My profile Contribute Logout. Being a prostitute in Iran is a risky business: selling your body for money is punishable by death under Islamic law. In recent years, business has been booming, largely thanks to Facebook. Prostitution is most prevalent in large Iranian cities, particularly the capital Tehran. In , revolutionaries launched a crackdown on brothels and tore them down.
Now risking the death penalty, Iranian prostitutes began to work more discretely on the street. Over time, they developed new ways to solicit clients. Even before the advent of social media, prostitutes passed their phone numbers from one client to the next in order to avoid soliciting in the street. Social media provided a chance to expand the network of potential clients. Iranian prostitutes are also active in chat rooms. Screen capture of a Facebook profile featuring offers of sex from multiple prostitutes in Tehran.
There is also another trick: Sigheh, or a temporary marriage. This type of marriage, which exists in Shia islam, legally recognises a short-term relationship between two people of the opposite sex. Generally, a dowry or compensation is paid to the woman. This arrangement can last from 15 minutes to 99 years, and there is no need for a divorce if the couple decides to separate.
For some, this is an excellent way to cover up paid sexual relationships. The Observers See profile. For several years now, prostitutes has been active on social networks such as Yahoo [which is very popular in Iran] and on Facebook. In this way, the prostitutes get the phone numbers of potential clients, who pay before even receiving a service.
The prostitute then sells the SIM card at the bazaar and collects the cash. In the conversation above, a prostitute asks a client to send call credits to her mobile phone as payment. Among the prostitutes, there are girls who stay the night, but they are very expensive.
