# "Did the earth move for you?" Iranian cleric blames quakes on promiscuous women **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 20, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736 "2010-04-20T13:30:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/1 "2010-04-20T13:30:04Z")
[Promiscuous women are responsible for earthquakes, a senior Iranian cleric has said.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8631775.stm) > [@](#): > > Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi told worshippers in Tehran last Friday that they had to stick to strict codes of modesty to protect themselves. > > “Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes,” he said. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/2 "2010-04-20T13:51:40Z")
[Yeah?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah) > [@](#): > > When Noah was six hundred years old, God, saddened at the wickedness of mankind, decided to send a great deluge to destroy all life. But he saw that Noah was a righteous man, and instructed him to build an ark and gather himself and his family with every type of animal, male and female, to save life from the Flood. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/3 "2010-04-20T16:33:59Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > [Yeah?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah) > > :rolleyes: What’s your problem? The OPer wasn’t flogging Islam per se; in fact his/her post doesn’t even mention the word, although it’s implicitly understood, seeing as how that story is about an idiotic Iranian cleric. The chief difference here isn’t necessarily the religious schism, but the fact that the Noahide story is the product of a Bronze Age civilization thousands of years ago, whereas the Iranian one is from the present day… and thus eminently rolleyes-worthy. Save your PC ire for situations that call for it. ---
**Author:** ![nicole1912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@nicole1912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicole1912)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/4 "2010-04-20T16:59:17Z")
I read [this Guardian article](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/19/women-blame-earthquakes-iran-cleric) on the same subject last night - that was my favourite quote too. Probably because aside from the Blame the Whore part, which is the bit that everyone gets upset about, there’s the “adultery which causes earthquakes” part which is said almost as if that’s a given, and everyone knows that. This is an… interesting approach to emergency planning from the government, too: [ > [@](#): > > The welfare minister, Sadeq Mahsooli, said prayers and pleas for forgiveness were the best “formulae to repel earthquakes. We cannot invent a system that prevents earthquakes, but God has created this system and that is to avoid sins, to pray, to seek forgiveness, pay alms and self-sacrifice,” Mahsooli said. ]([Women to blame for earthquakes, says Iran cleric | Iran | The Guardian](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/19/women-blame-earthquakes-iran-cleric)) Can’t see [COBRA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_Office_Briefing_Room) in the UK taking quite the same tack, thankfully! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/5 "2010-04-20T17:03:05Z")
Oops. Our prom is coming up in a week or so. If promiscuity causes earthquakes, SoCal is in for the Big One around the 8th of May. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/6 "2010-04-20T17:03:36Z")
> [@The\_Scrivener](#): > > What’s your problem? The OPer wasn’t flogging Islam per se; in fact his/her post doesn’t even mention the word, although it’s implicitly understood, seeing as how that story is about an idiotic Iranian cleric. > > The chief difference here isn’t necessarily the religious schism, but the fact that the Noahide story is the product of a Bronze Age civilization thousands of years ago, whereas the Iranian one is from the present day… and thus eminently rolleyes-worthy. > > Save your PC ire for situations that call for it. No ire. I guess I was just trying to point out that religion in general holds views which are, and always have been, in direct contrast to logic and science. I’m sure I could find topical and current stories from clerics of any and all mainstream religion. Reading between the lines in the OP I assumed the intention was to point out that Islam was being ridiculed for such backwards thinking. I was merely pointing out that Islam is not alone in perpetuating myths and bad science: that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/7 "2010-04-20T17:10:18Z")
**Leaffan** , the difference is one is a pretend story of a man and his boat and the other is happening today and is the type of thinking that leads to women being thrown in jail for being raped. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/8 "2010-04-20T17:45:35Z")
As long as were on about logic, I’d like to give a friendly reminder: If you need to determine if a woman is a witch, weigh her. If she weighs the same as a duck… ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/9 "2010-04-20T18:11:36Z")
Man, those bitches must REALLY be shaking those asses! Hell yeah. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/10 "2010-04-20T18:12:48Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Oops. Our prom is coming up in a week or so. If promiscuity causes earthquakes, SoCal is in for the Big One around the 8th of May. 😃 So _that’s_ why it’s called a “prom”! I always wondered! (Mine was sadly misnamed, at least from my experience … ) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/11 "2010-04-21T03:57:59Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > No ire. I guess I was just trying to point out that religion in general holds views which are, and always have been, in direct contrast to logic and science. I’m sure I could find topical and current stories from clerics of any and all mainstream religion. Reading between the lines in the OP I assumed the intention was to point out that Islam was being ridiculed for such backwards thinking. I was merely pointing out that Islam is not alone in perpetuating myths and bad science: that’s all. I agree with the latter point but as for the former, one bad apple doesn’t ruin the bushel’s worth, unless no one removes it… in which case the rot does become a collective problem. I hope I didn’t come down too hard on you. The Iranian cleric’s notions reminds me of the old Talking Heads lyric: “The world moves on a woman’s hips The world moves and it swivels and bops. The world moves on a woman’s hips The world moves and it bounces and hops…” (“The Great Curve”) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/12 "2010-04-21T04:12:31Z")
Well, at least he didn’t blame it on the gays (of which Iran has none). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/13 "2010-04-21T04:29:53Z")
> [@](#): > > “Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes,” he said. That’s, uh, quite a leap of logic he’s making there. Like, over the Snake River. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/14 "2010-04-21T05:57:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes," he said. I thought that it was established, with equal veracity, by Monty Python that “sheep’s bladders may be employed to prevent earthquakes”. So does this mean that sheep’s bladders efficacy is because they; 1. prevent the spread of adultery; 2. prevent young men being lead astray or 3. prevent women dressing immodestly? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-earth-move-for-you-iranian-cleric-blames-quakes-on-promiscuous-women/536736/15 "2010-04-21T15:59:23Z")
How fat are these women if they’re causing earthquakes? (Note: That was not a fat joke, that was an Iranian cleric joke 😃 )