Socialists and Libertarians clamoring to legalize prostitution in Canada would probably be astonished to learn that they're walking right in the footsteps of the mullahs of Iran.

As Iran has diverted oil revenues from social needs to weaponry and the support of terrorism, the Shi'ite nation has had a growing problem with street prostitution. Tehran's proposed solution—one that conforms to Shari'a Law—is a proposal to establish what they call "chastity houses".

To understand why "chastity houses"—which are really brothels—fit within the Ayatollahs' rigid interpretation of Shari'a, you have to comprehend the Islamic principle of sighe: although the Qur'an limits a man to four wives, Shari'a allows sighe—"temporary marriage" for a fee. In fact, if not in name, it's prostitution. And like all prostitution, it exploits women.

Tehran's proposed "chastity houses" will be places where destitute women can "marry" Iranian men for a half-hour or so, and thus eke out a living. And the government will get the embarrassment of prostitution off the streets.

Of course, the exploitation of desperate women is still exploitation, whether it's under Shari'a or socialism.

In Tehran or in Toronto, or anywhere else in the world, legalized prostitution is merely caving in to the problem of sexual exploitation, not solving it.

In Iran, the problems that drive women to degrade themselves by prostitution are primarily their inability to get an education, oppressive domination by men, and a crumbling economy; in Canada, it's more likely to be rebellion, addiction, and a crumbling moral code, eroded by the sexualizing of our children in schools and the entertainment media. But the result is still the same: when women are desperate, there will always be johns and pimps willing to exploit them.

It would be a compounded tragedy—and a moral outrage—if our government made it easier for the exploiters by legalizing prostitution.