Holly Dagres is an Iranian analyst and commentator on the Middle East specializing on Iran with an emphasis on the intersection of security and human rights. Based in Washington, she is a Libitzky Family Senior Fellow at the think tank, The Washington Institute. Holly spent her teenage years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, from 1999 to 2006, during which time she graduated from Tehran International School. 

 

"When I look at some of my childhood photos from the late 1990s, I can’t help but think I dressed the part of the “cool girl.” But underneath the appearance was a little girl who was constantly made fun of while living in LA.

 

I was too tall for sixth grade—taller than all the boys in middle school (5’10”, a height I still have today). I was also an Iranian girl, the kind who wasn’t allowed to shave her legs and was only permitted the torture of sugar waxing, which left me in tears with every strip pulled. I’d have to go to school with my legs exposed as the hair grew back, and someone even wrote in my yearbook: “Hairy monster.” It was brutal.

 

The few times I stood up to my oppressors, I ended up in the principal’s office. The last time, Maman warned me the police would take me away. Between that false threat and her own razor-sharp tongue, I learned to stay quiet and absorb every verbal beating—a pattern that followed me into adulthood."