Iran announced earlier this week that some women will be allowed to attend two Volleyball World League games between Tehran and the US in mid-June, taking baby steps away from a law the international community still gawks over.
But the announcement left ultraconservatives in the country outraged, sparking protests by radical group Ansar Hezbollah that claimed women would only be watching sports to watch men's "bare" bodies.
If you thought Iran was always conservative enough to protest women's presence at a volleyball match, you thought wrong. You're forgetting its history.
There was a time when Iran's mix of cultures, straddling Western and Islamic values, made it look comparable to Beirut — like in this photo.
The Associated Press caption says it was taken in 1974 near the coast city of Babolsar, Iran, of "a striking contrast" between a middle-aged veiled woman and the others wearing bikinis.
In fact women had a lot more freedom in Iran decades ago. Segregation between men and women got bad only after the 1979 revolution, which transformed the country into the Islamic Republic founded on extreme religious values.
Years ago both women and men were able to attend sports game. This photo on Twitter appears to show a glimpse of what Iran's sports games used to be like.
