Published with the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution and the women's protests that followed on its heels, Whisper Tapes re-introduces Kate Millett's historic visit to Iran and lays out the nature of her encounter with the Iranian women's movement. Kate Millett was already an icon of American feminism when she accepted the invitation of Iranian feminist Kateh Vafadari in 1979 to join Iranian feminists in solidarity in marking International Women's Day in the immediate aftermath of the revolution.
Intended as a day of celebration, the event turned into a week of protests. Millett, armed with film equipment and a cassette deck to record everything around her, found herself in the middle of demonstrations for women's rights and against the mandatory veil. Listening to the revolutionary soundscape of Millett's audio tapes, Negar Mottahedeh has offered a new interpretive guide to Revolutionary Iran, its slogans, habits, and women's movement.
The newly available translation of the book by scholar and political commentator Arash Azizi makes the text available for the first time to a Persian audience.
Author Negar Mottahedeh and translator Arash Azizi in conversation with Kateh Vafadari, the organizer of the March 8th 1979 march in Tehran — the only time International Women's Day was celebrated in Iran.
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