To Regulate Prostitution, Iran Ponders Brothels
By NAZILA FATHIAUG. 28, 2002
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She identifies herself as Susan. At 26 she is slender and graceful, and her long hair is pulled back, giving her face with its hazel eyes and round cheeks an air of innocence. She does not at all look like a prostitute.
''This is the only job I know,'' she said as she rolled up her sleeve to show the scars on her arm from beatings by her heroin-addicted husband, who forced her onto the streets at 16 to help support his habit.
She left him years ago, but she said she continued to sell her body to pay for the private school fees of her 10-year-old son. ''I'll do anything to give him a different life,'' she said.
It is because of women like Susan that a conservative newspaper, Afarinesh, recently reported that two government agencies, which were not identified, had proposed legalizing brothels, under the name of ''chastity houses,'' as a way of bringing prostitution under control.
According to the report, the plan involved using security forces, the judiciary and religious leaders to administer guest houses where couples would be brought together in a safe and healthy environment.
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Many politicians, clerics and women's groups denounced the reported proposal, and the government denied that such a plan was in the works. But the vigorous debate focused new attention to the scale of prostitution in Iran's capital and the government's eagerness to find a solution.
Before the Islamic revolution of 1979, prostitutes were confined to separate neighborhoods. The one in Tehran was known as Shahr-e-no. But the new religious government demolished the area, and prostitution became punishable by lashing.
More than two decades later, prostitutes can be found throughout the country. According to official figures, about 300,000 work on the streets of the capital, which has a population of 12 million. Newspapers reported this month that nearly a dozen brothels had been shut down around the country.
One of the few religious leaders to speak out in favor of ''chastity houses'' is Ayatollah Muhammad Moussavi Bojnourdi.
''I would not have supported chastity houses had it not been for the urgency of the situation in our society,'' he was quoted as saying in the newspaper Etemad. ''If we want to be realistic and clear the city of such women, we must use the path that Islam offers us.''
In fact, the notion of such places is borrowed from the practice of temporary marriage, or sigheh, which is permitted in the Shiite branch of Islam, which predominates in Iran. Such marriages, which can last for a few minutes or 99 years, are especially recommended for widows who need financial support.
The practice allows a couple to marry for an agreed-on period of time by reciting a verse from the Koran. The oral contract does not need to be registered, and the verse can be read by anyone. Women normally receive money for entering the contract.
Temporary marriage has been publicly approved since early 1990's by Iranian officials, particularly Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was president then, as a way to channel young people's sexual urges under the strict sexual segregation of the Islamic republic.
But women's rights advocates object to the concept of ''chastity houses.''
''The plan puts prostitutes and young people together as though they were in the same category,'' said Fatimeh Rakei, a member of Parliament's Commission for Women, who denounced the plan. ''Temporary marriage should be used only for certain cases. It should not be promoted as a way to resolve such social problems'' as prostitution.
Still, several recent incidents have forced the authorities to admit that their policies in dealing with such social problems are not working.
The judge of a revolutionary court in the city of Karaj was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a lashing for forcing runaway girls to work as prostitutes. Two popular soccer players were sentenced to 170 lashes last month after they were arrested at a brothel.
A construction worker was executed in April for killing 16 prostitutes in the religious city of Meshed. He said he had considered the killings his religious obligation.
According to the Health Ministry, H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS and that in the past had been transmitted in Iran primarily by the sharing of contaminated needles, is increasingly being spread by sex. The newspaper Entekhab recently reported that two sisters, ages 16 and 17, had infected 1,100 people with H.I.V.
Most stories of prostitutes involve poverty, drug addiction and abusive families. This month's edition of Zanan, a feminist magazine, published interviews with several runaway teenagers who said they considered prostitution a safe haven despite the severe penalties. One said she had twice been given lashings but found them more bearable than the way her addicted father had treated her.
Susan, who said she did not know much about AIDS, said she would never go to a ''chastity house,'' even if it would guarantee that her sexual partner was healthy.
''How can I trust a government that never cared about women like me?'' she said. ''They just want to fi
By NAZILA FATHIAUG. 28, 2002
Continue reading the main storyShare This Page
Share
Tweet
More
Save
She identifies herself as Susan. At 26 she is slender and graceful, and her long hair is pulled back, giving her face with its hazel eyes and round cheeks an air of innocence. She does not at all look like a prostitute.
''This is the only job I know,'' she said as she rolled up her sleeve to show the scars on her arm from beatings by her heroin-addicted husband, who forced her onto the streets at 16 to help support his habit.
She left him years ago, but she said she continued to sell her body to pay for the private school fees of her 10-year-old son. ''I'll do anything to give him a different life,'' she said.
It is because of women like Susan that a conservative newspaper, Afarinesh, recently reported that two government agencies, which were not identified, had proposed legalizing brothels, under the name of ''chastity houses,'' as a way of bringing prostitution under control.
According to the report, the plan involved using security forces, the judiciary and religious leaders to administer guest houses where couples would be brought together in a safe and healthy environment.
Continue reading the main story
ADVERTISEMENT
Many politicians, clerics and women's groups denounced the reported proposal, and the government denied that such a plan was in the works. But the vigorous debate focused new attention to the scale of prostitution in Iran's capital and the government's eagerness to find a solution.
Before the Islamic revolution of 1979, prostitutes were confined to separate neighborhoods. The one in Tehran was known as Shahr-e-no. But the new religious government demolished the area, and prostitution became punishable by lashing.
More than two decades later, prostitutes can be found throughout the country. According to official figures, about 300,000 work on the streets of the capital, which has a population of 12 million. Newspapers reported this month that nearly a dozen brothels had been shut down around the country.
One of the few religious leaders to speak out in favor of ''chastity houses'' is Ayatollah Muhammad Moussavi Bojnourdi.
''I would not have supported chastity houses had it not been for the urgency of the situation in our society,'' he was quoted as saying in the newspaper Etemad. ''If we want to be realistic and clear the city of such women, we must use the path that Islam offers us.''
In fact, the notion of such places is borrowed from the practice of temporary marriage, or sigheh, which is permitted in the Shiite branch of Islam, which predominates in Iran. Such marriages, which can last for a few minutes or 99 years, are especially recommended for widows who need financial support.
The practice allows a couple to marry for an agreed-on period of time by reciting a verse from the Koran. The oral contract does not need to be registered, and the verse can be read by anyone. Women normally receive money for entering the contract.
Temporary marriage has been publicly approved since early 1990's by Iranian officials, particularly Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was president then, as a way to channel young people's sexual urges under the strict sexual segregation of the Islamic republic.
But women's rights advocates object to the concept of ''chastity houses.''
''The plan puts prostitutes and young people together as though they were in the same category,'' said Fatimeh Rakei, a member of Parliament's Commission for Women, who denounced the plan. ''Temporary marriage should be used only for certain cases. It should not be promoted as a way to resolve such social problems'' as prostitution.
Still, several recent incidents have forced the authorities to admit that their policies in dealing with such social problems are not working.
The judge of a revolutionary court in the city of Karaj was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a lashing for forcing runaway girls to work as prostitutes. Two popular soccer players were sentenced to 170 lashes last month after they were arrested at a brothel.
A construction worker was executed in April for killing 16 prostitutes in the religious city of Meshed. He said he had considered the killings his religious obligation.
According to the Health Ministry, H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS and that in the past had been transmitted in Iran primarily by the sharing of contaminated needles, is increasingly being spread by sex. The newspaper Entekhab recently reported that two sisters, ages 16 and 17, had infected 1,100 people with H.I.V.
Most stories of prostitutes involve poverty, drug addiction and abusive families. This month's edition of Zanan, a feminist magazine, published interviews with several runaway teenagers who said they considered prostitution a safe haven despite the severe penalties. One said she had twice been given lashings but found them more bearable than the way her addicted father had treated her.
Susan, who said she did not know much about AIDS, said she would never go to a ''chastity house,'' even if it would guarantee that her sexual partner was healthy.
''How can I trust a government that never cared about women like me?'' she said. ''They just want to fi
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