Lipstick Jihad

Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran is a memoir by Iranian-American author Azadeh Moaveni, first published in 2005. It focuses on Moaveni’s experiences growing up in two worlds as the daughter of Iranian exiles, pretending to be the perfect Iranian daughter at home, while also maintaining a life as a modern California girl to her friends. Her time in college only magnified this clash between her two cultures, and when she moved to Iran to work as a journalist, she searched for her identity amid a culture torn by a reform movement and a violent opposition. Exploring themes of culture clash, the immigrant experience, the conflict between first-generation Americans and their immigrant parents, and Iranian politics, Lipstick Jihad was praised for its in-depth look at the Iranian exile community and Moaveni’s take on the Iranian reform movement.

As Lipstick Jihad begins, Azadeh feels like she doesn’t fit into either American or Iranian culture. She puts on the appearance of a traditional Iranian girl at home for her strict mother who insists that the family not lose their roots, but away from home she tries to fit in and embraces modern American culture. She doesn’t feel like either is fully her, and school and social life give her anxiety. Her mother never fully embraced America, and complains frequently about the culture, while Azadeh embraces it more and more. She and her mother have a huge fight where she tells her mother that no one is making her stay in America if she hates it so much. The narrative then flashes forward, as Azadeh graduates from college in journalism and works abroad in Cairo. Distant from her mother now, she begins embracing her own culture more. She eats Iranian food, and she wants to visit the country herself. When she hears about the student protests in Iran, she decides to visit and be part of history. The year is 2000, and although the student protests are put down, the new president institutes some reforms, allowing a bit more freedom. Although her family and friends are afraid she’ll be arrested or killed, she heads to Iran to write an article and stays with her grandfather. She’s the first American journalist stationed in Iran in years. She starts to fit into Iran, observing the way women and young people interact in this unfamiliar culture.

After a traumatic event where she’s nearly forced into an arranged marriage, she begins to view Iran as a culture in need of massive reform. The Iranian clergy seem sex-crazed, gluttonous, and lazy. As she observes her first Ramadan in a strict Islamic culture, she struggles with the daily restrictions. However, she notices how many of her fellow Iranians are cheating on the day-to-day fast. Even in Iran, she is still viewed as being a foreigner by many people, who always see her as an American by association. What disturbs her the most are the cruel punishments she witnesses for lawbreaking, such as a young man tied to a tree and whipped seventeen times simply for selling alcohol. There are also extrajudicial punishments, such as when women are killed for dressing immodestly. Then comes a crackdown, as the modest reforms instituted are rolled back and the police start arresting people for any connection with western culture. Azadeh starts to realize she’s as much an outsider in Iran as she is in Iran. She’s arrested on her way to vote, and only gets away because of the help of an officer who supports the same candidate she does. The book contains detailed descriptions of the mundane things she does in her day-to-day life in Iran, including going to the first gym with access for women. Iran is slowly starting to modernize, despite the government’s oppressive tactics.



During her time in Iran, Azadeh begins to date. Although she dates a man who is the son of former aristocrats, they break up soon. She decides it might be easier to date an Iranian-American, but the only one she knows is her friend Davar. Although she likes him, they both agree neither of them have romantic feelings for each other. She leaves Iran for a time and goes to Lebanon, where she enjoys the more freeing culture. Lebanon has embraced western culture in ways that Iran has not. However, while in Lebanon, she gets a call that her recent ex, Dariush, was caught with her things, including a bottle of wine. He was lashed for it. She returns to Iran, and her mother visits. She’s distressed at the reports that the western world is creeping into Iran. Soon after this, another riot between the police and student protesters breaks out, and Azadeh and her mother are caught up in it. The final chapter takes place in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, where Iran is blamed by President Bush for contributing to terrorism, and Azadeh finds herself feeling even more out of place in both cultures. She eventually decides to leave Iran, and a few days later she learns her grandfather died. She decides it’s not her country anymore and she has his body brought to America for burial with his exile family. She realizes that while she’ll always love Iran, she’s an American at heart.

Azadeh Moaveni is an Iranian-American journalist and author. A former Fulbright Fellow, she has worked for Time Magazine and the Los Angeles Times, and she followed by Lipstick Jihad with a second memoir, Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran.