Date :
2007-10-18
www.irandokht.com
Extract from an article by Pari Esfandiari & Richard Buskin.
Although Iran’s conservative government constantly decries the corrupting effects of Western culture, it can do little to control people’s private actions. Consequently, it has sought to make an example of the highest-profile offenders, even when the crime is less than salacious. For example, a TV host was recently fired for being videoed dancing with a bride at a wedding. Perhaps because the government is confused about how to deal with what it officially deems immoral personal behavior, it has shifted its focus toward those who publicly distribute its depiction.
An aboveground porn industry doesn’t exist in Iran, but in this era of camcorders and the Internet, amateur porn has flourished, as it has everywhere. Voyeurism is big there; government-approved intrusiveness and a general awareness of people’s double lives make snooping a habit, if not a guilty pleasure. Initially, people’s appetites were fulfilled by the curious distribution of home movies of ordinary citizens’ parties and family gatherings. Circulated next were videos of celebrities attending illegal mixed-gender gatherings where alcohol was served, as well as photos of the unveiled faces of actresses. Next, more flesh was exposed on film – Women in swimsuits were photographed, sometimes with hidden cameras and cell phones.
The movies grew more daring. Before long, men secretly filmed their girlfriends in their bedrooms, though not necessarily naked or having sex; just being there with a man and without a veil was shocking enough. Sometimes the images were used to blackmail the women, causing scandal and disgrace. Three years ago, a film appeared on the Internet showing 13 high school girls wearing Western-style clothes and dancing without veils at a birthday party. Fearing their parents’ reaction, all 13 committed suicide. Soon after, a man in the northern city of Ray beat his daughter to death when he thought he recognized her in some footage wearing “revealing” clothes and partying with Iranian soccer players. He was mistaken and was sentenced to three years in jail.
Finally, the first overtly sexy film of willing participants began to circulate. A group of young women from the southern city of Ahvaz danced and stripped in front of the camera, a kind of Iranian Girls Gone Wild that did big business. Then came Narges 2, the first homegrown sex movie to allegedly feature a well-known personality – Zahra Ebrahimi – who was acting in TV soap opera Narges. Given the low overhead of DVD replication, it earned those who distributed it a fortune—as well as a possible death sentence. Seven entrepreneurs are currently awaiting their fate behind bars, but many others have jumped into the market; as a result the film can be found in street bazaars, car trunks and, most helpfully, the hands of home-delivery merchants. Among these filmei, as the latter are commonly known, is one Mr. Farhang, whose name evidently reflects his sensibilities, since it translates into English as Mr. Culture.
“Getting home delivery isn’t all that easy,” he says. “You must be referred by someone whom the supplier already knows, and then initial contact should be by phone in order to establish trust. Between 80 to 85 percent of my clients demand porn material from me, and these are mostly wealthy men, although in the case of the Ebrahimi movie women have also been interested in seeing an actress display her femininity within a private space. This is a growing industry. Over the past few months, since the film came out, several new local movies have been on the market—one from the city of Isfahan and another from Kurdistan.”
Mr. Culture confirms that since the Ebrahimi movie hit the streets the government has become more threatening. “Beforehand, if we were arrested, we’d be thrown in jail and would have to pay a fine,” he says. “But now things are more dangerous. I’m frightened.’’
Regards,
Pari Esfandiari
Editor in Chief
|
