In Iran, more than 100 "offenses" are punishable by flogging, which is a form of corporal punishment. These offenses include theft, assault, vandalism, blasphemy, fraud, adultery, intimate relationships between unmarried men and women, "breach of public morals," consensual same-sex sexual relations, and drinking or selling alcohol. Lashing sentences are carried out with a one-meter whip across the back, and offenders are usually sentenced to between 10 and 100 lashes. The pain is so severe that they often faint after seven or eight strokes. Flogging is often used to punish young people for going out and mixing with the opposite sex. The punishment would traditionally have taken place in a public square, in order to humiliate the culprit, but is now often done in a police station. Children are spared until the age of 18, and foreigners are unlikely to be punished for holding hands, but those who have sexual relations with a Muslim can be punished. Journalists and bloggers have also been sentenced to flogging in relation to their work.