Christiane Campbell 10/15/19
CUNY CCNY | Professor Michael “Mike” Druffel
Writing About Iranian Cinema: Conference Paper
Iran has undergone many political changes throughout history, but especially in women’s gender and politics. At the turn of the 20th century, Iranian women were veiled; from 1936 to 1979 (under the Pahlavis dynasty), Iranian women were unveiled; finally, after the Revolution of 1979, when the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) came into power, Iranian women were reveiled. These events signified the imposed constraints of women’s sexuality and submissive role in a patriarchal society, the lifting of those constraints, and then the reimposing of them (but to a lesser extent than at the turn of the 20th century) after 1979, respectively. Although women’s gender and politics is an increasingly popular subject of discussion in Iran, one aspect is sorely overlooked: the sexuality, more specifically the sexual health, of Iran’s young women and how film can be used as a tool for sexual education.
According to the Ministry of Health and Medical Education report in 2012, over 33% of people testing HIV positive got infected through unprotected sex, while “from 1979 to 2011, this number was only 12%” (Journal of Religion and Film, Vol. 19, pg 16). Not only that, but according to a 2015 survey, 33% of boys and 27% of girls under the age of 18 have engaged in sexual relations. This is representative of a sexual revolution in Iran and consequently brings a new urgency to educate Iranian youth, especially young women, on sexual health. However, the traditional concepts and social norms of Iranian society make it taboo to discuss sexual health. This makes premarital sexual activity clandestine, stimulating the increase of sexual diseases and unwanted pregnancies.
However, not all hope is lost. Sexual health is increasingly being discussed in Iran. An example of this is the creation of the app Hamdam, which is the first Iranian Persian-language app about sexual health, including contraceptive methods. This allows tens of millions of Iranian women easier access to information concerning sexual health , which is especially critical to poorer Iranian women to whom this information was not previously available.
If an app has the ability to reach so many women, imagine how much more women can be reached through film. Film is crucial to people’s knowledge on certain topics because media is a primary way that people acquire knowledge and ideas. This is proved through Iran’s history with film. After the 1979 Revolution, Iran began to prohibit certain films from reaching the public. The films that were censored were largely Western-influenced films that had sexual scenes in them. In 1979, 1,800 films were denied a permit to be showed to the public; by 1982 that number dramatically decreased to 19. But, this was not because more and more films were being approved by the Iranian government for showing, but because they were not even bothering to review nearly as many films as in 1979. As a result, there were less films to deny. Consequently, this contributed to the taboo of women’s sexuality, and inherently, the idea of sexual education. Mention of Iran’s censorship of such films is important because it conveys the extensive power Iran’s government has to keep the general population from certain types of knowledge and in turn the power they have to give the general population certain knowledge if they put as much effort into sexual education as they do censorship. As mentioned before, film could help in the fact that it can be utilized as an informative tool standing on the platform of mass media. An example of this is the burning of 180 theatres in Iran, leaving only 256 of them still existing. The amount of people that were exposed to new ideas and information before the theatres were burned was likely staggering, which is only a testament to film being important because it reaches many. Another reason film is important is because it can destigmatize women’s sexuality in Iran. With it being strongly preferred for women to wear hijabs to even temporarily marrying a man to be able to interact with them on a movie set if they are acting together, it is very clear that there is a strong wall of stigma encompassing women’s sexuality in Iran. A final reason film is important is that it can inform illiterate women where books, articles, and apps cannot since you do not have to read (in most cases) film in order to understand it since it mainly functions on visuals and sound. Film can be of great assist in eradicating that stigma and maybe even take Iran back to how it was during the Pahlavi dynasty, where Iranian women were not stigmatized as much and had more freedoms as a result.
Finally, after it being explained why sexual education through film is important, it should also be enunciated what these films should look like- specifically what should be included in them. One thing that should be included in sexual education films are information on all types of STDs (Sexually Transmitted Disease) and how they can be transmitted (vaginally, orally, anally). Another thing that should be included are anecdotes from people who have had or still have a STD, especially how they cope with it emotionally and mentally and how and what treatment(s) they receive for it. This can help Iranian women who have recently contracted an STD. Next, other helpful information that should be in these films are contraceptives and how to figure out which one is the best for each female to use (since everybody is different) to prevent unwanted pregnancy. A final piece of information that should be included are what to do in event of an unwanted pregnancy and seeing what options are available. With this information, the rate of contraction of STDs can decrease or even die out since the general population would be much more educated on the subject of sexual health.
In conclusion, one can see how crucial film can be to Iran, especially its women, in the realm of sexual education. Film is a major platform under mass media in which ideas are communicated to and absorbed by the general public, making it an ideal vehicle to transport information of sexual health to Iranian women. The subjects in films of sexual education that should be discussed are STDs, contraceptives, and unwanted pregnancies. Through sexual education in film, women’s sexuality in Iran can be destigmatized and women can lead much healthier sex lives.
