Sex worker – rūspī in Persian – culturally designates a scandalous woman. Rūspī is a short form of rūspīd (white face), a paradoxical teaser used for a woman of ill repute (Dihkhudā 1984, 8: 10898).

In Qājār Iran some women were involved in prostitution, wine selling, and drug selling. At the beginning of the Pahlavī dynasty, the state began to pay more attention to problems of urban prostitution and special quarters were established in major cities. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, prostitution houses were demolished, but w…