Ultra-Orthodox Jews
Ultra-Orthodox Jews can now steer clear of leering, thanks to new glasses

Glasses are on sale in Jerusalem that not only claim to improve vision but also blur eyesight to help male wearers avoid seeing the opposite sex.

Orthodox Jewish men who are do not wish to see "immodestly dressed" are being encouraged to buy the special glasses, dubbed "anti-ogle goggles".

Promoted by the Rabbinical Committee for Purity in the Camp, the glasses are available at a subsidised rate of $6 (£3.80). The number sold so far is not known but reports suggest they are moving well.

The glasses are available in Jerusalem's growing ultra-Orthodox neighbourhoods. Sticky blurred lenses are also available to stick over regular spectacles.

The committee which sells the glasses encourages the user to be proud of wearing them rather than ashamed.

This initiative is yet another effort by the ultra-Orthodox community to prevent mingling of the sexes if they are not married. According to the strictest interpretation of Jewish law, contact between men and women is prohibited if they are not members of the same family.

In Orthodox districts, women are ordered not to wear low-necked, short-sleeved and any other "immodest" clothing. Numerous cases of inappropriately dressed women being attacked or splashed with acid after taking a wrong turn into an enclave of Haredi Judaism have been recorded.

Such religious fundamentalism is moving into the public sphere and there is growing trend to separate men and women in public spaces. Despite an outcry from secularists and feminists, many bus services in the Jersualem area now sex-segregated with women having to sit at the back.