him I wouldn't go if he ever visited. Lovely country, bad laws.

[NaturalHigh]

139. Good for her.

[Rex]

142. Nobody should be forced to put on or take off clothing, because some invisible sky daddy

actually never said anything about it. It is all just books written by men. Get over it.