Premarital contact between the sexes is discouraged; unmarried women are supposed to avoid speaking with men outside their families.

In a society like Iran's that bans almost all premarital contact, deferred marriage means unbearable sexual tension.

Unlike some would-be reformers and frustrated professional women, the more traditional women wear a veil out of choice, think almost any premarital contact with a man is bad and criticize the women who drove cars in protest.