As an Iranian woman, the lack of support by Western feminists as Iran’s oppressed women struggle to liberate themselves never ceases to amaze and appall me. Isn’t feminism supposed to be about women’s liberation? And yet, with Iran, a country where women are governed by absolutist religious law that hardly treats them as human, so many Western feminists either maintain their silence or end up supporting the regime. As the United States enters the war with the Islamic Republic that has ruined the lives of generations of Iranians, challenging this silence is more important than ever.
On a June 19 episode of The View, host Whoopi Goldberg provided a lesson on what I mean. When cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin accurately noted that the Iranian regime brutally executes homosexual people, Whoopi said: “Oh, let’s not do that, because if we start with that, we have been known in this country to tie gay folks to the car. Listen, I’m sorry. They used to just keep hanging Black people.” Goldberg’s response was stunning: instead of condemning Iran’s record, she deflected with a bizarre false equivalency. When Griffin responded, “I think it’s very different to live in the United States in 2025 than it is in Iran,” Goldberg shockingly replied, “Not if you’re black.”
