Lipstick Jihad - Azadeh Moaveni

Azadeh Moaveni is a young Iranian-American girl that grew in in San Jose California. She studied politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. This memoir is about a young girl trying the face the struggles of finding her identity and true self while torn between two places.

Azadeh is just like every other american trying to live their normal life. She went to they gym, listened to the same music we did, and watched the crazy/normal lives of average California teenagers. She is just like any other teenager desperate to fit in with her peers. She is embarrassed by her Iranianness, especially in the wake of the hostage crisis. She put aside the generous amount of differences between the two different cultures she was stuck between for many years and just lived a typical "American Life". But after graduating college, she wanted to explore the other half of her life that she was missing out on. While her grandparents on her mothers side had moved to California, her grandparents on her fathers side lived in Iran. She wanted to get to know more of her family in order to know more of herself. Azadeh moved to Iran after graduating and worked as a journalist for Times Magazine. Because she had dual citizenship, she could live in the Iranian capital, an option generally unavailable to American journalists. Azadeh saw the hidden life of Iran that people outside of their country had no idea about. Teenagers partied, listened to music, had illegal satellites to watch American shows and sports games, and even wore clothing with American characters on them. Iran appeared to be the only Islamic nation on earth which actually adores the great American culture! She decided that in order to portray Iran's young generation faithfully,she needs to live among them and like them. She states "I cannot write about them without writing about myself,"

One of Azadeh's struggles is a decision whether or not to wear a veil at a press conference. She initially thought that if she wore the veil that she wasn't being true to herself, but by not wearing it she would disrespect her faith and she didn't want to live with that.

Being raised as an American, i couldn't imagine life any way else. I would never be able to travel to another country where i didn't have any rights as a woman and could have as my fingertips showing. I couldn't line in a country where they wanted complete control on its females: from trying to peek into their thoughts to making sure their hair is not slipping out of their veils. I truly appreciate and admire Azadeh courage to seek for her identity in a place that she only heard about not lived. I thought that this memorir was a good read about not knowing only the simple side of things but also knowing the rougher parts that you long for. Nobody really knows themselves unless they test their limits and step outside of the norm.