EFAF HOUSE: RELIGIOUSLY LICENSED PROSTITUTION IN IRAN
by Mitra Sistani*
Special to Iran Press Service
KOLN, 4 Aug. (IPS) The growing problem of street prostitution in Iran has called into action national institutions. A highly controversial plan, defended by the Interior Ministry's Deputy for Social Affairs Ms. Ashraf Boroojerdi, met with sharp criticism from women's groups and religious quarters last week.
"Some people believe that talking about such issues is taboo, but they are part of the reality of society, and turning a blind eye will not solve the problem," the BBC quoted Ms. Boroojerdi as saying.
According to the conservative journal "Afarinesh", a committee of several national boards discusses the establishment of a specific institution, somewhat equivocally baptized as Efaf, or Chastity Houses.
Authorities say that Chastity Houses mainly aims at installing religiously legitimate sexual contacts between men and women, who are not able or not willing to enter matrimony. Based on "sigheh", a contemporary marriage arrangement peculiar to Shiite religion, possible couples would be temporarily united according to a bureaucratic scheme.
All applicants have to sign up at a registration center first, which includes a free health check, where contraceptive services and even abortion for unwanted offspring are offered. An advisory center then arranges the couples, while another would issue a temporary marriage license, paid by the man. The couple would then be conducted to specific hotels or guesthouses, where they could consummate their arrangement without police harassment.
The "chastity houses" would not be open to any male -- only those with identity cards proving they were bachelors, widows, or married to women incapacitated by physical or mental illness would be admitted.
Certain Tehran hotels have already been earmarked for possible use, the newspapers said.
The head of the Imam Khomeini Research Centre, named after the revered founder of the Islamic republic, gave his backing to the plans in a press interview Monday.
"It is vital that we set up these decency houses, given the urgency of the situation," Ayatollah Mohammad Musavi-Bojnurdi told the "E’etemad" daily.
Considering the delicate matter, religious officials, the judiciary and the police are designated to constitute the board of trustees of Efaf.
Apart from the fact that sigheh has repute close to legalised prostitution in Iranian society, the question is, who would profit from this new plan. In 2000, a religious official from the city of Karadj, west to Tehran, was condemned for white slave trade. According to other reports, mullah candidates under critical hygienic conditions on the New Cemetery of the Holy City of Qom extensively practice contemporary marriage.
Women's groups and others reacted angrily, denouncing the plan as little more than licensed prostitution.
"It's euphemism for the official establishment of houses of corruption, the normalisation of illegitimate relations, and the destruction of the family", a member of the Women's Social and Cultural Council said.
Ms Boroojerdi nevertheless insists on this plan, describing it as a necessary response to social realities put under taboo.
Given the sharp reactions, it seems unlikely that Efaf houses will become reality.
The plans floated in the press were "contrary to morality and family values," the justice ministry said in a statement Monday, categorically denying any part in drawing them up.
"The judiciary considers that this proposal is completely without merit and warns those who are airing such ideas to stop upsetting public opinion".
But even when the scheduled "Chastity houses" would be set up, it will not help to solve the problem. In a young society with two thirds of the population below 25 years of age, prostitution increasingly appears as the last resort to high unemployment and strictly enforced segregation of the sexes.
According to welfare officials, at least 300,000 prostitutes are working in the country.
Controlling 60 percent of the domestic trade through religious foundations, as well as the clandestine drug and antiquity markets, it appears as if the ruling clergy is looking for a new source of revenue by profiting from socially and politically deprived women. ENDS EFAF HOUSES 4802
Editor’s note: Ms Sistani is a researcher working with German institution.
She contributed this article to IPS