Students and intellectuals largely supported the revolution of 1978–1979 which toppled the Pahlavi regime, hoping to see a more progressive social order in Iran. How and why they identified with Ayatollah Khomeini, ultimately making an Islamist theocracy possible, has continued to puzzle historians. Leftist intellectuals opposed Muhammad Reza Shah because he was backed by Western imperialist powers and because his reforms were “cosmetic” and “skin-deep.” Although they supported in principle most of the gender reforms of the Pahlavi era, such as unveiling, employment, and greater social and political participation for women, they maintained that modern urban women indulged in a “vacuous modernity” of short skirts, makeup, and sexual frivolity, while the bulk of the population, especially peasant and working-class women, lacked basic requirements of life such as proper sanitation, clean water, decent schools, and adequate housing and food. While these critiques had validity, the leftists' comments also reflected their own deep sense of anxiety about the new gender relations introduced by greater interaction with Western modernity, especially the consumer society. The modernization projects of the authoritarian Pahlavi government might have had a limited scope in terms of the numbers of people who adopted a “modern” lifestyle, but Pahlavi modernization had a far greater symbolic impact, since its images permeated the new public spaces, including newspapers, television, cinema, billboards, the fashion industry, and popular magazines. Many urban homes had television by the late 1960s, and going to the movies was a popular form of entertainment.