Iran Reports (Falsely) That Woman Behind the Anti-Hijab Campaign Was Raped

Call it misogynistic magical thinking. It's what they want to have happen to Masih Alinejad, the exiled Iranian journalist behind the wildly popular "My Stealthy Freedom" Facebook page, so they concocted a story that it actually had happened to her:

A report on Iranian state TV claimed that she had been raped by three men in London in front of her son. She has also been called a "whore" by a popular TV presenter and conservative commentator. 

Alinejad said the report about the rape is a complete fabrication, and is simply an attempt by her opponents to discredit her reputation, and the women participating in the "Stealthy Freedom" campaign. 

A commentator suggested to the state-run Tasnim news agency that women who feel the desire to reveal their beauty were inviting unwanted sexual advances from men, even rape. According to the article, men could not be responsible for giving in to their urges, Alinejad said. 

"According to their imagination, any women who do not believe in the hijab deserve to be raped," she told CTVNews.ca.