Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug.9
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: The Iranian Parliament Research Center has carried out a study, according to which more than 24,000 Iranian high school students have confessed they are homosexual.
Previously, Iran's Parliament ResearchCenter released results of a survey which was carried out in 2007 among 141,555 high school students. Some 17.5 percent of the students said they are homosexual and 74 percent said they had relationships with the opposite sex.
Some 8.2 percent of the students said they used to masturbate.
Iranian university professor and Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports Mahmoud Golzari has conducted a separate study, according to which 80 percent of girls in a number of high schools in Tehran had been in relationships with boys.
Golzari earlier said that 40 percent of students have been in relationship with the opposite sex as early as 14 years of age.
Relationship between girls and boys has tripled compared to 30 years ago, and they start a relationship while they are in guidance schools, according to the minister.
Meanwhile, experts quoted reports of theIranian Parliament Research Center as saying that prostitution among married women in Iran is higher compared to single girls.
Eleven percent of men in Tehran are aware that their wives are prostitutes, the study said.
The study also highlighted a report published by the Neday-e Enghelab website saying that 2,000 street girls have been caught, 600 of them said prostitution is their job, and 1,400 women said they learned to be prostitutes via social networks.
Some 280 cases of rape were reported between March 21 and July 22, 2009.
Another study was carried out among women of 15-35 years of age. Some 12.5 percent of them said they are silent when parts of their bodies are touched.
Also, 78.9 percent of girls who were caught over a one-month period due to non-observation of Islamic veil were below 15 years of age.
The Iranian Parliament Research Center has suggested that temporary marriage should be promoted in the society.