Once Upon a Time in Tehran

Photos of a swinging Iran when the skirts were short, the dance was the twist, and America wasn't Enemy No. 1.

BY CARA PARKS | FEBRUARY 15, 2012

Tehran University students lounge in 1971. Tehran University was opened to women in 1934, when the college was founded, which was well before most universities in the United States were integrating women into the classroom. After the revolution, women were still allowed to attend the university -- but they now sit in segregated areas. Needless to say, they don't wear miniskirts. Despite the openness of the era however, in 1977, only 35 percent of women in Tehran were literate.

Courtesy of Kaveh Farrokh

 

Cara Parks is the deputy managing editor of Foreign Policy.