Article 3039. If a man and woman, who are mahram of each other, do not have the intention of sexual pleasure, they can see the entire body of each other excepting the private parts.
Article 3040. A man should not look at the body of another man with the intention of sexual excitement, and also, it is haraam for a woman to look at the body of another woman with the intention of sexual excitement.
Article 3043. If a man has to look at or touch the body of a namahram woman for the sake of treatment, there is no harm. But, if he can treat her with looking and without touching, he must not touch her, and if he can treat her with touching, he must not look at her.
Article 3044. If one is obliged to look at another person’s private parts for treatment, he must look in a mirror, but if there is no way but looking, then there is no harm.
Article 3045. A woman is allowed to speak loudly before namahram men unless her voice makes the men sexually excited.
Article 3046. Women and men are allowed to hear each other’s voices if they do not have the intention of sexual pleasure.
In 2005 a “Marriage Calendar” (Taqvim-e zanashoui) was published by a religious publisher in Qom. Printed in 100,000 copies, the Calendar contains sex instructions and quotes from religious leaders about sexual issues. Each day is marked as an “appropriate” or “inappropriate” day for sexual intercourse. For instance, according to the Calendar, sexual intercourse in a standing position is improper because it resembles animals’ sexual intercourse. Based on quotes from religious texts, men are recommended to do foreplay before penetration.14 Another example of expansion of “the science of sexuality” is shown in the aims and plans of the government National Youth Organization.15
National Youth Policy
Article 36: Hygiene of adolescence
• Being aware of physical and mental health, physical changes and mental developments during the period of maturation and directing sexual instincts toward preserving physical health and reproduction.
•Providing suitable grounds to obtain the youth’s trust in expressing their problems arising from adolescence with parents and teachers.
•Planning for physical and mental activities to moderate the adolescents’ sex instinct up to their marriage time.
Article 37: Rites of maturity
•Learning the rites of maturity and responsibilities of becoming an adult on the basis of religious laws & understanding the reasons of impermissible premarital affairs between boys and girls.
•Guidance of the youth to acquire restricted useful & necessary sex knowledge and prevention from acquiring unnecessary and perturbing information.
•Immunization of the social environment and removal of probable backgrounds of the adolescents’ sexual abuse in their mutual relations.
•Expansion of the sex hygiene and individual cleanliness among girls and boys.
Article 38: Chastity
•Improvement of the spiritual disposition and moral training of the youth to preserve their health and restrain their sex instinct.
•Preservation of the sanctity and protection of chastity, honour, and family dignity.
* * *
Since sin and crime are seen as equivalent by the authorities, confessing one’s crime (‘eteraf) and repentance (toubeh) are also usually the same. Unlike Catholicism, there is no explicit verbalized confession in Islam, but Muslims are expected to repent (toubeh) alone and in their hearts.16 Summons to make toubeh became pervasive in various forms, such as in official speeches, religious lectures, graffiti, and in textbooks. In the religious handbook, Javanan Chera? (Youth, Why?), we read “One should see him/herself before the Divine Justice [‘adl-e elahi] and make toubeh for his/her bad deeds” (Zamani 1379/2000: 155). Another instance: “We watch her/him from afar and let her/him take his/her own steps. If we choose these methods, our children will easily tell us their secrets and control themselves. This is what faith means” (Ahmadi 1380/2001: 70).
Confession is a central component in the expanding of “techniques of discipline” and control of bodies and society, especially “telling the truth” about sexuality (Foucault 1990: 59): “in confession after confession to oneself and to others, this mise en discours has placed the individual in a network of relations of power with those who claim to be able to extract the truth of these confessions through their possession of the keys to interpretation” (Dreyfus and Rabinow 1983: 174). In the Iranian context the border between confessing (‘eteraf) one’s crimes and one’s sins (almost always sexual ones) has collapsed.
It has been very common for accused journalists, intellectuals, and political activists to “confess” their sexual sins/crimes alongside what they are actually accused of. Political offenses are linked to sexual misdemeanors. Confessions of the individual’s sexual life have become part of politics in Iran. Every day on the streets people are forced by the moral police to confess to their sexual “sins.” Two unrelated persons of opposite sex found in the company of each other are forced by the moral police to “confess” to what kind of (read sexual) relationship they have. The young couples are interrogated separately and then the girl’s story is compared with the boy’s to check if they are lying or not. Prepared for this, young couples adopt tactics to deceive the system. The boy borrows his sister’s identity and even ID-card for his girlfriend, or they prearrange a story to mislead the police.
Elli’s trouble with the moral police is an illustrative example. She told me she was once stopped by “moral policewomen.” They first ordered her to correct her veil and then began to insult her, saying that she looked like a whore. Elli wore an overall on which there were several lines that made an arrow pointing downward. The policewomen claimed that the pattern “pointed at Elli’s cunt” in order to attract the attention of boys.
Veiling and Modesty
Imposing veiling and unveiling has been seen metaphorically by Iranians as a hallmark of the “tradition/modernity” (sonat/tajadoud) dichotomy. While “modernity” took the concrete form of unveiling, one of the first concerns of the Islamist movements is veiling.17 Although veiling and modesty in Iran go back in time well beyond the Islamic Republic, it was only after the Revolution that veiling and sex segregation for all were enforced and given a political and juridical dimension. Sex segregation of public spaces was ordered at the very beginning of the Islamic Republic. Rules prescribing the hejab as a proper and modest attire for women were written into the law. One form of “cultural crime” is bad-hejabi (improper veiling). Women had to cover their hair and skin in public, except for the face and hands. In 1983, Parliament made “observance of the veil” compulsory in the Penal Law, on pain of 74 lashes (Kar 1380/2001: 126–27). In 1996, the Penal Law was reformed and the punishment of bad-hejabi was reduced to prison and a fine. Bad-hejabi is only vaguely defined by the law. “Uncovered head, showing of hair, make-up, uncovered arms and legs, thin and see-through clothes and tights, tight clothes such as trousers without an overall over them, and clothes bearing foreign words, signs, or pictures” (Paidar 1995: 344) can be understood as bad-hejabi. But the term can also refer to the use of nail varnish, brightly colored overalls, or even modes of body movement or talking (Kar 1380/2001: 127). Mehrangiz Kar, a lawyer and activist for women’s rights, states that the fines paid by women accused of bad-hejabi represent a considerable revenue for the judiciary. According to the Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Law, “Unveiled women who appear in public places and in the public’s sight will be sentenced to prison from ten days to