What we're watching

There are plenty of fascinating documentaries about Iran. Two that Aisling and I have found especially interesting are Transsexual in Iran (aired on BBC2 earlier this year) and Prostitution behind the Veil (aired on BBC4).

Transsexual in Iran opens with the following text: "In the Islamic Republic of Iran, sex change operations are legal. Homosexuality is punishable by death." Two young men who are planning to have sex-change operations open themselves up to the film maker. During the course of the documentary, it becomes distressingly clear that these two young men are not transsexuals, but simply gay - yet they don't describe themselves as such. In order to be allowed physical fulfilment, they subject themselves to the physical ordeal of gender re-assignment. A top-ranking mullah pronounces that because the Koran makes no mention of sex-change operations, the procedure is permitted by Islam. Homosexuality, on the other hand, clearly condemned in the Koran, is a capital offence.

Prostitution behind the Veil covers the lives of two heroin-addicted women, who undergo temporary marriage (permitted under Sharia law) in order to sleep with their clients. They bring their children with them. The film was made by a Swedish-Iranian director. Powerful stuff.