Parkour is a growing trend in Iran, where more and more males and females alike are learning of the sport through illegal satellite TV broadcasts. Speaking to France 24, a 20-year-old college student explains how Iranian women, like the ones seen in the video above, have a tougher time of it. But they still do it. Because they’re awesome like that. (OK, that last part was all me).
Of course, it’s not easy for girls. While boys practise parkour in the streets, as it is meant to be done, girls often prefer to practise in less-busy places like beaches or natural parks, where there aren’t many people around. We fear getting in trouble with the police or basijis [volunteer militiamen who act as the morality police], who could accuse us of copying a Western fad. We could also get in trouble for practising sports outside designated facilities.
Parkour is a not an easy sport to do while wearing a headscarf and a manto [a style of long tunic worn by many Iranian women] over pants. You have to worry about getting your manto caught on things and making you fall, so you can’t move quite as fast as boys. But we have no other choice.
(via Boing Boing)
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