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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Re: the STDs.

STDs are epidemic in Iran despite the chador mandate.

Iran's fertility rate has declined far faster than any other country.  As of 2012, the birth rate for women stood at 1.6, below replacement.  It has a lifetime infertility rate of between 22%and 25%, the highest in the world.

The tentative conclusion is that the decline in birth rates is due to STD-induced infertility.  The government has made IVF available very cheaply as a counter measure.

You will notice that the onset of the decline in birth rates lagged by two years or so the Iranian Revolution.  Can we conclude that the chador and other government mandated coverings are associated with a rise, rather than a decrease, in STDs?  In any case, there appears to be no substance to the hijab as protection from STDs argument.

http://www.meforum.org/5000/strategic-implications-iran-std

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That's completely ridiculous - to presume that the decline in fertility is attributed to STDs.  Iran always had a very healthy attitude to birth control - to the point where the ayatollah himself opined and suggested that birth control is a good and reasonable thing to do, and that two to three children is what normal families should have and no more.  Iran never allowed a religiously inspired prejudice against birth control to emerge, and it has also put its state-managed healthcare system behind this decision.

A more likely conclusion (this, too, is a guess) that in Iran, like everywhere, couples are marrying later and having fewer children.  Or that the economy isn't doing well so people aren't hot to procreate. [/quote]

You have ignored that Iran has the highest lifetime infertility rate in the world.  This is the opposite problem of birth control.  It means that a quarter of couples who want children are unable to conceive.  And a very, very common cause of infertility is STDs that have gone untreated or were inadequately treated.

You also ignored information in the article stating that the incidence of chlamydia in Iran has been gauged at 12.6% on one survey and 21.25% on another survey.  The incidence in the US is 0.6%.  This very high rate in Iran is likely a major contributor to the high infertility rate there as this infection frequently is unrecognized and goes untreated and is a known cause of infertility.

Finally, you ignored the implosion in Iran's birth rate, which is highly unusual.  Typically, the trend goes down gradually as women become literate, stay in school longer rather than getting married early, and become more educated with regard to birth control options.

As the article states:  "Iran's fertility decline from about seven children per female in 1979 to just 1.6 in 2012 remains a conundrum to demographers. Never before in recorded history has the birth rate of a big country fallen so fast and so far. Iran's population is aging faster than that of any other country in the world."

A decline like this needs an explanation and the easy ones you give are the ones that explain a normal decline in birth rate but not a precipitous one.  Other factors need to be explored--thus the article posits that high rates of STDs like chlamydia that lead to infertility if not properly recognized and treated are a cause.

This may not match with your theory that hijab=protection from STDs, but these are facts that need to be dealt with together with the prevalence of temporary marriage and continuance of prostitution as a commonplace in the Iran.[/quote]
It actually isn't MY theory - I'm a completely different poster - but I guess you are in the habit of assuming things to fit your narrative, aren't you.

First, let us agree that ME Forum isn't an impartial outlet. It and its donors delights in having bad things to say about Iran.  And that's OK, that's the reality of the think tank landscape where ideas are marketed, bought and underwritten. To wit, it editorializes that "directly or indirectly, Iran's childlessness stems from a deep and intractable national anomie, a loss of personal sense of purpose in a country whose theocratic elite has no more support at the grass roots than did the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in the 1980s."  Who could possibly KNOW such a thing? It can stem from an anomie. It can stem from little green men stealing sperm.  It can stem from no money.  But no, we need to use a clever word like anomie so we'll come up with a reason to do that.

Temporary marriage is a good thing. It is the nearest thing Middle East has to sexual freedom.

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