Loosen Up on Sex, Iranian Leader Urges

TEHRAN —  Eleven years after the Islamic revolution forced women under veils and banned social contact between the sexes, President Hashemi Rafsanjani is championing a freer attitude toward sex and social interaction.

“We imagine that it is good if we suppress ourselves, endure frustrations and be patient in our sexual desires. This is incorrect. It is wrong,” Rafsanjani said last week at Friday Prayers, an important forum for political statements.

“God has created certain needs in the human being, and he does not want them left unanswered,” he said in his address at Tehran University.

“Why is it improper for a lady to marry twice in her lifetime? Or to have a temporary relationship--a temporary marriage--with someone else?” Rafsanjani asked.

Sigheh , or temporary marriage, according to Iran’s dominate religion, Shiite Islam, can be verbally contracted between two consenting adults. They take a temporary “vow” before engaging in sex.

Attempting to make the idea of sigheh as loose as possible, Rafsanjani said in his sermon that “some people imagine that for a temporary marriage we have to find a (cleric).

“None of this is necessary,” he said. “They can make a contract for themselves, if they want to be together for a month or two.”