A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting on my couch waiting in anticipation. The United States Women’s Soccer Team was about to play Netherlands in the 2019 FIFA World Cup Final. Little did I know, they would win 2-0, thanks to goals by Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavalle. If I wanted to fly to Europe to watch this game in person, I could have. No problem. I wouldn’t have to worry about the fact that I was a woman or the fact that my country bans women from soccer stadiums.
Twenty-nine-year-old Sahar Khodayari didn’t have the same luxuries. She could not dream of doing something as simple as going to watch her favorite soccer team, Esteghlal, win a victory in person. She could never dream of finally wearing the color blue while cheering with thousands of others in a large stadium. So she did the only thing she could think of. She pretended to be a man so she could enter an Iranian soccer stadium and watch the national team fight for a victory. This bold act landed her in trouble, and she was arrested by the religious police for appearing in public without a hijab, among other infractions. Eventually, she went to trial and suffered through imprisonment while trying to manage her bipolar disorder (it is also rumored that police officials got in the way of her treatment). After trial, she somehow discovered that her full prison sentence could be up to two years, so she set herself on fire instead of suffering in a potentially dangerous prison with a mental disorder for trying to go to a soccer game.Sahar is known as the “blue girl” on social media because that is the color she would wear in honor of her favorite soccer team. I resent her famous name. Due to the nickname that went viral, people have forgotten her actual name. I won’t let that happen. Her name is Sahar Khodayari, and I don’t want any of you to forget it. She was a real person, with a future, a family, and hopes and dreams. Sahar cannot die in vain. She sacrificed her life to fight for the rights of her fellow Iranian women, and women around the world.
It is important as a young woman in college to be an ally of women like Sahar Khodayari. If those with privilege don’t acknowledge that they have it and use it to help better the lives of others, nothing will change and people like Sahar will continue to die instead of living under oppression. Don’t let this happen.