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Thursday, December 11, 2008 12:00 AM

Ayatollahs cry prostitution!

An Iranian dating site is banned for encouraging sinful behavior.

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  • Thursday, December 11, 2008 12:54 PM

    x

    on the surface it doesn't make sense, but if one of the choices was "iranian temporary marriage," then that could indeed mean prostitution. since unmarried men and women can't rent a hotel room together in iran, you can apply for a temporary marriage that lasts say half an hour and get a hotel room together. it's a common tactic for johns and prostitutes to do this kind of thing. unfortunately it's also a common tactic for people who are trying to date. surely the ayatollahs know that temporary marriages are used for dating as well as for prostitution, but if you throw the baby out with the bath water that's fine with them - they have almost as much beef with dating as they do with prostitution.

    here's a bit from an nyt article about temporary marriages:

    "The couple could have gotten married for as short a time as a few minutes or as long as 99 years. They could have specified whether and how much money Maryam would be paid as a kind of dowry, or how much time they would spend together."

    http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/tmpmrig.htm

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