Thanks to an invitation from Irene Kotnik, the founder of The Petrolettes — an all-female motorcycle community based in Berlin — I recently had the opportunity to travel to Germany and connect with trailblazer Behnaz Shafiei, the first female professional Iranian motocross rider, road racer, and activist, who was visiting from her home in Tehran. The plan: She and I would meet up in Berlin, joined by three other women, and ride 235 kilometers south through the East German countryside to participate in the Petrolettes’ annual female motorcycle festival and race at the infamous racetrack, Schleizer Dreieck. Behnaz would then continue on to Munich, embarking on her next convention-breaking challenge: to be the first Iranian female to ride a motorcycle solo through Europe. x
So there we were (thanks to a generous loan from Harley Davidson Berlin), riding bikes through the rain on the wet streets of Berlin. As I followed her lead, I kept thinking about how fortunate I’ve been to have had the freedom to be a licensed female rider for over 30 years in the United States. Meanwhile, this 32-year-old woman has spent the last 17 years fighting for the right to even be able to ride a motorcycle in her home country without persecution, both legally and socially.
Although the legalization of women riders in the U.S. began in 1937, for women in Iran, the freedom to obtain a motorcycle license or ride in public has been off limits since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Considered a threat to morality, an Iranian woman riding a motorcycle on the streets can currently get fined, have her bike seized, and even possibly be arrested — particularly if she removes her helmet without her head being covered properly with a hijab.
To that point, even before we started up our bikes, Behnaz needed to make a request that I only photograph her with her helmet or hijab on in order to respect these laws of her country, despite being in Germany. As has been so notably in the news lately, women over the age of nine are required to wear a veil over their head in Iran. So, right out of the gate, I was already struck with the harsh reality of the comparison between our lives as female riders and the restrictions and high stakes that came with her desire to be on two wheels.
Dressed as a boy, for years she secretly practiced alone in the darkness every night until 3 a.m. to avoid being arrested. To learn motocross, she ventured into the countryside, where the watchful eye of the police was less omnipresent.
Yet, even with these risks, a young Behnaz had a dream to ride from an early age. When she was on vacation at age 15, she witnessed a woman illegally riding a motorcycle out in the countryside. From that moment, Behnaz was convinced that women were capable of riding. She became determined not only to learn to ride a bike like this woman, but to race. Luckily, Behnaz had the unique support of her mother, unlike the rest of her relatives; they didn’t speak to her for 10 years as a result of her supposed shaming of the family by riding. In stark contrast, her mother would buck convention by asking male strangers on the street and marketplace if her daughter could borrow their bike to ride. Her mother so believed in Behnaz that she was able to pierce their skepticism and convince these men to loan her young daughter their motorcycles, hence solidifying her passion and foreshadowing her future as a professional racer.
After saving up for seven years from her job as an accountant, Behnaz finally — and covertly — bought her first motorcycle, purchased under the assumption that it was for a male family member. Dressed as a boy, for years she secretly practiced alone in the darkness every night until 3 a.m. to avoid being arrested. To learn motocross, she ventured into the countryside, where the watchful eye of the police was less omnipresent. Her perseverance and talent paid off, and eventually she became good enough to race — but with no place for her to legally compete in her own country.
In response, Behnaz Shafiei spent three intense years lobbying and speaking out publicly, and in 2017, she was instrumental in getting the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Automobile and Motorcycle Federation to loosen the ban on women training and racing professionally. Due to Behnaz’s ongoing perseverance, she became recognized by the Vice President of the Women’s Iranian Racing Federation, Fariba JawanMardi, and with her support, Behnaz was able to get a permit from the Motorcycle Federation to enter the Azadi Sport Complex and Racetrack in Tehran as the first woman to train and race publicly in the history of Iran. She has since become her country’s most celebrated female motorcycle racer.
With this political accomplishment, Behnaz attracted favorable publicity. After extensive media exposure via grassroots social channels, Behnaz was invited by California racer Shelina Moreda to train in the U.S. with professional trainers amidst an established, supportive racing community. After waiting two years for a visa, she was able to finally accept this opportunity to train internationally, and upon her return to her country, she decided to repay these opportunities by helping other Iranian women learn to ride. Since this trip overseas, Behnaz has found clandestine ways — on backstreets and in alleys — to teach over 2,000 women to ride.
Since this trip overseas, Behnaz has found clandestine ways — on backstreets and in alleys — to teach over 2,000 women to ride.
Even with this new, earned freedom, female Iranian riders still have a bigger hill ahead to climb. Today in Iran, women are still not allowed to obtain a motorcycle license nor ride in public. Even the racetrack is segregated so that men do not witness females racing. As recently as February of this year, Tehran’s chief of police set up 100 checkpoints across the city to make sure that no one rides without a license in order to make sure that women are not on motorcycles.*
Despite these hurdles, Behnaz Shafiei continues her fight in the hope that someday she and all of her students will be able to ride the streets together in solidarity. But for this rainy day in Germany, on our adventure to the Petrolettes’ festival for women, we four women did have the freedom to openly ride together. She led us from the freeway to the streets of Leipzig, where she’d picked out an Iranian restaurant. As I sat with her, witnessing her pride and enjoyment of ordering a special meal for us, teaching us about Iranian food and culture, I realized that Behnaz’s love of motorcycle riding stems not only from a courageous defiance of an oppressive regime, but from a sense of celebration. When Behnaz is on her bike, it’s an expression of both resistance and pure joy, and I hope that she and all of her Iranian sisters will soon be riding freely.
*Iran International, “Iran Steps Up Plan to Stop Women Riding Motorbikes” 2/13/2022
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