Gender studies
The portrayal of the veil in "Persepolis" has also been used to combat the Western perception that the veil is solely a symbol of oppression. The perceptions are challenged in the first chapter of "Persepolis" similarly titled ‘The Veil,’ where Satrapi illustrates young girls playing in the schoolyard with their veils. Lisa Botshon, a professor of English, and Melinda Plastas, a professor of Women and Gender studies, comment that Satrapi’s depictions of the veil illuminate for Western audiences the extent of Middle Eastern women’s agency. The depictions challenge the Western notion that women who wear the veil are helpless and victims of brutal social oppression.