That’s actually one of my pet peeves with many people who automatically assume that when we write, we’re trying to represent a “Muslim” viewpoint, when, in reality, we could just be talking about ourselves and our own experiences.

Although I can see what you’re saying, I don’t agree that the reader is that savvy. Sorry. This may seem offensive but too often when it comes to non North American cultures we in North America do tend to generalize. I mean hell, American’s don’t even know the diversity of Canadian culture let alone non-North American ones. I can’t tell you how many times Americans have seriously asked Canadians whether we all live in igloos, or whether they should bring their skis here in the summer (and keep in mind these are rich enough people be able to vacation in Canada, hence probably relatively educated)

Sorry, but if we Canadians get that kind of ignorance directed at our way of life then I honestly don’t have that much faith in what readers think of Iran and other non-North American cultures.

Why do all books about Iran have to ‘represent’ the Iranian people? Lipstick Jihad was a personal account of one individual, not the entire Iranian nation.

As an Iranian myself, I get so supremely annoyed by the defensive reaction of Iranians to any book or film having to do with this country. Whether it’s Persepolis, or Reading Lolita in Tehran, or Funny in Farsi, Iranians just get so darn defensive! You can’t represent a complex country like Iran in one book or magazine article, so Iranians should stop expecting a perfect reflection of their country. It’s impossible.

If the author was intentionally saying “This book represents all Iranian people”, I would be offended myself. But “Lipstick Jihad” wasn’t saying that, it’s just a personal account.

When Americans read this book, they know they’re getting one individuals’ account of an Iranian experience. And considering the other stuff that comes out about Iran by the neo-cons and Islamaphobes, aren’t you relieved reading a more nuanced personal memoir?

This reminds me of the reactions of other Chinese Americans to Maxine Hong Kingston’s fictionalized memoir The Woman Warrior–but I think it is selling outside readers short to assume that we cannot take a memoir as a personal experience rather than representative of an entire culture. And I think it’s problematic that members of a non-dominant cultural group are not socially permitted the freedom to write a memoir–whether or not it’s “representative”–that white men, and to a lesser extent white women, have to share personal experiences without being assumed or expected to be “representative” (which I rather doubt anything can be).

That’s not at all what I meant at all. “Having books of this kind is better than not having them at all” is an answer to those people who say having anything on Iran is better than nothing.

I disagree. There are things that are worse than nothing.

OF which this is one.

And I agree with Fatemeh, this is a personal memoir. Just like “Persepolis” was a personal memoir.

The trouble is that there is so little unbiased reporting out there on Iran … That memoirs become the fact of life. Do you know how many people took that film, or that book as “the” condition in Iran today? I’ve spoken to dozens of them and that’s what irks me all the more.

The problem is that her words are taken at face value and do become a mouthpiece for Iranians.

And I don’t think that’s all coincidental. Just like I don’t believe such horrendous portrayal of Muslims in general is just coincidental. There’s a GARGANTUAN media/political/economic machine that feeds off of this raped image. And the likes of Moaveni – knowingly or unknowingly – play straight into their hands.

I think the problem with this book is that it is taken to represent all of Iran and all Iranians. As an Iranian who grew up in the U.S., I have a lot of sympathy for her feeling out of place in Iran, which is why I read the book in the first place. But her experiences shouldn’t be taken at face value, nor should she be a mouthpiece for Iranians.

This is the main problem with books like these: though it’s a memoir, many refuse to see/market it that way and take it as a comprehensive report on Iranian life, which it isn’t. It’s a MEMOIR, meant to share a personal experience ONLY.

“Having books of this kind on the bookshelf is worse than not having anything on Iran because it provides such an distorted, skewed image.”

I sincerely hope that your statement does not mean that you condone the banning of books, because that is the kind of justification used by paternalistic moral and intellectual guardians of the state to suppress critical thought and debate. There is more harm done in book banning because it insults the maturity and intelligence of many discerning readers. Not to make a mountain out of a molehill here folks, I haven’t read this book but I don’t think it’s insulting or blasphemous; it is merely the writer’s own experiences in Iran and the accuracy of her accounts is open to debate.