FREEDOM - GIVING VOICE. TO THE WOMEN OF IRAN - VIDEO EPISODE PART 1

Hi guys, welcome to Cat on the Loose.

This is a very special episode because you guys that listen to my podcast know most of my episodes are fun and silly.

We make fun of all kinds of dating relationship situations, but today I want to shed light in a topic that I think is so important to women all over the world.

I want to talk about

what Iranian women face to this day in Iran.

And I brought a very special guest.

She's one of my best friends in this world.

She's a very special woman.

She's incredibly successful.

She's the owner of one of the top luxury concierge companies in the world, Privé LA.

So let me introduce her first of all.

Hi, Maj.

Hi, guys.

How are you?

Happy to be back.

I know.

Thank you for doing this.

But this time, I know you've done Cat on the Loose before, but it was always fun and silly.

But because you were born in Iran and you came to the United States with your family very young, I invited you to talk about the situation that women still face in that country.

And I can only imagine how heartbreaking it must be for you when you see the news.

And you were kind enough to say, yes, let's do it.

Yes.

So we're doing an audio and video episode.

And before I get started, this is what I want to mention to put this in context.

You and I are business women.

We

most of the time we take for granted the most simple things that we do like today we are on a one-night business trip, thanks to you, thanks to Privele.

We are in a gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, magical place

called

Elsewhere,

which is a hidden, adorable, to die for.

I don't, I don't even know if I call it a hotel, right?

It's like a little hidden away place.

Yeah.

And it's insanely beautiful.

It's nature, nature, nature.

It's so peaceful here.

No television.

We're staying in a gorgeous bungalow.

and you if you see the videos you think like we're in the middle of nowhere but we're literally like 10 minutes from malibu but it's incredibly nice to be here so thanks for bringing us

and as like i was gonna say the little things like traveling and doing whatever the hell we want like basically getting in our car and going places

saying whatever we want, deciding who is going to be our client, sleeping away from home, whether or not we are married, breaking up with a boyfriend, dating multiple people, whatever it is that we want to do, and dressing, right?

Which is always a hot topic because of social media.

If we want to dress sexy, we can dress sexy.

If you don't want to show your body, don't show your body.

But if you want to show your body, we can do whatever we want in this country.

That's one of the biggest blessings for all of us that live in the United States and most countries out there listening to this podcast.

It's not the case in Iran, correct?

Correct.

So let's start with that.

I saw a few days ago, because I honestly don't know a lot, and ever since we became such good friends, I mean, the population of

Iranian people in Los Angeles is huge.

I have a lot of friends from Iran, but to be completely honest, I never really paid a lot of attention to it.

I know bits and pieces of what's going on there.

But once we became such close friends, I'm like, okay, I want to learn more.

And I do have other dear friends from Iran, but you're a woman and you're my dear friend.

I'm like, I need to learn more about what's going on.

And a few days ago, I saw in the news that there is a new governor.

The government, you can help and explain to us what's going on.

Now, and there were like three ladies on the beach, covered head to toe,

in how do you call that?

That was just, yeah.

How do you call it?

Hijab.

Hijab.

And they said that the new government, one year after

what happened with the movement with maximum which i'm sure then everyone knows the entire world knows about that movement it was like a few

few i would say like yeah it was a couple of months ago

actually my apologies it was a few months ago started in september and um

and after that movement they're enforcing a new

again they're enforcing a new law So they go back, okay, so how does this work?

Because I think it was one year ago that that girl got murdered.

Was about, yeah.

She was protesting.

It's been interesting time.

It's been a year, wow.

Right?

It's gonna be a year in September.

It's gonna be a year in September.

She was protesting.

And I wanna make this very clear.

That's one thing that our journalists...

She wasn't actually protesting.

She was actually visiting from a...

She was living in the small city in one of the cities in Iran and she was visiting the capital which is Tehran was visiting with her family and some of this

they call them like sepah or like

enforce like they deal with hijab and you know controlling they are the um yeah they enforce social codes

so to speak yes yes and they they approach her and they tell her your hijab is not really like

appropriate and which is surprising because like in Tehran in the capital like the girls the way they wear their hijab it's like so open and it's not really covered they don't really covered as much to be quite honest and and I don't know why they pick on her maybe she talked back to them and that the whole thing started and then

she got arrested and

she got killed yesterday's but she died in the hands of the police yeah her name was, and tell me how to pronounce, because I hate mispronouncing names, Mazza Maza.

Mazza Amini.

Mazza Amini.

Yeah, I love the and I love pronouncing the names and I'm learning as we go.

She died, and there were so many protests all over the world.

And as time goes by, the protests kind of die down, and then nobody talks about it.

Do you think this is the main reason why now they're reinfor making laws even more strict because the media is not paying attention again?

Yes, it's like

the Iranian government is so complex, and

you know,

I mean,

first of all, I think this is something I wanted to make it more clear to the people or to the audience, whoever is listening to this, that have not enough knowledge about Iran, the history, the culture, you know, and it makes me really upset because,

you know, people be judged based on what what they see on tv or hear on media you know and kind of like

everything they see or hear it's not the truth and we know that about media you know so um you know i mean if if if if any you know if you know about iran iran or persia the persian empire you know been iran forever and ever and it was one of the first countries exist i i mean maybe don't come and attack me guys maybe egypt was like after you know so but we're not here to give it away.

No, like full disclosure.

Yeah, I said to you before we started the podcast, you're not a diplomat.

You don't have to know anything.

Yeah.

You came to the United States when you were very young with your parents.

But of course, you were born there.

It's your people.

It's your family.

So this is why I want to try to clarify this.

Because even for me, I'm not from Iran.

I do come from a country.

Luckily, it's a very free country, but it's a country of horrific, horrific crimes and horrific scandals, and a disgusting government that I don't even want to talk about.

And it breaks my heart when I watch the news.

So, I can imagine for you when you watch the news and you see this woman die,

these ladies have to be covered head to toe, and there's all this enforcement.

It must make you feel

some kind of I don't know pain or whatever feeling it is towards your coach.

Yeah, I mean, what makes me this

you know sad, I would say like it makes me the most upset is is honestly, it's just obviously not hijab so much.

It's about the whole, like, what happened after the revolution.

And, um,

sort of, I don't know if I should say that, but I'm going to because this is a free country.

Yes.

So, I mean,

again, I wasn't born at the time, but based on the, you know, books I read, you know, and my parents and, you know, talking to,

you you know people have more knowledge about the the history of you know my country you know they're older than me so based on that you know this is what I heard is when the Shah Shah of Iran was

at the time was in Iran and he was ruling the country and you know he was I mean I wouldn't say he was doing a fantastic job but he you know he was a great leader you know we were kind of they call it the European Middle Eastern European country we're like a friends in Middle East you know in Iran and unfortunately

the other countries like US England and France was had an involvement once removing shah because they didn't want Iran to be a very powerful country in Middle East because it was a big you know threatening for the other countries I just mentioned so

I think

so so that's why they wanted to replace the Shah of Iran.

And before the revolution, there was no hijab.

We were just like any European country.

Oh, really?

You know?

I think that's something that most people don't know at all.

I did not know that.

Yeah.

It was 45 years ago, 1979, when the revolution happened in Iran.

And we were...

we were with like kind of like the England, you know, king and queens and you know, we didn't have hijab.

It was none of this bullshit.

Just like any any other country european countries you know and or

and after the revolution happened this new government came and another thing is like a lot of people think iranians are arab which

i mean love to all my misconceptions yeah i love to all my

you know arab uh friends and family and you know we're just not arab or we don't speak the same language we speak farsi you know and our religion our first religion wasn't even Muslim, it was Arastian,

and it changed, you know, after the Arab came to Iran, and war happens, and then, you know, there,

and then they brought the Islam and Muslim.

So, after the revolution is when the laws changed, the government, new government, the new government, the new government came Islamic Republic of Iran, and the new government, then they enforced hijab, you know, and

a lot more things, right?

It's not a country, so this is what what I want to shed light on.

To this day, so after the revolution, that was a long time ago, a few decades ago, to this day, women are not free to do whatever they want in several aspects, correct?

Yes.

For example, I don't know if it's true or not, but just a few things that I was reading last night and trying to figure out.

By the way, yeah, before I forget, I want to mention,

we don't know exactly what happened, but the women that have that were protesting in iran and that protest in iran they make one thing very clear they are not even protesting against the government they're literally just protesting to have more rights and more freedom

about their more rights and their freedom it's nothing to do with the the government with the government well we don't want

we don't want this government right right right but again we need to because this is exactly what happened there was like i mean i don't think the iranian people with the reason the Shah left, they was part of it, but I think there was bigger power behind it for that movement.

So it's the same thing.

You know, we need to make, we need to know who is going to be replacing the new government because, you know, once you don't have a government, a lot of things can happen to the country, you know.

And

obviously, we don't want things to get worse, you know, not but definitely Iranian people.

I'm not speaking of all the Iranian people, but the majority of I know they don't want this government and there's a lot happening people don't know even the media cannot cover you know what so how is the okay let's start one thing at a time yeah how is the me is the media free there or is does the government control it

so they control what people listen to they control what they see on the internet kind of like China does Russia yes so they block a lot of things

to control it that's yeah I think that's heartbreaking yeah because when you keep people from being informed they start leaving like a lot of them in their own world and that's horrible um how is communication do you and your family still have relatives there i do have yes i do have family yeah i do uh families friends um i mean i can give you guys a couple of examples like you know these are real true stories you know a few years ago was another

movement happened i think it was i think it was the green movement.

If you follow the history, you know, about Iran, you heard about that movement.

And it was a similar thing.

This really young girl, she got killed in the protesting.

It was about like all the students from the university started that movement, if I'm not mistaken, it was a long time ago.

And actually, one of my friends,

his brother got killed

in the protest and and this is not making it up this is true story and um

you know they couldn't and he he wasn't even actually protesting he was just like walking the same like an innocent yeah and it's a victim and then he got arrested and then the what they put

what happened you know what they really the family went through I cannot even tell you guys.

It was just heartbroken.

Again, I still thinking about it makes me want to cry.

And like

they wouldn't even show their son, you know, their

dead body, you know.

And when they did, I can't imagine what they did to him in terms of like abusing him and couldn't even like, you know, recognize the face.

Wow.

And it is heartbroken.

It's, it's, it's so,

and, and he didn't do anything, you know.

Yeah, but once like, like, like the girl that got killed last year, uh, once you're in the hands of this government, yeah, apparently, they're not listening to you, they don't care if you did it or not, right?

Yes,

so, but the people that are

I have to say, I feel like any country, if they just, even in the US, if people go and protest in their nest government tomorrow, I mean, there will be some enforcement, you know, there will be some, but I guess like, but we like to believe

here, it's like a little more people.

I'm sure they beat the shit out of it.

Some people.

We can't just say this is just happening.

No, of course not.

When

the African people,

George Floyd happened.

Of course, there is insane violence in the United States as well.

I completely agree with you.

There is things that are horribly unfair.

It's a little different there because

the people have less power

to control what happens to them.

But the your friends or family that are there yes is it easy like to call them and say hi how are you doing you can talk obviously you have to be careful what you say can but can you do they have like whatsapp what's up social media oh yeah i mean can

almost anything they want another thing about iran maybe you guys don't know like iran is a center of fashion if you see the girls and guys the way they dress we have like the the type of cars they these people drive and everything there you have to you have to buy cash there's no credit card.

Oh, really?

There's no loans.

So, if you buy in LA, so either you have cash or not.

Yes, like if you buy a Ferrari, like, you know, you pay cash.

If you buy in a mention, you buy cash.

Like, it's like people have some serious money there, you know.

And, like, it's like the underground parties I've been and seen in Iran, never even seen it in LA.

So, they're very bougie.

Oh, my God, very bougie.

You know, there is a whole another word people don't even think about it.

It exists in Iran in terms of Iranian people are like they want to have the best thing of everything, you know, in terms of you know design, in terms of cars, you know, fashion, you know,

it's you know they're in tune with what's going on.

Exactly.

But like, okay, so let's say Instagram, social media, can they post?

Because let's say the girls, they, like you said, they buy a fabulous outfit.

They do.

They do.

Can they post?

Oh, look at this outfit and everything without the...

Sorry, how do you say it?

Hijab.

Hijab.

Without the hijab, can they post?

They post.

They do post.

But is it allowed?

No, it's not allowed, but they post.

But are they afraid, like if they see something is going to happen to you?

Because they can find you, right?

Absolutely.

And also, like,

every time there's a movement happening in Iran, they filter the Instagram.

And also, they cut off, they cut off the communications and the internet on people.

Oh, my God.

You know, so yes, it's a lot of unfair,

you know.

Yeah.

So, what is the law now?

Do you know women the minute they go walk out of the house, they need to be covered head to toe?

They have to be covered.

I this is something it just came out a few days ago.

Honestly, I haven't had a chance to like

do more research and call my friends, but

I mean,

I don't know.

I mean, we were hoping

for this government to leave, you know, after this movement.

Um, a lot of people obviously in the US and the the saw of the son of the sh the previous Shah lives in the US

and he was starting some movements and trying to have him back but there's a you know

not necessary like I think people want to have the king and queen kind of you know they want to have just the president and they don't I don't think they want to be kind of like England again that we had previously you know so

unfortunately one thing about my culture is like people they can't agree on a lot of things and everybody's just looking for power and money and what they can get instead of thinking about, like you know, caring about the country and actually

making sure, like, because this government literally selling the country, literally selling the Caspian Sea to Russia,

selling the other part to China, you know, it's ridiculous because they don't care because they're not, they're not Persian, like some of this government, they're Arab, you know, which, which, again, I'm just saying

you don't have anything against

them.

I'm just saying situation.

They're not Iranian, so they don't have that blood and care about the country.

You know, they don't give a shit.

They just want to collect money.

And, I mean, they're billionaires, like the government from Iran.

Oh, my God.

So, okay,

they gotta, but in general, they gotta leave the house covered.

Correct.

They can't show their hair in public, right?

And

they do, but obviously, they can get in, yes.

Yeah, they can get in trouble.

And how about

I'm not sure exactly what the law is, but I also read something like

if they're married,

basically the husband determines everything they do.

Like

if you get caught, I don't even think any Iranian woman would have the balls because if you get caught cheating, they still have those

really,

really, really old.

I think there's a they call it like a stone.

Yeah, they still stone that

is like so middle-aged.

Yeah, I think it's that.

I think even when you get divorced, unfortunately, like even if you have a young kid, the kid cannot, like, after I think after a certain age has to go with the dad.

There's nothing in Iran, honestly, protecting women in law.

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Can women go out alone?

Like you and me, we go out.

Yes, can they like go out to lunch, dinner with their girlfriends, and everything?

All of that, yes.

Can they travel alone?

Yeah, so it's not like the most strict

country.

No, there is other countries that are more strict,

way more strict.

Yeah, so people cannot get divorced.

Like, if a couple is having an unhappy marriage, is there a law that people can get divorced or not?

Yes, of course.

Also, they can.

Yes, yes.

Oh, okay.

Because I read something about that.

Because, like I said, there's so much misinformation on the internet that, like you said, people don't even understand what's going on.

Iran has like the highest, like most educated people.

Most of the people that want to have like top educations and have been to the best universities.

So, can a girl from Iran, let's say you have a friend there and she wants to come visit you in California.

Can she come?

If they gave her a visa, yeah, she can come.

So, but but there is no law in Iran that says tells you to come to the the U.S.

You cannot come to the U.S.

She can literally get a passport and she can travel.

Well, to have to give her a visa, right?

Go through the immigration, yeah, whatever.

But now, yeah, of course.

Yeah, after our break, I want to ask you how your parents got here, and because you were very little, you and your brother.

I wasn't, I was not little, you were seven, right?

17.

Ah, 17.

No, so I wasn't so little.

So you have a lot of memories from being there.

Yeah.

From being there.

So, but I wanna, we're gonna take a two-minute break and I wanna ask you about that.

And then

I wanna delve into the cultural differences because I can only imagine a 17-year-old, beautiful girl from Iran coming.

And I mean, you didn't come to LA, you went to Washington, D.C.

first.

But regardless, it must have been such a culture shock.

So I want to do like this little game and talk about a few things that we do here and how we date and how we relate

to people and everything.

And maybe you can help.

Because, like I said, I think so many times, of course, there's a lot of shit here that I don't agree with, but we take for granted a lot of things that we do every single day.

Small things like you know, we're very fortunate and lucky, which they don't have that opportunities, you know.

Yes, a lot of things happen under the ground, you know, like you know, but like

not it's not legal.

Yeah, so

and having that fear, you know, I remember that, which we can talk about it after the break, going to the parties and like dress like a certain way you have something that something's gonna happen to you yeah it takes a while

that fear

having that fear and anxiety it's not it i think we all i mean i still maybe sometimes you know not now i think you came along yeah i kind of yeah but yeah it's kind of like me as much as i grew up 90 of the time here every time i went back to brazil and i was victim a victim of horrific violence in brazil that's a whole other episode but for so many years even when I was here in the United States, I was always

terrified, like something's going to happen to me, like lock the door.

It's almost like a back memory comes back.

I mean, definitely,

I had some trauma, and yeah, it's it takes a long time, it's a process.

And I have to say,

just the time we've been together, you are so good at pushing forward and getting out of your shell more and more in so many things that we're going to talk about after the break.

So I'm very proud of you, and I'm very honored that you're here today.

Thank you.

Talking about such an important issue: the difference between how we live here in the United States and many countries in the world, by the way, and what the women of Iran still have to put up with, which is insane.

Not just the woman in Iran,

one of in Afghanistan.

You know, there's so many

countries.

We're specifically talking about Iran today because you are from Iran and Iran was in the news this week.

But, yes, as sad as it is, there are so many countries that treat women like property.

We'll be right back.

This is a very interesting, serious,

great conversation with Majde Bahemin.

She's the owner, CEO, founder of Prevele, the top luxury concierge company in the world.

She's crazy, successful, insanely beautiful.

If you guys are doing the audio episode, please go see the video episode.

The video episode is available on Spotify only, but go check it out because she's a sweetheart.

Like, you look, you still look like you're 17, but you're not.

And you're kicking ass

and naming names, but you have this really sweet side of you.

And I really appreciate you doing this with us.

We'll be right back.