Letters

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Wednesday
May 16, 2001

Don't drown in your underwear

You asked the question: "Where do you draw the line between the sublime and the obscene when it comes to sexuality?" It seems you are missing the point altogether. Your point is that given the subject of sexuality, there must exist a line where one begins to dabble in the obscene and perverted. But we should keep in mind not only the subject but also the medium (or media).

In another words, you would do better by asking: "Given a public forum which has marketed itself as a family, old-world (Iranian) electronic periodical, which topics fall in the realm of obscene (filthy, impure, perverted,...) and which topics, in the realm of the sublime (elevated, uplifted, exalted, ...)?"

By the way, let only the coward hide behind the adulterated notions of "free (sexual, obscene, self-indulgent) speech" or use that great evil threat "censorship". A great part of our neuro-anatomy is dedicated to censorship (inhibitory pathways) -- this is what allows us the capacity to take the base and obscene and elevate it to become the sublime.

Sexuality, by the virtue of its relation to humanity and human identity must be a topic treated with due protection, discretion, and in a circumspect manner. The first declaration about any living human is usually "look it's a girl!", or "it's a boy!". Sexuality is a quintessential part of humanity, as is one's blood. Much like blood, it must be treated with special care. Exposure will not only spoil it, it will turn it from being the life of a creature to the killer of it.

This is not an issue of being prudish and Victorian. It is an issue of what is the proper manner of handling the subject of sexuality. Every aspect of a person's being is involved when it comes to sexuality or sexual activity. Improper handling of it will result in improper handling of all those aspects of a person's being. It is not a matter of keeping something that is enjoyable out of reach. It is a matter of making sure one gets the most out of it.

I am saddened. Things that seemed so obvious to people not long ago now require explanations. Is this the face of progress? Lewd nakedness strewn (in words or in pictures) all over the place? Is this the culmination of 2500+ years of culture? For us Iranians to drown ourselves in our underwear?

There is a pull, the stronger component of it being emotional, tied to our baser appetites (not at all sublime, or exalted or elevated appetites) that will force us, using the threat of the unimaginable horrors of being deprived (this is by the way the same horrors which drug addicts face when contemplating not indulging themselves), to stubbornly continue to feed the lust. Have mercy on yourself.

Read Sa'di, or Ferdosi, or any of the ancients. Better yet, go to the local Missions spend a week or two washing the hands and feet of the needy, feed them, hear their stories, cry with them and get a true perspective on our well-fed, silken lives and ideologies. Sexuality will have its rightful place then.

May peace breath life into your nostrils.

Mehryar

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