Now Why Didn't I Think Of That?

You know, after decades of dictators, invasions, wars with Iran, the United States, and now each other, one could forgive Iraqis for not making a lot of advances on the social front. However, I guess as the saying goes adversity breeds ingenuity. As reported by the Washington Post, some Shiites in Iraq are reviving a practice known as mutaa, or enjoyment marriage. Basically the way it works is that in exchange for an upfront payment and covering her monthly expenses, a woman enters into a temporary marriage with a man (already married or not) and has sex with him.

Now, I know what you are thinking - that this is some kind of religiously approved prostitution. But you would be wrong. You see, the mutaa actually helps prevent war widows and divorcees from having to turn to prostitution to support themselves. Some people might say this would not be much of an issue if women had more economic opportunities and Iraqi society didn't view women who were no longer virgins as undesirable, but we here at Unzipped don't have time for such nuance. As cleric Mahdi al-Shog says, "it was designed as a humanitarian help for women." Clearly.

According to this inciteful report, a man can have an unlimited number of mutaa wives in addition to a permanent wife,* and a mutaa relationship can last for as little as a few minutes. Plus you can save on paperwork because all of this requries no paperwork, either for marraige or divorce. In case you are interesting in entering a mutaa relationship, the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has a lot of helpful advice on his Web site.

*A women can only have one husband at a time, either permanent or temporary.