ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a description of the reality of both sexual segregation and interaction for the ordinary Moslem with particular reference to Iran, where the majority of the population belong to the Ithna Ashari branch of Shi’a Islam. Veiling and confining women to the home have served in practice to ensure that as far as possible the only men and women permitted social interaction are those between whom marriage is forbidden: they are said to be mahram to each other. The prohibition upon illicit sex extends even to looks and gestures, according to some commentators. In the case of marriages which are not consummated the man and woman are subject to the same prohibition concerning ascendants. Traditionally, in village and town alike, the household, at a certain period of its development cycle, would often comprise a cluster of nuclear families. In the past the allocation of space within the house reflected the need to accommodate such large numbers of people.
