“I am ashamed of what l am doing, but what choice do l have?” says Neda, a divorcee in Tehran.
By day she works as a hairdresser, but by night she works a second job as a prostitute, feeling forced into selling her body for sex just to make ends meet.
“I live in a country where women are not respected, the economy is crushing, and the price of everything is going up almost every day,” she continues. “I am a single mum. I must take care of my son. Prostitution pays well, and now l am planning to buy a small house in downtown. This is the sad reality of my life. I am literally selling my soul.”
In 2012, Iran announced a national programme to tackle prostitution. However, according to unofficial reports by non-governmental organisations (NGO) and researchers, the number of people working in the sex industry has only gone up.
Iran’s conservative religious establishment has officially long denied the existence of sex workers in the country. Instead, authorities allude to prostitution there as a Western plot designed to corrupt youth, or blame women for falling foul of unscrupulous men.
‘Pleasure marriages’
Following the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, a number of sex workers were executed by the new regime and brothels were closed down. In an effort to legitimise using women for sex, the practice of what is known as zawaj al-mutaa or “pleasure marriage” – one that is subject to a contract that specifies its length and the amount of compensation to the temporary wife – became more prevalent.
Under Iran’s Shia Islamic system, a mutaa marriage is allowed, and is not considered as an act of prostitution. The practice is widespread in the holy cities of Mashhad and Qom, which are visited by Shia pilgrims from all over the world. Videos on social media show Iraqi men seeking sex in Mashhad, where officials argue that they are just engaging in temporary marriages.
Now, there are countless online services offering a mutaa marriage in Iran, including on Telegram and WhatsApp, with such groups claiming they have governmental approval.
Iran has been under punishing sanctions for decades, and money extracted from oil and gas exports is mostly funnelled to the regime’s nuclear and military projects. Ordinary Iranians suffer from the daily crisis of finding food, water, and accommodation, but regimes and those close to them find themselves indulging in French wines, dining, and European consumer goods.
Iran may be facing a perilous economic abyss, with an empty treasury, historically low oil prices, and the ongoing damage from Western economic sanctions, but one indicator is skyrocketing: developers have broken ground on a record 400 shopping malls across the country, with 65 in Tehran alone. In these shopping malls women are looking for men who are willing pay for sex.
One driving force behind the soaring cost of living that underlies the growth in prostitution has been the economic sanctions imposed by the US over Iran’s nuclear programme. Since last year, inflation in Iran has gone up 48.6%. Unemployment has also risen and for many who do have jobs, they aren’t paid well.
Against this backdrop, there has also been an increase in the number of men aged between 20 and 35 who have sex with women in exchange for getting paid. The phenomenon of male sex worker is spreading amongst major cities in Iran.
Judging women by the degree to which they respect the compulsory hijab is nothing new in Iran.
In the past, hard-liners have accused so-called “badly veiled women” of being responsible for everything from social ills to natural disasters.
But recent comments by the Friday Prayer leader of the central Iranian city of Saveh, who likened women who don’t fully respect the Islamic head scarf to prostitutes, appear to mark a new low.
Hojatoleslam Seyed Ebrahim Hosseini reportedly made the comments during his Friday Prayers sermon on June 2. He criticized those who are against compulsory veiling while defending it as one of Islam’s “most-pressing issues.”
“The white veil, like those green and purple wristbands — they all smell of sedition. They’re all like flags that prostitutes would hang over their roofs in the [Dark Ages],” Hosseini said, according to an audio recording of his comments posted online.
Hosseini appeared to be referring to a campaign called White Wednesdays, in which some women have been wearing white veils in public for one day each week. They have also recorded antihijab messages and posted them on social-media platforms such as Instagram.
The movement was launched by exiled Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad, who has been campaigning against the compulsory hijab from outside the country.
Hosseini’s reference to green and purple wristbands appeared to target both supporters of Iranian President Hassan Rohani, who chose purple as his campaign color, as well as backers of Iran’s opposition Green Movement, which was formed to protest alleged fraud in the 2009 presidential vote and which was violently suppressed by authorities.
At some of Rohani’s campaign events held before the May 19 presidential vote, loosely veiled women were seen holding signs criticizing the hijab and the morality police who enforce the law. Many Rohani supporters also wore purple and green wristbands and other items.
The hijab became compulsory following the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the creation of the Islamic republic. For nearly four decades, tens of thousands of women have been harassed because of their appearance. Those who fail to fully observe the hijab are fined, detained, and publicly harassed by the country’s dreaded morality police, which launches regular crackdowns, especially in summer.
Hosseini’s comments have been condemned by several lawmakers and activists, who have accused him of insulting Iranian women and of being overly sensitive about their political activism.
Lawmaker Hojatoleslam Abdollah Mazani blasted Hosseini in a post on the popular Telegram app used by millions of Iranians. “Those who wore green and purple wristbands were 24 million Iranians who voted for Rohani,” he wrote, adding that if Hosseini was worried about women wearing the hijab, he should guide them while also respecting “Islamic ethics and manners.”
“Based on what religious, moral, and legal right do you allow yourself to accuse millions of Iranians of depravity from the sacred tribune of Friday Prayers?” he asked.
Lawmaker Parvanhe Salahshouri was also critical of Hosseini’s comments. “I don’t understand why some are so concerned about women’s political participation. And such concerns aside, why the insults?” she was quoted as saying by the reformist Sharq daily.
She said Hosseini should apologize to women to preserve the “dignity” of Friday Prayer leaders.
Women’s rights activist Minou Mortazi Langaroudi said relevant authorities should interfere and prevent a repetition of “such insults.”
Sharq journalist Ameneh Shirafkan wrote on Twitter that several different women’s rights groups are considering launching a formal complaint against Hosseini.
Hosseini has not publicly commented on the controversy sparked by his comments.
Friday Prayer leaders are said to receive their talking points from the office of Iran’s highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Friday Prayers are often used as a platform to sends messages to Iran’s “enemies,” usually the United States, and critics of the establishment.
The physical appearance of Iranian women, and their hijab habits, have been a recurring theme at Friday Prayers.
In an episode that made international headlines in 2010, Tehran’s temporary Friday Prayer leader, Ayatollah Kazem Sediqi, suggested that women who don’t respect hijab rules fully and who wear revealing clothing instead increase the risk of earthquakes.
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