BBC Homepage
  • Skip to content
  • Accessibility Help
  • Your account
  • Notifications
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • More menu
More menu
Search BBC
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
Close menu
BBC News
Menu
  • Home
  • InDepth
  • Israel-Gaza war
  • War in Ukraine
  • Climate
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Culture
More
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Health
  • Family & Education
  • In Pictures
  • Newsbeat
  • BBC Verify
  • Disability
  • Trending

#BBCtrending: Iran's washing-up liquid protest

  • Published
    14 July 2014
Share page
About sharing
A piece of graffiti in Iran that's been widely shared, which shows a woman in an Iranian national shirt who is holding up a bottle of washing up liquidImage source, Social media
BBC Trending
What's popular and why

A striking piece of graffiti in the heart of Iran's capital Tehran has been widely shared on social media. It shows a woman holding up a "World Cup" in the shape of a washing-up liquid bottle. What does it mean and why has it struck a chord?

Black Hand is sometimes referred to as "Iran's Banksy". It's unclear whether it's a man, a woman, or a group of artists behind the work, but the graffiti keeps springing up around the Iranian capital.

And one Saturday morning at the end of June, Tehranis woke up to the image of a woman in the national team kit, holding aloft in her soapy gloved hands a bottle of washing-up liquid. The image has been captured and shared thousands of times on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram - not only because of its prominent positioning in the main street in Tehran, Vali Asr, but also because it clearly struck a nerve.

"Every morning, I get up and one of the first things I do is log onto my Facebook… and as soon as I went in, this image was all over my feed," says @Pedestrian, an Iranian student who lives between the US and Iran and who does not want us to use her real name. "I think it was a timely piece of art. It brought the World Cup, the stadium issue and the feeling of being a woman in Iran together."

As we've reported on this blog before, despite repeated protests, women have long been banned from watching football matches in stadiums. In 2012, that ban was extended to volleyball games too - and with the World League currently under way, many Iranians are not happy.

Media caption,

Listen to BBC Trending radio

"It's very cruel, it's unbelievably cruel. Why would you not let them in?" says Sarah Ahari, who played basketball for Iran's national team for three years and works for Small Media, which aims to improve the flow of information between Iran and the rest of the world. "Imagine, Iran is competing in Tehran, and Brazilians and Italians can bring their wives into the stadiums. And Iranians cannot. And you are hosting the match."

As elsewhere in the world, graffiti is illegal in Iran, and the original version of the woman with her washing-up liquid bottle was soon painted over in red paint. Some say it was by the state - others speculate it could have been done by Black Hand, as a further artistic gesture. Eventually it was buffed out completely.

A piece of graffiti by Black Hand covered in red paintImage source, Social media

But the image lives on in social media and is still being shared. "Street art is always political. It's in the street, talking with the people for the people," says SOT - one half of the Iranian graffiti team ICY and SOT who now live in the US.

"It's good that through social media everyone could see that. Some people maybe didn't have any idea about what's happening with women and sport in Iran. But maybe after seeing that piece they'll go and search and find out what's going on there. It's very important."

Reporting by India Rakusen, external

You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, external

All our stories are at bbc.com/trending

Top stories

  • Children to be offered chickenpox vaccine on NHS

    • Published
      52 minutes ago
  • Ministers didn't do cost review of council mergers

    • Published
      6 hours ago
  • Minneapolis school attacker 'obsessed with idea of killing children', officials say

    • Published
      3 hours ago

More to explore

  • 'The whole town is on a high': What Grimsby's dramatic win over Man Utd means to fans

    A man in his 60s with short grey hair fist pumps the air in celebration. He is wearing a black and white Grimsby Town shirt.
  • Lives torn apart in Kyiv after Russia's heaviest bombardment for weeks

    Ukrainian Red Cross members provide first aid to a wounded woman at the site of a Russian missile strike on a residential building on August 28, 2025 in Kyiv,
  • What are Rachel Reeves' options on property tax?

    A woman walking her dog stands outside of an estate agent's window looking at prices
  • The Summer I Turned Pretty fans told to stop abuse of cast

    Christopher Briney, Lola Tung and Gavin Casalegno in a promotional photo for The Summer I Turned Pretty
  • 'Our hot homes are making our children sick'

    A nine year old girl wearing a black print t-shirt stands beside her mother who is wearing a long sleeved green t-shirt
  • Jacqueline Wilson on the 'easiest and hardest book I've ever written'

    Jacqueline Wilson
  • Minneapolis mourns two children killed in shooting - here's what we know

    People gather outdoors while holding candles at a vigil for the victims of the shooting,  at a local park at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday evening.
  • Woman says Zou raped her hours before other attack

    Treated image of Zhenhao Zou featuring his police mugshot. He is looking straight at the camera with a serious expression. He has straight dark hair with a long fringe and is wearing a white t-shirt and black shirt.
  • Spain and Portugal wildfires drive worst EU season on record

    Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite image acquired on 16 August shows multiple fires in northern Spain.
loading elsewhere stories

Most read

  1. 1

    'They think itch all over' and 'fears over tax raid'

  2. 2

    Ministers didn't do cost review of council mergers

  3. 3

    'India put us on the boat like captives - then threw us in the sea'

  4. 4

    White House names RFK Jr deputy as replacement CDC director

  5. 5

    MSP locked out of parliament after secret toilet camera claims

  6. 6

    'It's a chaotic mess': UK firms warn over US small parcel tax

  7. 7

    Children to be offered chickenpox vaccine on NHS

  8. 8

    The Druids Oak is 800 years old - can it help save tomorrow's forests?

  9. 9

    George Clooney film praised as 'midlife crisis masterpiece'

  10. 10

    Minneapolis school attacker 'obsessed with idea of killing children', officials say

BBC News Services

  • On your mobile
  • On smart speakers
  • Get news alerts
  • Contact BBC News

Best of the BBC

  • The ups and downs of a 30-year marriage

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Marriage
  • Bewitching drama from Anne Rice

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Mayfair Witches
  • Lies, forgeries and fraud worth $86 million

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    The Great Art Fraud
  • A celebration of Britain's finest composers

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Great British Classics at the Proms
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • Terms of Use
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Parental Guidance
  • Contact the BBC
  • Make an editorial complaint
  • BBC emails for you

Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.