He Shoots, She Scores!!
I'm so glad that I was sitting down when I came upon this news article, because I would have fallen over in a dead faint:Imagine! For the 1st time since 1979, Iranian women will be allowed to attend sporting events in public, in front of men, in stadiums! Women had been barred from sporting events because (at least officially) of the "cramped nature of sporting events (c_i_r: elbows touching?) as well as the profanities shouted by male spectators" (c_i_r: because men don't swear at home?). President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has pointed out that "the lifting of the ban would 'promote chastity' among all Iranians". I don't quite understand how the two go hand in hand, unless Iranian women are particularly homely (which I know they're not) and would thus pose no temptation to men, or further protection will be taken to desexualize them - maybe by double burqa-ing them. I just don't get it. Anyway, yeah for the ladies. Hope they get complimentary big foam "we're #1" fingers at the gates.
The Physical Education Organization's security chief conceded that the new policy would "take time to implement ... we need time to furnish the stadiums with the necessary means to accommodate them. There is the issue of separate toilets and separate entrances and exits". I was actually smiling until I finished that last sentence. So in effect, allowing women to attend football matches will promote chastity but allowing them to share doorways with men will promote licentiousness. Go figure: Sodom & Gomorrah in the stands. This after President Ahmadinejad said "... unfortunately there are some who think the only solution is enforcement action and building walls in the streets" to separate the sexes. He might want to rethink the separate entrances plan. Seems to be an architectural conflict of interest there.
Still, I'm thrilled for the womenfolk - but I'll truly be happy when the FIFA Women's World Cup is held in Tehran. Or better yet, when Iran stops executing children. Oh well, one step at a time.
posted by Cat in Rabat ( كات في الرباط) at 9:47 p.m.
6 Comments:
C in R,
A couple of thoughts. Indeed, many, many thoughts, but I'll share two of them:
Firstly, "how", you wonder, "will allowing women into sports events promote chastity?" Well, I know you're not a huge sports fan, but let me sum it up in one word: BEER.
You see, all the men-folk will be ever-so-happy to see women in the stadium, rubbing elbows with them and all, and they'll drink ever more than usual, so they'll either pass out when they get home, or they won't be able to get it up.
See? Chastity.
Secondly, you were aghast at the separate entrances, but surely you recall seeing schools constructed in your home country, as recently as the 1950's with "boys" and "girls" etched in stone or concrete over the doors. Surely you remember bars in Ontario, with a separate entrance for "ladies and their escorts" - yes, by the time we were drinking they were remnants of a (not so distant) Victorian past, but they were there, in our country.
Not that I'm excusing Iran for their sexist requirement of separate entrances, but I guess it's a good first step that their being allowed into sports stadiums. Baby steps, baby steps...
Oh beer! I forgot! - doesn't Molson's have the licencing franchise for Iranian stadiums??? Or do they have Afghani sporting arenas? Or maybe it's Labatts.
I think it's Propeller...
Chrisso?
Well, we don't tend to sponsor sporting events where at half time they hang children. Labatt's maybe.
Good to know Chrisso. If I were home right now, I'd crack open a bottle of Propeller Bitter. But I'm not. Have you thought about distributing Prop in Morocco?
The Bitter is great. The Porter is even better. OTOH, the Bitter is a better summer beer, so ask me next month what I think. Sitting on my back porch in Rosedale, with the verdent ravine filtering the evening sun...
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