But many women defy the law and the government has been engaged in a constant battle over how they should look.

A fresh pain lanced through his side, making him grind his teeth and curse the woman who dared defy him.

He explains, "The point: this woman defies so much conventional wisdom that being in her presence for two-plus hours is a bit of a head trip."

Was someone so incensed that a woman would defy all tradition to wear the crimson?

There is no question, he said, that by giving birth this woman defied not only natural rules but sexual rules.

Some women may defy categorization or, should they choose to play this game, say they do.

But this woman defied a throng of men.

There had been knives swooping through the air and exploding doors, and now these women were defying her in her own dungeons.

Under the Taliban in Afghanistan, for example, some women defied laws against educating girls by holding underground classes.