TEHRAN: Loosely veiled and wearing heavy makeup, young women line the main streets in northern Tehran, looking out for prosperous customers in new cars.
Such scenes, taking place with ever greater frequency, have become a big headache for Iran’s Islamic rulers who have long tried to eradicate “social corruption” and realize their dream of a puritanical society.
Based on official figures, about 300,000 women are engaged in the sex trade in Iran and the numbers is steadily rising. Newspapers routinely report of a crackdown on “corrupt networks” preying upon naive runaway girls from small towns.
Until several years ago, Iran’s ruling Shia Muslim clergy either denied adamantly that they faced a prostitution problem or blamed it on the “bad influences” of Western culture, transmitted by videos and satellite television.
But with the practice spreading to even small towns closed to outside influences, many are waking up to the reality and looking for solutions other than sheer force.
“CHASTITY HOUSES”: The latest idea is the so-called “chastity houses”, regarded by some religious leaders as a more acceptable version of brothels, to both shelter poor street women and satisfy the sexual needs of men who cannot afford to get married.
The idea has been widely publicised in the Iranian media but, with prostitution long held as a “cardinal sin”, few dare to openly endorse it and most officials have dissociated themselves from it.
At least one senior cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad Mousavi Bojnurdi, has come out strongly in defence of the plan, provoking an uproar among feminist and conservative groups.
“We face a real challenge with all these women on the streets. Our society is in an emergency situation, so the formation of the chastity houses can be an immediate solution to the problem,” the ayatollah told a newspaper. “This plan is both realistic and conforms to the Shariah.”
Under the scheme, couples would register for a temporary, Islamicly correct marriage and receive a licence as well as free contraceptives and health advice.
The licence would legitimize their relationship and make them immune from harassment by the modesty police, who prowl the streets looking to arrest young couples who are out together, but are not related.
Many women are outraged by the idea.
The Cultural Council for Women, an Islamist feminist group, said such houses would be a “deceitful and thinly disguised” name for prostitution.b —Reuters
