Sex in the Time of Mullahs

The Light and the Dark

Sex in the Time of Mullahs beautifully captures this week's writing theme of "the light and the dark" as we venture into the secret nightlife of Tehran, the parties in its baghs. Although on the surface, Tehran may seem depressing and hopeless with its lack of jobs and strict control over the personal lives of its citizens, underneath, there is a wild party scene where people openly swap sexual partners, artists congregate, and people feel free to dress how they please.

Initially, we feel hopeful that everyday Iranians have found a way to overcome their totalitarian government. Perhaps they have found a way to let their culture thrive and bloom.  But then we see that this totalitarianism taints everything, even these freewheeling parties. For example, reformists who bring girlfriends haven't actually broadened their perspectives on women's rights, they just relish the opportunity to have younger girlfriends. The parties don't actually call into question the philosophies behind their repressive narrative.

At one such party, our narrator observes "how at once sullen and alive it all seemed. Alive because people had carved out a space where they could drop their layers of pretense.  Sullen because their revelry was tinged with more darkness than light, reflecting all the thwarted ambitions, the lost opportunities, the violations and stolen freedoms that defined their reality outside. There was no sparkly air of carefree fun here.  In the pressing of flesh people were negotiation far more than pleasure -- they were trying to assert free will, anxious to feel included in something that was not sheerly a grotesque lie."

Of course, how could we think repression could be so easily ignored? So easily escaped and overcompensated?  The dark will always cast it's shadow over the light.

Nonetheless, Moaveni still ends her essay with an upbeat tone. She still believes in Iran's sexual revolution, but believes that for it to be successful, it must be uniquely Iranian. It cannot be covered up by the expensive hedonism marked by designer labels and foreign vacations, i.e., it won't be found in the parties held in the wealthy neighborhoods that uphold the status quo. It is this revolution that will be able to fill the darkness with a new light.




Comments

  1. ElmazwritesNovember 29, 2017 at 6:44 AM

    Melody you capture the complication of a generation caught in the in-between--the light and the dark. it's interesting that the party has the same oppressive feel as the life they are escaping
    e

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