伊朗抵制西方文化 禁售芭比娃娃

Iran's morality police are cracking down on the sale of Barbie dolls to protect the public from what they see as pernicious western culture eroding Islamic values, shopkeepers said on Monday。

As the West imposes the toughest ever sanctions on Iran and tensions rise over its nuclear program, inside the country the Barbie ban is part of what the government calls a "soft war" against decadent cultural influences。

"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 US 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。

The new order, issued around three weeks ago, forced shopkeepers to hide the leggy, busty blonde behind other toys as a way of meeting popular demand for the dolls while avoiding being closed down by the police。

A range of officially approved dolls launched in 2002 to counter demand for Barbie have not proven successful, merchants told the reporters。

The dolls named Sara, a female, and Dara, a male arrived in shops wearing a variety of traditional dress, with Sara fully respecting the rule that all women in Iran must obey in public, of covering their hair and wearing loose-fitting clothes。

"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."伊朗一些店主本週一稱，爲防止“有害的”西方文化侵蝕伊斯蘭價值觀，伊朗道德警察禁止出售芭比娃娃。

在西方國家對伊朗實施最嚴厲制裁、以及伊朗核項目造成的緊張狀態升級的同時，伊朗國內也掀起了一場反對西方頹廢文化入侵的“軟戰爭”，禁售芭比娃娃就是其中一項內容。

德黑蘭北部一家玩具店店主說：“大約三週前，道德警察來到我們的商店，要求我們撤下所有芭比娃娃。”

伊朗宗教統治者最初在1996年宣佈，美國美泰公司製造的芭比娃娃“反伊斯蘭”，將對伊朗文化和社會產生破壞性後果。儘管有此禁令，但德黑蘭一些商店仍在公開售賣芭比娃娃。

大約三週前發佈的這一新法令迫使店主們將長腿、胸部豐滿的金髮芭比娃娃藏在其他玩具後面，以應對人們對芭比娃娃的大量需求，否則店鋪將被道德警察強制關閉。

商家告訴記者，爲了抵制人們對芭比娃娃的需求，伊朗曾在2002年推出一套官方認可的娃娃，但事後證明不成功。

這套玩偶名爲“莎拉”(女)和“達拉”(男)，他們身穿多種多樣的傳統服飾在商店出售。“莎拉”完全遵從伊朗對所有女性的着裝規定，即必須在公共場合遮蓋頭髮，穿寬鬆服裝。

38歲的母親法納茲說：“我女兒更喜歡芭比娃娃，她說莎拉和達拉又醜又胖。”她補充說自己也找不到芭比娃娃的動畫片影碟了，因爲店家告訴她這些也禁止公開出售。

一位40歲的德黑蘭玩具店店主指着身穿黑紗的玩偶說：“我們還在偷賣芭比，把這些擺在櫥窗裏是爲了讓警察以爲我們只在賣這類玩偶。”