Carmen's Reviews > Iranian Love Stories

This is a depressing book about living in Iran. Like living in any place where religion makes the rules, it is an oppressive and horrifying patriarchy. Both men and women suffer a lot. Sex is forbidden outside marriage. Women then resort to what born-again Christians do - everything but. They give blowjobs and have anal sex in order to remain 'virgins.' The government can do virginity tests at any time, resulting in a lot of women being raped. Rape is quite common because of the reality set up by religion in which any woman who is not 100% beyond reproach is then considered 'dirty.' 'Police' can stop you at any time and pretty much do whatever they want to you.

Men are beaten and forced to pay bribes if caught doing illegal things like drinking alcohol or listening to rock music. Men are forced into marriages they don't want, just like women. Women can be forced to take virginity tests before marriage. Men have mandated military service which has been extended to longer periods.

The only ones not suffering are the mullahs, who make the rules. They fuck prostitutes and claim it is okay because of 'temporary marriage' that they can enact and then annul. The rules they make apply to everyone except them.

The government surveils everyone constantly and is always alert to catch you doing something 'bad.' There is very little privacy and you are literally risking your life by having sexual relations outside of marriage. Everyone lives in constant fear.

It honestly sounds like a fucking nightmare, and it's important to remember this is where all religions pretty much end up when allowed unlimited power. This is why it's important to keep religion out of government.

There's already a lot of move towards the Christian right trying to take control in a lot of spaces right now in the U.S. of A. People have fear of them overturning Roe vs. Wade, then coming for banning all gay marriage and gay adoption etc. On the micro-level they are working hard to get books banned in both school and public libraries, which is scarily effective. They take over the local boards and then just enforce their religious beliefs on everyone else. A lot of anti-Semitism is on the rise, and a lot of book-banning is occurring of books written by Jewish, POC, and LGBTQIA+ authors. Eventually are we going to get to a point where the Holocaust will no longer be taught in schools? The remaining Holocaust survivors are dying out. They banned The Complete Maus in a TN school district, ostensibly because it had a swear in it and a naked mouse in it, but really it is because they are anti-Semites and want to erase history, and although TN is in the news right now, it's happening EVERYWHERE.

Of course, it's not really about religion, it's about control. Controlling other people is the biggest desire of these groups and the people behind them. Religion is simply an effective and emotional and powerful way to get support for totalitarianism.

TL;DR - Read it and weep. Pity Iranians? Never think 'it can't happen here.' Please look at history of other countries, current events in other countries, and then take a look at your own country. I'm not only talking to U.S. citizens here. Do not feel secure and like your country is immune. It's not.