{"id":36378,"date":"2025-03-07T13:01:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T11:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/?p=36378"},"modified":"2025-08-19T15:03:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:03:15","slug":"love-and-resistance-in-online-persian-dating-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldmarkaz\/love-and-resistance-in-online-persian-dating-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"Love and Resistance in Online Persian Dating Shows"},"content":{"rendered":"
From blindfolding potential dates to threatening them with cockroaches<\/span>, Iranian YouTube dating game shows go viral and the regime takes action.<\/h5>\n

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Malu Halasa<\/span><\/h4>\n

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\u201cThe men seem dumb. The women are smarter or better able to talk about their lives and emotions.\u201d So said an Iranian friend of mine, in his fifties. He had joined millions of Iranians at home and abroad in a guilty pleasure, watching YouTube Persian dating shows and listening to Iranian Millennials, and Gens Z and X reveal their feelings about themselves and the opposite sex in ways that would have been unthinkable for those who witnessed the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Shows in Farsi, \u201cBlind Date,\u201d \u201cSpeed Date,\u201d \u201cGear Date,\u201d \u201cDisc Date,\u201d \u201cSwap Date,\u201d \u201cLove Meter,\u201d and others that take their name from Persian proverbs, like \u201cSee the Mother, Marry the Daughter,\u201d or from Western dating apps, \u201cIranian Tinder,\u201d are all produced at breakneck speed, with multiple episodes uploaded weekly onto YouTube. The phenomenon represents a virtual alternative universe, divorced from tightly monitored and constrained Iranian streets, yet accessible at the click of a button in the privacy of one\u2019s own home. That was until last week, on February 24, when the long arm of the government summoned, arrested, and warned 15 producers, presenters, and makers of online dating programs.<\/span><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JTnaRYV2iGU\n

The Iranian \u201c<\/span>Blind Date<\/span><\/a>\u201d shows, some lasting nearly an hour or longer, are not as glitzy or highly produced as the eponymous romantic game programs once broadcast on mainstream UK or US television channels. Nor are they as grandiose as those currently being organized as large-scale staged events by the South Korean government to promote marriage and counter the country\u2019s falling birthrate. Persian contestants aren\u2019t featured on big stages or in television studios. They seemingly appear in someone\u2019s living room. The format is relatively straightforward. A man and woman, strangers to each other, sit side by side on separate padded chairs. Usually the two speak directly to camera. Only rarely do they glance over or address the member of the opposite sex beside them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the <\/span>Roo.Line channel<\/span><\/a>\u2019s popular \u201cSpeed Date\u201d on YouTube, prospective couples face each other, with a buzzer on the table between them. Whoever first hits the buzzer flashing red to signal rejection or green for approval gets to play another round, opposite a new contestant. In the episodes I watched there is more kicking out than prolonged romantic involvement, which probably makes for more dramatic viewing. Roo.Line\u2019s avuncular presenter and producer Vay Vihad keeps the contestants talking with interjections and hijinks, so that they eventually reveal their \u201cdaily routine\u201d and what\u2019s important to them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n