While this column often focuses on the craziness of religious fundamentalists in the USA, it is occasionally instructive to be reminded that this isn't the only country that contains them. A case in point is Iran, which not only contains them, but is ruled by them. A report today (Jan. 16) from Reuters details the latest crackdown against what the Tehran government regards as a decadent cultural influence: Barbie. Mattel's popular doll and all Barbie products have been officially banned from sale and Iranian morality police are raiding stores to sweep them off the shelves.
From Reuters:
About three weeks ago they (the morality police) came to our shop, asking us to remove all the Barbies," said a shopkeeper in a toy shop in Northern Tehran.
Iran's religious rulers first declared Barbie, made by U.S. company Mattel Inc, un-Islamic in 1996, citing its "destructive cultural and social consequences." Despite the ban, the doll has until recently been openly on sale in Tehran shops.
There have been other crackdowns on the sale of Barbies before, the most recent being in 2008. In 2002, the government approved the issue of two competing Islamic dolls, Sara and her male counterpart Dara, which come with a variety of traditional Iranian costumes. They have not proved popular though.
"My daughter prefers Barbies. She says Sara and Dara are ugly and fat," said Farnaz, a 38-year-old mother, adding that she could not find Barbie cartoon DVDs as she was told they were also banned from public sale.
Pointing to a doll covered in black long veil, a 40-year-old Tehran toy shop manager said: "We still sell Barbies but secretly and put these in the window to make the police think we are just selling these kinds of dolls."
In related news, Iranian media reports that a toy version of the US spy drone that was captured in December and displayed on television, will soon be for sale... in a variety of colors.
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