Free Republic

Iran’s men are having trouble dealing with the brave new world that’s imposing itself on their bedrooms: an unnoticed tide of sexual change that could prove far more important in shaping the country’s cultural and political values than the 2009 democratic revolt-that-failed. “It is still widely accepted,” Negar Farshidi writes, “that a groom can make his marriage conditional on the bride remaining a virgin, and cancel it if it turns out she isn’t. An official Iranian study, Farshidi records, has determined that more than half of all young people in Iran have had premarital sex – which means those certificates...

Young Iranians Turn to Texting December 02, 2007 Parisa Dezfoulian TEHRAN, Iran -- Every night, millions of young Iranians are engaged in subversive, and in some cases, scandalous activity. According to the country’s Mobile Communications Co., more than 20 million text messages are sent within the country every day, with the largest number of messages sent between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. That’s when the youth in the country communicate with one another, often transmitting messages that would meet with disapproval of the authorities. Using cell phones to send text messages has reached epidemic proportions in the country, creating an...