Spring Break
The big question: Is Islam sexually stifling or feminist?
Blue Balls
Issue date: 12/6/07
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Obtaining condoms should be a simple errand, but if you start thinking about it too much, it can become a treacherous endeavor fraught with peril. Paranoid scenarios start running through your mind: Your hitherto out-of-the-loop ex might catch you in line with a packet of Trojans, the cashier will you give you a horrifying little smile as he hands you change or your fundamentalist RA will have poked a hole in all the free condoms she distributes.
If your paranoia barometer is near its breaking point, take a moment to thank your maker you don't live in an Islamic theocracy. In Iran, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and other states that enforce sharia (Islamic law), a condom found with (or on) an unmarried person is not just embarrassing but can be grounds for corporal punishment.
But junior Jasmine Ainetchian knows no fear. In a visit to Iran in the summer of 2005, Jasmine tried to buy condoms in Tehran in a small sex-political experiment.
"I put a ring on my wedding finger just in case I got caught," she told me.
A master of disguise, Jasmine walked out of the store with a box of illicit contraceptives.
It's difficult to find a sufficiently depressing adjective to describe Iranian sex laws. Premarital sex can be a capital, crime. Iranian law enforces a hadith, or oral tradition, that orders 100 lashes for the crime, certainly enough to kill some people. There's no ambiguity in case of adultery: They throw rocks at you until you die. Luckily, the law is not always enforced to its fullest extent. Premarital couplers are often fined, and punishment is sometimes sidestepped altogether by setting up a sigheh, or temporary marriage.
So for unmarried Iranians, the usual routes to getting some ass are blocked. Pulling over to the side of the road and getting frisky is a distinct no-no. Even holding hands in public with a member of the opposite sex will get you attention from the police. Intriguingly, a same-sex couple holding hands with one another will probably be read as just friends, which is just as well because being gay in Iran will also get you killed with rocks.
If your paranoia barometer is near its breaking point, take a moment to thank your maker you don't live in an Islamic theocracy. In Iran, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and other states that enforce sharia (Islamic law), a condom found with (or on) an unmarried person is not just embarrassing but can be grounds for corporal punishment.
But junior Jasmine Ainetchian knows no fear. In a visit to Iran in the summer of 2005, Jasmine tried to buy condoms in Tehran in a small sex-political experiment.
"I put a ring on my wedding finger just in case I got caught," she told me.
A master of disguise, Jasmine walked out of the store with a box of illicit contraceptives.
It's difficult to find a sufficiently depressing adjective to describe Iranian sex laws. Premarital sex can be a capital, crime. Iranian law enforces a hadith, or oral tradition, that orders 100 lashes for the crime, certainly enough to kill some people. There's no ambiguity in case of adultery: They throw rocks at you until you die. Luckily, the law is not always enforced to its fullest extent. Premarital couplers are often fined, and punishment is sometimes sidestepped altogether by setting up a sigheh, or temporary marriage.
So for unmarried Iranians, the usual routes to getting some ass are blocked. Pulling over to the side of the road and getting frisky is a distinct no-no. Even holding hands in public with a member of the opposite sex will get you attention from the police. Intriguingly, a same-sex couple holding hands with one another will probably be read as just friends, which is just as well because being gay in Iran will also get you killed with rocks.
Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 5
Queequag
posted 12/12/07 @ 12:51 AM EST
"Sexually Stifling" and "Feminist" are two completely different things.
I think the writer needs to get out more: feminists are not asexual beings. (Continued…)
John
posted 12/12/07 @ 9:18 AM EST
The writer is absolutely incoherent starting from the title. Why doesn't the writer be fair and bring in other religions and I am sure he or she will find that other religions frown about the same issues. (Continued…)
anonymous
posted 12/12/07 @ 9:41 AM EST
don't you think all religions probably look down upon premartial sex? im sure if there was a hardcore christian country, premartial sex would probably carry a hefty punishment. (Continued…)
saad ahmad
posted 12/14/07 @ 1:08 PM EST
I remember this movie I saw some months back. It was called ?Snakes on a Plan?. It was a good movie, not Oscar worthy, but in a way, it delivered solidly on its premise. (Continued…)
saad ahmad
posted 12/14/07 @ 1:22 PM EST
I remember this movie I saw some months back. It was called "Snakes on a Plan". It was a good movie, not Oscar worthy, but in a way,it delivered solidly on its premise. (Continued…)
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