Men Are From Tehran...Women Are From Isfahan

If information seeks its own level, I what's to be made of the fact that thepseudo-psychological relationship guide Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus has become a best-seller in Iran? The book may be a perfect fit with the Iranian view of the world.

"Iranian government censors wouldn't have let this book through if it said that men and women were both from Mars," says Fathali M. Moghaddam, Ph.D., explaining why a government that has called the United States "the great Satan" would relish the most pop of American popular culture. It's actually less farcical in Farsi.

Author John Gray emphasizes the differences between the sexes, says the Georgetown University expert. And that follows the contours of the Iranian social structure, where many women work, hold advanced degrees, and even serve in Parliament, but are legally required to shroud themselves in public to avoid arousing men sexually. And they are not allowed to be judges, because they are seen as too emotional.

But they are allowed to study psychology. While Iran's universities were purged of Western-trained psychologists after the revolution, almost twenty years later, American psychology is more dominant than before the revolution, says Moghaddam. "In addition, more than half of the psych professors are women."

While the book is read by the secular educated class, the idea of relationship self-help is an integral part of Islam, he observes. "In traditional Islamic writings, there is a lot of emphasis on the relationship between a husband and wife as well as detailed instruction on how men and women should treat one another, even down to the specifics of how to talk and what tone of voice to use."

The book's Iranian translator believes that Gray has struck a universal chord. "The population of our country is very interested in how to solve relationship and marital problems," says Mehdi Gharacheh-Daghi. "I think that in the entire world, the needs of men and women are very similar."

Iran's younger generation apparently agrees: to date, most of the 60,000 copies of Men Are From Mars sold in that country have been purchased by 18- to 24-year-olds.

--M.J.