Ahmadinejad and the soccer ladies

The misogynists are going all wild and crazy. Pope Benedict ponders permitting Catholics to use condoms; now President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran will allow women to attend soccer matches. In an apparent attempt to maintain popular support for his nuclear fantasies, the president will insist the best stands in stadiums where important matches are being held be allocated to women and families. It will, he insists, "promote chastity." He didn't elaborate.

The ban was initially justified to protect women from seeing men in shorts (God only knows where that would lead), but more recently to shield them from strong language and bad behaviour.

Female fans of foreign teams were allowed to attend games, but not local women, and apparently that annoyed them no end. Occasionally they scuffled with police after having bought tickets they couldn't use. Some were sneaking in dressed as men or accompanying foreign women. Now they may "enter the stadiums like ordinary human beings," as one feminist put it. They will, of course, be seated separately.