You Can’t Be Ready for The Stoning of Soraya M.

I saw an advance screening of The Stoning of Soraya M. tonight, and it got me thinking about all the freedoms that I take for granted. For those who don’t know, Stoning is the true story of the murder of an innocent Iranian woman, condemned to death by her husband’s greed and lust.

I’m purchasing the book immediately myself; you can buy the paperback or the hardcover version of the real story, as told to an Iranian-French journalist and first published in 1994 –via Amazon.

Leaving the showing this afternoon at the Capitol Hill Business Center, driving to the ESL class I teach to adult immigrants working hard for liberty and opportunity for themselves and their families, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed thinking about all things I did today that other women around the world can’t do, things I never stop to think  twice about.

I woke up in my own apartment. I read news online and checked my email. I looked up airline travel specials. I emailed an intern of one of my clients and told her (another woman) what to do today. I wore pants. I drove out of my state and into the capital city of the country, twice today: once, to attend a political meeting, where I applauded a rising politician, shook hands with a movie producer and was invited to interview a politician from Australia. I worked. I bought what I wanted for lunch when I wanted it. I watched a movie about human rights violations on the property of the federal government. I taught immigrants how to speak English. I drove fast and listened to my favorite music. I ate a cheeseburger. I sent my brother a text message. I talked to my boyfriend on the phone about political concerns.

I can’t count the number of times I expressed my opinion.

I can’t count the number of times I made eye contact with men, some of whom were strangers.

Any number of things that I did today could create serious trouble for women in other parts of the world.

Until today, I don’t think I ever stopped to think about if women were still stoned around the world. After watching it in the film, I can tell you with complete honesty that it’s worse than you think. And it’s still happening today in parts of the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Soraya was stoned in the late 1980s. I’m a young person, and that means my lifetime. While I was a little girl watching The Little Mermaid and being told I could do anything I set my mind to, two other little girls were growing up without their innocent mother.

That’s all I’ll say about the movie for now, as I’m working on a review. I’ll leave you with the trailer for the film. Soraya haunts me, but I want to see the movie again on the big screen when I’m able, and I want to write about this more. Like Soraya’s brave aunt says in the film, “The world will know.”

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 11:54 pm and is filed under Faith and Family, Foreign Affairs. The entry is tagged under film review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.