I like the photo. But haaj agha is a bit too old for the lady in the photo, sigheh or no sigheh...

I wrote a blog in old Iranian site regarding this issue. Some of you may remember it. This is a good talking point.

I think it should be abolished. There is NO benefit for anyone.

Mehrdad

Eventhough in a lot of ways it is similar to prostitution, but a lot of sighehees deliberately get themselves pregnant and that adds a lot of problems to our society. Therefore eventhough your expression of consenting adults is democratic but it is problematic.

Dear Amirkabear

First,

My point about consenting adult was in the context of prostitution which I see Seegheh as no different than prostitution and my point for regulating it was more in reference to the societies that have ruled it to be illegal.  Seegheh is a form of regulated prostitution which to me is better than in other societies that has no protection for them.

Second,

To be truly democratic, we need to accept the few bad that comes with the many good because of it.

Case in point:

Freedom of speech, not always serves to be positive and there are many cases that folks abuse this right, but the abuse of it by few should not be a cause to ban it for all others.

Mehrdad

Dear Amirkabear,

One other note I couldn't not laugh about, how can they deliberately get pregnant.  Doesn't the the other party have any thing to do or any control over this matter?

Mehrdad

If it is the same as prostitution then why call it segheh?

But you see it is abusing religion.

You can not stop laughing because you do not know the concept of segheh very well.  Segheh for some is seen as a kind of marriage. This thinking applies to those woman who agree to segheh. Once they get a rich client they tend to be at ease. They want financial security and nothing better than getting a man to pay for them and their children. Therefore yes they deliberately get pregnant. The other party, in this case, a man is low inteligent, he just wants to have a good time.

So based on your description and understanding of Seegheh

One is in it for the good time and the other is in it for the financial reason while the primary interaction is sex.

What do we call that in the West?

Mehrdad

Dear Mehrdad

I think the point of my comment is lost.

Lets look at it this way. Iran's main religion is Islam and prostitution is prohibited. The way sigheh is performed it resembles prostitution with some bad social effects.

Being considered by some as a kind of marriage then there is less intention to avoid pregnancy.

So for men it is for pleasure and for women it is a way of getting a quick paying husband, if a child is born. In other words one can consider it as the worst type of prostitution.

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