Iran

iran

[pic]

[pic]

[pic]http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700217534/Iran-shuts-down-shops-selling-Barbie-dolls.html

Iran shuts down shops selling Barbie dolls

Barbie confiscation an attempt to discourage western influences

By Nasser Karimi Associated Press

Published: Friday, Jan. 20 2012 10:31 p.m. MST

[pic]A female Iranian shopkeeper arranges a display of dolls at her shop in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Police have closed down dozens of toy shop for selling Barbie dolls, part of a decades-long crackdown on signs of Western culture in Iran, the semi official Mehr news agency reported Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) (Associated Press)

TEHRAN, Iran — Police have closed down dozens of toy shops for selling Barbie dolls in Iran, part of a decades-long crackdown against "manifestations of Western culture," the semiofficial Mehr news agency reported Friday.

Barbie dolls are sold wearing swimsuits and miniskirts in a society where women must wear headscarves in public, and men and women are not allowed to swim together.

A ban on the sale of the Barbies, designed to look like young Western women, was imposed in the mid-1990s. In its latest report, Mehr quoted an unidentified police official as saying authorities confiscated the dolls from Tehran stores in a "new phase" of the campaign.

In 1996, a government-backed children's agency called Barbie a "Trojan horse," sneaking in Western influences such as makeup and revealing clothes.

Authorities started confiscating the dolls from stores in 2002, denouncing what they called the toys' un-Islamic characteristics. The campaign was eventually dropped.

[pic]A female Iranian shopkeeper arranges a display of dolls at her shop in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Police have closed down dozens of toy shop for selling Barbie dolls, part of a decades-long crackdown on signs of Western culture in Iran, the semi official Mehr news agency reported Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. (AP...