Shahr-E Now, Tehran's Red-Light District (1909–1979)

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Shahr-E Now, Tehran's Red-Light District (1909–1979) SHAHR-E NOW, TEHRAN’S RED-LIGHT DISTRICT (1909–1979): THE STATE, “THE PROSTITUTE,” THE SOLDIER, AND THE FEMINIST By Samin Rashidbeigi Submitted to Central European University Department of Gender Studies In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of European Master in Women’s and Gender History Supervisor: Professor Francisca de Haan CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2015 Abstract This thesis deals with the history of Shahr-e Now, Tehran’s red-light district from 1909 until the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The district, as large as two football pitches, functioned as a sex market for almost seventy years with around 1,500 prostitutes living and working there. Shahr-e Now’s existence as “Tehran’s red-light district before the 1979 Revolution” has been only briefly mentioned in a number of scholarly works; however, the district has not been analyzed as a gendered and politically relevant urban construction in the context of modern Iranian history. This thesis uses the archival documents collected from The National Archive of Iran and The Document Center of Iran’s Parliament to explain Shahr-e Now’s long-lasting functioning in front of the public eye—despite the fundamental tension with Islamic morale. This thesis argues, firstly, that Shahr-e Now was initiated by state officials, and preserved during the Pahlavi period (1925–1979), mainly for the sake of the military population in Tehran. Using the vast literature on the rise of the modern army in Iran as part of the Pahlavi Dynasty’s establishment, this thesis explains that the increasing number of soldiers in Tehran was the main reason why the Pahlavi regime enabled/allowed the creation of Shahr-e Now; the state-regulated prostitution in Shahr-e Now served to provide the military with “clean women.” Moreover, this thesis suggests that the system of regulation within SN was pretty much similar to systems of regulation enforced by other modern(izing) nation states in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The other major finding of this thesis is that state feminists in Iran, such as the women organized in Kanoun-e Banovan [the Ladies’ Center] in 1935, and in Sazman-e Zanan-e Iran [Iranian CEU eTD Collection Women’s Organization] in 1966, implicitly accepted and backed the state-regulation of prostitution in Shahr-e Now. i Acknowledgements I would like to thank my mother, and my wonderful sisters Samar and Sahar for their generous support, for always being there to fuel my dreams and ambitions. The backstage of this thesis saw the large deals of meaningful friendships. For their support, inspiration, encouragement, and help with proofreading this thesis, I am especially thankful to Nafiseh, Fahim, Mohadese, Iva, Sampreety, and Joanne. Above all, I am grateful to Francisca de Haan, my supervisor, for her comments, questions and consultations, and for never compromising with ambiguity and generalizations in my writings. Working under her supervision was definitely one of the hardest, yet most productive experiences in my entire academic life. She patiently came through all the way with me within the last two years. CEU eTD Collection ii Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ ii Table of Figures ............................................................................................................................. v 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Sources and Methodology ..................................................................................................... 3 1.2. Terminology .......................................................................................................................... 5 1.3. Structure of the Thesis ........................................................................................................... 7 2. Literature Review and Conceptual Fields ............................................................................ 10 2.1. History Writing about Women ............................................................................................ 11 2.2. Women’s Movement and State Feminism .......................................................................... 15 2.3. State-regulated Prostitution ................................................................................................. 20 2.4. How are these fields related to Shahr-e Now’s Story? ........................................................ 24 3. In Search of Origins ................................................................................................................ 25 3.1. City of Tehran ..................................................................................................................... 25 3.2. New City .............................................................................................................................. 28 3.3. Political Climate .................................................................................................................. 30 3.4. Becoming a Red-light District ............................................................................................. 33 3.5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 37 CEU eTD Collection 4. Shahr-e Now 1925–1941: Military and State Feminism ...................................................... 39 4.1. General Overview of the Political Climate ......................................................................... 40 4.2. Tehran and Its Soldiers ........................................................................................................ 42 iii 4.3. Women’s Emancipation Project .......................................................................................... 48 4.3.1. Eastern Women’s Congresses (1930 and 1932) ........................................................... 49 4.3.2. The Official Start of State Feminism (1935) ................................................................ 54 4.4. Women in the Public Sphere: Corrupted, Emancipated ...................................................... 59 4.5. A Minimal Sketch of SN (1925–1941) ............................................................................... 64 4.6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 65 5. Shahr-e Now 1941–1962: Politicizing the District, Political Usage ..................................... 67 5.1. Brief Overview of the Pre-coup Political-social Climate .................................................... 68 5.2. Shahr-e Now before the Coup (1941–Aguest 1953) ........................................................... 71 5.3. The 1953 Coup d’état .......................................................................................................... 76 5.3.1. Day of the Coup d’état ................................................................................................. 77 5.4. Zahedi Castle (1953–1962) ................................................................................................. 80 5.5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 84 6. Shahr-e Now (1963–1979): State Feminism and Suppression of SN’s Representation in the Public Sphere ......................................................................................................................... 86 6.1. The White Revolution and the Iranian Women’s Organization .......................................... 87 6.2. The Castle ............................................................................................................................ 91 6.3. Shahr-e Now and the Iranian Women’s Organization: Activism in a Safe Zone? .............. 94 6.4. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 97 7. Conclusions .................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. CEU eTD Collection Appendix 1: Interviews ................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Appendix 2: The Castle ............................................................................................................. 109 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 116 iv Table of Figures Figure 1. Tehran's Map, February 1854. ........................................................................................ 28 Figure 2. Core Committee of the Ladies’ Center, 1935 ................................................................. 57 Figure 3. Reza Shah, his wife and their daughters in Emancipation Day, 1936 ............................ 58 Figure 4. “Female entertainers and dancers in different groups during the late Qajar and early Pahlavi era” .................................................................................................................................... 61 Figure 5. “Colonel Naqi Khan flirting with Taymur the
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