Forugh Farrokhzad (1935-1967) rejected patriarchal assumptions of womanhood through her poetry. In her revolutionary and controversial work, she expressed the emotions and experiences that women were so often denied.
Forugh Farrokhzad (1935-1967) rejected patriarchal assumptions of womanhood through her poetry. In her revolutionary and controversial work, she expressed the emotions and experiences that women were so often denied.
You’re probably familiar with rebels without a cause, but what about rebels with a cause? This month on Womanica, we’re talking about women who broke rules that were meant to be broken. From the “Godmother of Title IX” Bernice Sandler, to the most prominent figure of the People Power Revolution, Corazon Aquino, to the “Queen of Civil Rights” Ruby Hurley, these women took major risks to upend the status quo and create meaningful change.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. And this is Womanica.
This month, we’re talking about Rebels WITH a cause: women who broke rules that were meant to be broken. These women took major risks to upend the status quo and create meaningful change.
Today’s Womanican rejected patriarchal assumptions of womanhood through her poetry. In her revolutionary and controversial work, she expressed the emotions and experiences that women were so often denied. Let’s talk about Forough Farrokhzad.
Forough was born in Tehran, Iran, in January of 1935. She grew up in a family of seven kids. Despite a full household, and Forough’s own rebellious streak, the Farrokhzad home was an orderly one. Forough’s father was an army colonel and his young wife was a homemaker. Together, they ran a strict household.
As Forough was growing up, Iran was undergoing seismic political and cultural shifts. The year after Forough was born, the pro-Western shah had passed a law banning the hijab. The regime had also begun to restructure the educational system– as a result, Forough attended a co-ed elementary school.
When she was 16, Forough got married. Her husband was an old neighbor and a distant relative of her mother’s… and over a decade older than Forough. The two got married and moved to the city of Ahvaz [ah-VOZ], despite disapproval from both of their families.
In Ahvaz, Forough ’s husband worked for the Ministry of Finance, while Forough took care of their son, Kamyar. Although Forough ’s main area of study was painting and sewing, she also had a way with words. She began writing and publishing poetry during this time.
Forough struggled to mold herself into the wife and homemaker that society expected her to be. Her first poetry collection, “Captive”, demonstrated this push and pull between her domestic duties and her artistic freedom. She wrote: “O sky, if I want one day / To fly from this silent prison, / what shall I say to the weeping child’s eyes: / forget about me, for I am a captive bird?”.
Three years into her troubled marriage, Forough began a short-lived affair with the editor-in-chief of one of Iran’s most prestigious magazines. From this affair, Forough ’s most infamous poem was born. “Sin” was a twelve-line poem that detailed her affair. Although Forough names herself a sinner in the poem, there is no remorse or punishment for her actions– the affair is full of lust and passion, rather than shame and repentance.
Forough’s writing was revolutionary. It spotlighted a feminine point of view in a field dominated by men. And, it brought a taboo subject to a platform where anyone could read it. She put men and women on the same playing field.
But the poem was a match to a powder keg. Forough ’s former lover began slandering her in his magazine. She divorced her husband and in the process lost custody of her son. In September 1955, she had a mental breakdown that ended in a suicide attempt and a month in a psychiatric institution. In 1956, when she recovered, Forough was just 21 years old– and ready for a new start.
Shortly after she was released, Forough left Iran for the first time. She traveled to Europe to study language and poetry.. Her break restored her confidence in herself and her work, and inspired her third poetry collection, “Rebellion.”It encouraged women to rise up against injustice. It also challenged the idea that only women suffered from gender inequities.
After nine months in Europe, Forough returned to Iran. She took a job as the assistant to filmmaker Ebrahim Golestan. It wasn’t long before Forough and Ebrahim began their affair– or before Forough began to explore the world of film.
Forough’s new role brought her on many trips. After a visit to a leprosy colony, Forough was inspired to document her findings. . A twelve-day shoot in the community resulted in an award-winning 22-minute documentary called “The House is Black.” It invited viewers to see those living with leprosy as people, rather than as their disease-- to explore the lives of those that are cast out of society and find beauty and love in deprivation.. Forough approached the shoot with a deep sense of empathy and authenticity in the relationships she formed, including one with a young boy she adopted.
In 1964, Forough published her fourth collection of poems, titled “Another Birth.”It covered her exploration of the feminine, her beliefs on womanhood and love, and her vision of modern society. She continued to publish until February of 1967– when she was suddenly killed in a car accident.
She was 32 years old.
Forough Farrokhzad was as controversial as she was popular. When the Islamic Republic came to power in 1979, it banned her work. But a new generation of Iranians only craved her poetry more. For them, Forough was a symbol of artistic, personal, and sexual freedom.
All month, we’re talking about rebels with a cause. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!