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Sextape scandal reveals the ‘double life’ of Iran’s ultra-conservative authorities (observers.france24.com)

submitted 10 months ago by Woland@lemm.ee to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml

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Social networks in Iran have been flooded with compromising footage featuring several known ultra-conservative officials engaging in homosexual activities. While homosexuality is punishable by death in Iran, the Iranian regime has attempted to deny the videos and cover up the scandals. We spoke to a former religious authority who says authorities are trying to “save face” by refuting the wave of videos.

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[-] girlfreddy@sh.itjust.works 241 points 10 months ago

First thing I thought was that's a huge double-edged sword.

I was glad to see this very close to the top of the article.

“We should be careful not to label a homosexual relationship as a vice or any other label that the Islamic Republic attaches to homosexuals. We should not repeat their behaviour and condemn what happened. The problem here is not Seghati's sexual relationship with another man, but the lies, hypocrisy and deception,” this tweet reads.

[-] 520@kbin.social 91 points 10 months ago

Absolutely right. I don't care what you do in private but the moment you start depriving others of life and liberty for those same actions, well...I won't weep when the axe falls on that person

[-] doppelgangmember@lemmy.world 18 points 10 months ago

About to become some Leopards Ate My Face content real soon I bet

[-] ThunderingJerboa@kbin.social 12 points 10 months ago

Except really I think these kind of reveals will slowly lose their relevance since we are getting tools that make it far easier to do "Deepfakes". So it will just become the goto answer. In some ways its liberating, in other ways horrific since it will mean accountability is far harder. Hell we already have the trial run with this whole discussion of "Fake news".

[-] utopianfiat@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

I think consequences accruing to bad people for the wrong reasons are still worth concern, personally.

[-] Solarius@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 10 months ago

it's almost confusing this has to be said. the whole point is obviously the criticism that the people in charge of jailing/killing gay people are indulging themselves. I feel you'd need to be pretty dense to not get that, yet I see it mentioned a lot.

[-] glimse@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

I feel you'd need to be pretty dense to not get that, yet I see it mentioned a lot.

You must not live in a country where homosexuality is punishable by death then. I think it's a pretty important point to make when you might have readers who have had that idea reinforced their whole life

[-] dan1101@lemm.ee 157 points 10 months ago

The world will be a better place when leaders are subject to the same rules and treated the same as citizens.

[-] explodicle@local106.com 24 points 10 months ago

So, when there's no more rulers at all then?

[-] photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 10 months ago

Correct.

[-] ComradePorkRoll@lemmy.ml 10 points 10 months ago

Ⓐ

[-] HellAwaits@lemm.ee 54 points 10 months ago

How long until the Iran regime claims the leaks were made with AI?

[-] And009@reddthat.com 16 points 10 months ago

This should've been their default claim, living behind the times. And time's a guy too

[-] fluxion@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Homosexual AIs

[-] theKalash@feddit.ch 43 points 10 months ago

I am shocked. Shocked! Well not that shocked.

[-] dan1101@lemm.ee 12 points 10 months ago

Imagine being an ultra-conservative Iranian authority who hasn't been having homosexual sex. Now you have something to brag about and get even more conservative.

[-] Kofu@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 months ago

Ha ha, had a good chuckle

[-] qwertyWarlord@lemmy.world 38 points 10 months ago

Projection. Every. Time

[-] Echo71Niner@kbin.social 35 points 10 months ago

Who is surprised? no one.

[-] ivanafterall@kbin.social 35 points 10 months ago

The ultra-conservative authorities were probably surprised by it getting out. But nobody else.

[-] sab@kbin.social 6 points 10 months ago

Caught with their pants down, if you will.

[-] gabe@literature.cafe 28 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Isn't this literally pretty much the plot to the second book of the handmaids tale or am I losing it. Would make sense, hypocrisy is a big thing amongst the far right I guess

[-] hypnotoad@sh.itjust.works 15 points 10 months ago

Larry "Wide Stance" Craig

[-] gabe@literature.cafe 8 points 10 months ago

I just googled that dudes name and that story is wild

[-] explodicle@local106.com 2 points 10 months ago

That story has stuck with me ever since because I actually do have a wide stance, but don't want to lead anyone on and cause disappointment.

[-] StalinForTime@hexbear.net 27 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

In Iran it is commonly known that the religious elite are, like the Catholic hierarchy but probably more brazenly due to their political dominance in Iran, filled with sexual predators.

It's a practice, for instance, to engage in 'temporary marriages' (which the Iranian religious establishment thinks is justifiable based on tradition) with women (and young girls) at what are in practice brothels, which are then protected by religious law in virtue of being technically temporary marriages.

[-] Twink@hexbear.net 19 points 10 months ago

Blaming homophobia on gay people is very dangerous. People in the comments, please don't do it.
I would be happy to read on correlation between homosexuality and anti-gay politics. One may claim it's done purely out of survival but I wonder if there's more to it.

[-] JoBo@feddit.uk 17 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

On 2:

We hate what we fear. Study Finds That Homophobic People Are Actually More Likely To Be Gay

Netta Weinstein, a lecturer at the University of Essex and the study's lead author, said that these individuals "may be threatened by gays and lesbians because homosexuals remind them of similar tendencies within themselves".

There are a bunch of studies like this. I don't know if anyone has done a systematic review to bring them all together in one read.

It's important to note that there is no implication that every homophobe is secretly gay, just statistically more likely to be than less performatively toxic individuals. Some homophobes are insecure in their masculinity (or femininity) for other reasons and so hide behind a parody of what they think masculinity (or femininity) is.

The other important (and AFAIK, consistent) aspect of these studies is that they were taught to hate themselves:

"Those people who have such discrepancies, who have really a split between their unconscious attraction and what they consciously say about themselves, are more likely to come from authoritarian homes."

"If you are a parent who really believes your child should be straight, and when you use whatever means you can to convince them them that they're only good and worthy if they are, that would be very controlling and it creates a lot of conflict in the child."

[-] GreenMario@lemm.ee 12 points 10 months ago

Point 1: absolutely agree, however

There has been too many verified accounts of loud homophobes engaging in homosexual behavior to just brush off as a coincidence.

We should be able to talk about that without getting into dangerous territory. How? Not sure.

[-] Drinvictus@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 10 months ago

I am convinced that any person who is homophobic is gay deep inside

[-] AngrilyEatingMuffins@kbin.social 29 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

No. Can people stop blaming gay people for the people who want to kill gay people, please?

[-] sab@kbin.social 22 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The idea is more that most people are somewhere on a spectrum - most lean straight, but might find a person of the same gender somewhat attractive every now and then. Some are straight as an arrow, and never feel any attraction for anyone of the same gender whatsoever. Some are queer as hell and don't ever feel any attraction for anyone of the opposite gender. And then there's the asexuals, of course. But a bunch of people find themselves somewhere on the spectrum, even if they are for all intents and purposes straight.

In a culture where being gay is fine, a predominantly straight person might see someone of their own gender and think "huh, that's an attractive person" and get on with their life without really thinking too much about it.

If this person is deeply religious and of the belief that homosexuality is a sin, or just brainwashed by toxic masculinity, things get more complicated. Moving on is not all that easy when they're confronted with an identity crisis (literally) from hell, and the fact that a bunch of people find taboos extremely intriguing doesn't help either. So they become obsessed.

Which is where homophobia comes in. Because honestly, why the hell should anyone give a fuck what other consenting adults are doing in the bedroom? I think the answer is that they don't - homophobia isn't a response to the actions of others, it's a desperate response to the intrusive thoughts and insecurities going on inside their own brains. In their minds they are straight, so how do they explain to themselves that they keep having obsessive, intrusive homosexual thoughts? The only way out without abandoning their convictions (be it of religion or of their own conception of masculinity) is to direct it towards hatred.

Saying they're "gay deep inside" is inaccurate, because they're not actually "gay deep inside". It's not like there's a flamboyant gay person waving a rainbow flag deep inside of them. They're just normal people who have been mentally repressed to the point of absolute panic at the face of even the slightest intrusive thought. What is meant is that they have sexual urges - weak or strong - that they are extremely uncomfortable with, and that homophobia results from the cognitive dissonance that follows.

It's just easier to say they're gay deep inside, and a bonus is that it probably pisses them off as well. I can see how it's also offensive to the gay community though, so I generally try to use more nuanced language myself.

[-] tellah@sh.itjust.works 9 points 10 months ago

Good explanation.

The only way out without abandoning their convictions (be it of religion or of their own conception of masculinity) is to direct it towards hatred.

To expand on this, think of how homophobes are usually triggered. They don't like anything where the "gay agenda" is "shoved down our throats". Pride, rainbow flags, literally any time someone is openly gay in public. They have to "protect the children" from being exposed to this. Why? Because anything that normalizes homosexuality is yet another reminder of their identity crisis and insecurity. Anything that can keep homosexuality out of the public sphere is one less threat to their fragile identity.

Frankly homophobia should be classified as a mental illness and what these people need is therapy. But can you imagine!?! Gay conversion therapy, turning good god-fearing christians gay.

[-] OwlHamster@lemm.ee 5 points 10 months ago

Stop muddying the issue. Nobody is blaming homosexuals in general, they are blaming a very specific subset of homophobic homosexuals.

[-] AngrilyEatingMuffins@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago

“Muddying the issue” would be trying to get people to sympathize with homophobes instead of hating and rejecting them. Like this idea of them all being self hating.

[-] Solarius@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 10 months ago

It's not sympathy. It's pointing out their own internalized self hatred as an explanation beyond them being some mustache twirling villain. It's more pathetic imo for a homophobic politician to struggle with their sexuality vs learned values so hard that instead of coming to the conclusion that gay = ok they try to exterminate gays instead.

If they were just awful people for no reason other than religion that's just straight brain rot but if you are literally part of the group you're trying to extinguish I feel like that has to be the most embarrassing thing for that individual. Like just get therapy at that point.

I'd be surprised if anybody arguing in good faith would genuinely believe the above criticism is somehow a jab at gay people as a whole when it's very obvious it's just about the homophobe in general. The moral here is you can be gay and still want to stomp the rights of others in your same situation. I know friends whose black/immigrant parents voted for Trump. There's psychos everywhere my guy.

[-] OwlHamster@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago

It doesn't really make me sympathize with them any more. Maybe you could utilize the information to avoid raising more homophobes in the future.

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[-] EnderWi99in@kbin.social 19 points 10 months ago

They could just be intolerant bigots. There are any number of reasons someone might hate someone, and the logic of "they must just be gay" doesn't really work for other types of bigotry and racism.

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[-] Hotdogman@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Deeeeep inside... Hrrngh

[-] aegisgfx877@kbin.social 8 points 10 months ago

Reminds me of that meme where a cartoon character is in the fridge stuffing his mouth and the top caption reads "anti-gay preachers when no one is looking" And then the bottom caption reads "COCK"

[-] utopianfiat@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

I don't really like this- for one, it's based in the fact that homophobic people who also engage in queer behavior in secret tend to be outrageous in their hypocrisy. Thus, because it's such juicy news people tend to assume it's more common than it actually is. This is called the availability heuristic.

For another, it individually pathologizes the condition of being homophobic as being rooted in psychological reaction formation- thereby denying that homophobia is something encultured by the broader homophobic social system that we live in. The condition of being a gay homophobe isn't a psychological one but a sociological one- it's not (just) shame but a very real fear of the very real consequences which recruit them to uphold the very system that oppresses them.

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[-] argv_minus_one@beehaw.org 13 points 10 months ago

All over some silly made-up rules that no god in its right mind would actually give a single fuck about.