Iran: Condom Shop Tests Strait-Laced Limits

Although Tehran's pharmacies occasionally sell condoms, the Happiness Store is the only shop to specialize in them. In a city where boxes of hair dye are often stacked backward to keep men from seeing women's uncovered heads, and morals police patrol, the shop is squeezed into a cramped closet-like space, just beneath the stairs of the Happiness Mall. While it is a cultural oddity, the shop capitalizes on the government's aim of population control and the global fight against AIDS. AIDS prevention posters hang in the shop, though workers say they know no one with AIDS in Iran.

A small cartoon gives instructions on condom use. The Iran-manufactured condoms do not feature Western packaging of couples in sexy poses. Instead, packages show a setting heart-shaped sun or smiling apples with sunglasses on a desert island.

Bottles of hair gel are the only other items the shop sells, positioned near the entrance in the hope of attracting women. Women rarely come into the store, lamented Happiness Store's co-owner, Reza Saqafi. If they do, they do not necessarily know what they are looking at. One woman, surveying a package with pictures of green circles on the back, asked, "What do these tea strainers cost?"

Admitting to selling condoms is not easy, either. Initially, Saqafi told his prospective wife and her family that he worked in cosmetics. Co-worker Mehdi Ansari tells people he works in cosmetics and health. If pressed, he would tell the truth. "It's something like a toothbrush or a hair comb," Ansari said. "Society doesn't accept it now, but eventually, they must."

Back to other news for May 14, 2004