How Iran’s Youth is Spicing the Region With Sexual Freedom

You might know Iran as part of the “axis of evil.” Or as the target of worldwide condemnation for their supposed nuclear powers. Or perhaps Iran is winning headlines because of the strict laws touted by its elders, such as a court sentencing a man to be blinded acid.

But behind the public image broadcast to the West, a new trend is seething beneath Iran’s veneer. Sexuality, drugs, alcohol and rebellion have become the main entrees on the plates of Iranian youth. Author Pardis Mahdavi covered this tidal change in her recent book Passionate Uprisings: Iran’s Sexual Revolution, tracking dozens of interview subjects through their lives in Tehran and beyond.

Iranians don’t want a closed society any more, Mahdavi told DigitalJournal.com in an interview. In the book, she writes, “Through discussions in schools, underground music, and popular Web sites maintained by young Iranians, young adults throughout the country are calling for a more open dialogue about issues pertaining to sexuality.”

As related in Passionate Uprisings, classes on adult sex-education are teaching Iranians about STDs and birth control, areas that used to be off-limits. More teens are risking make-out sessions in cars, for instance, even if they get caught and whipped. It’s an act of rebelling against the regime.

Mahdavi spoke to DigitalJournal.com about female empowerment in Iran, the car as an escape for sexually active youth and how homosexual relationships have changed in the Middle East country. Read Interview

By David Silverberg