On a sunny afternoon in Tehran, young couples crowd park benches giggling flirtatiously. It's not a sight you expect to see in Iran, but times are changing here. The strict moral guardians no longer arrest women for revealing their hair or wearing lipstick. Bahor Hosseini is typical of many young Iranian women. She has a boyfriend, albeit secretly. "We met in the university library… I couldn't give him my number as I would have got into trouble with my parents." Ironically it's the Chador, the black shroud often perceived as a symbol of repression, that is being credited with increased female freedom. It's been obligatory since the '79 revolution and it's given conservative families the confidence to allow their daughters out. This freer generation is now determinedly reaching beyond Islamic isolationism. Western-style malls throng with such middle-class teens. The mullahs may clip liberal reform at every turn but in demographically youthful Iran it is the kids' aspirations that may shape the future.

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