Bedouin in Blue Jeans

Saudi Women's View

2008-05-13T06:12:00.002-04:00

Another great article in the New York Times, this time examining young romance from a Saudi woman's viewpoint.

The Painful Logic of Saudi Arabia

2008-05-12T02:51:00.002-04:00

There is a great article in the NY Times today, that offers a glimpse into the lives of two young Saudi men as they try to navigate their culture's warped view of romance, honor, women and love. It is just a small glimpse, a tiny flash, of how absolutely masochistic, twisted and insiduous Saudi sociey is today. When calling your fiance on the telephone is something that has to be kept absolutely secret at all costs, or eating a meal in a restaurant with a man is cause to hide your face in shame, you know there is something seriously wrong.

Music will soothe even the savage beast...

2008-05-04T02:57:00.001-04:00

This article starts out so cheerful and then in the last few sentences turns so sour! Come on people! Where's your hope?

Best Objectified Mindless Piece of Meat!

2008-04-23T00:56:00.002-04:00

So the hunt is starting for Bahrain's annual May Queen. Typical beauty pageant drivel here. Just your basic parade of smiling, subservient women willing to be judged on their physical appearance alone. The age limit is 15-24, further reinforcing the fact that women are only valuable as long as long as they retain a youthful appearance, and that they obiviously will be judged on nothing but the attractivenss of their figures.

But don't forget, this is the 'progressive, modern' middle east and this year women will also be judged on 'their good moral standing'. And you know what that means: married, definitely not divorced, hopefully not employed, never talks to much or offers their own unique opinion, doesn't have male friends, and keeps her house clean. Oh, how wonderful.

I particualarly like the mention of the 'grooming session' that all of the women will undergo, to really drive home the point that they are pretty little products to be commodified and ogled at. Is there a learning session? A debate session? No, a grooming session. Why would women care about anything other than slapping on a bit of makeup and teasing their hair? Honestly!

Serious Problems.

2008-04-23T00:50:00.002-04:00

Can you believe they are still talking about this? They are really, honestly and truly, debating taking measures to find and deport all of the foreigners on this island whom they suspect of being gay. Really. Is this 2008? Does Bahrain want to be a modern progressive nation, or not? You can't have it both ways.

They want to spy on students in schools in order to 'stamp out homosexuality' as soon as it is detected. They want to deport 'foreign gays' and not grant anyone suspect a visa. Really.

The members of parliament voted in favor of the government preparing a study to determine how 'widespread the threat of homosexuality is in Bahrain.'

I want to scream. Like I have already said a million times, there are real problems in this country. People do not have food, people do not have adequate housing, children are not able to recieve even vaguely decent education, sectarian violence and unrest is on the rise....and what is the parliament doing? Are the focusing on the real threat to this nation's safety, security and happiness? Of course not.

You have got to be kidding me...

2008-04-09T06:13:00.002-04:00

This article in the GDN reports on a call from the Wefaq party for medical doctors to only practice on patients of the same-sex. Women doctors would only be allowed to work on women patients, male doctors would only be allowed to work on male patients, except in case of emergency.

Ridiculous! How utterly, fantastically obscene and horrific that in a country with real problems, religious sectarianism, rampant corruption, pollution, human rights violations, etc, the parliament is focusing its energy on turning back history and setting back human progress hundreds and hundreds of years.

I grew up in Saudi Arabia, perhaps the most demented and repressed country on earth, and I found that the more the clerics and religious leaders tried to clamp down on anything that could possibly be percieved as flirting, mingling between the sexes or enjoyment of any kind, the more crazed and obsessed with sex the populace became.

For example, in Saudi Arabia there have been fatwas issued warning people to be wary when sitting down on a chair recently vacated by someone of the opposite sex, in case the remaining heat left over from their body creates arousal. SERIOUSLY.

Never in my life had I ever thought twice about sitting down wherever and whenever I wanted. But now I was supposed to stop myself from sitting down after a man because it might turn me on? How depraved and perverted do they think I am? A seat is just a seat, no matter who was just sitting in it.

Just like always, because of the religious leader's twisted actions, a place where many people had never before seen anything sexual is suddnenly transformed into a swirling mess of libidinous behaviour and wanton scandal.

When I go to a doctor it is just a doctor. He or she is a trained professional. I do not hesitate to tell them exactly what is going on and I never think twice about letting them do their job. Never has anything remotely sexual or scandalous occurred. And once again, in the pursuit of 'religious purity and protecting the honor of women', the mullahs and the clerics have spotted sex, sleaze and sin in what was previously just a doctor's office.

Let's not even get into their reasoning behind same sex undertakers.....

Growing Religious Diversity?

2008-03-16T06:44:00.002-04:00

This is definitely a step in the right direction.

The first Christian Church ever has opened in Qatar. The Middle-East is notoriously close minded and unnacepting when it comes to allowing other people to peacefully practice their religion of choice.

Growing up in Saudi Arabia, Christians on our compound had to attend Church Services in the school gymnasiums. It was very hush hush.

Isn't Allah supposed to be the most merciful, the most compassionate? Wouldn't he want all of his children to commune with him however they feel they should?

Perhaps many people who wish to keep their countries free of other religious institutions know that if the populace saw another alternative they would realize that they had options....and that their current situation didn't look so good.

Women's Forum at King Saud Univeristy

2008-02-26T02:26:00.003-05:00

This makes me happy.

'This' is a Women's Dialogue Forum that is taking place today at King Saud University. The purpose of this forum is for women from different schools, universities and institutes to gather and discuss the future of job opportunities for women in the Kingdom.

Just holding a forum like this gives acknowledgment to the fact that women have the ability to contribute something to society; from home AND from the workplace.

"Among the demands raised by the graduates was training courses for Arabic literature graduates who are interested in entering the media and journalism field in men’s colleges."

I love how they say 'demands'! Yes! These women are standing up for what they know are their intrinsic rights as human being instead of crumbling under the societal pressures to 'be quiet and have babies'. I'm so proud of them!

"Secretary-General of the King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue Faisal bin Abdurahman bin Muammar... pointed out that the dialogue would discuss ways to enable women to play a bigger role in the nation’s economic life."

Another fabulous quote that shows that not all men fear the growing power that women are enjoying in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

You can't oppress 50% of your population forever!

Child Abuse in Saudi Arabia

2008-02-25T00:32:00.002-05:00

Wow. This article really upset me this morning. I was reading along thinking 'This is great that they are finally shedding some light on the issue of child abuse in Saudi Arabia because it is usually kept so hush-hush and ignored as something that could not possibly occur in Islam.'

And then I came to this: "Samira Abbas, a sociologist at Al-Maharat Center, expressed concern that abuse against children tends to be hushed up and never comes to the surface. Abbas believes that living in small homes can lead to violence and abuse, adding that fathers can be aggressive if they come home to an uncomfortable atmosphere at home after work."

Ughghg. This woman has bought into the fallacy, the stupidity, the obscenity that claims that women can cause their husbands to be violent. When women and children are abused it is NEVER their fault, no matter what backwards imbeciles might say. If there is an 'uncomfortable atmosphere' in a house when the husband gets home from work how in the world can that possibly justify abuse and violence? This makes me sick! It is yet another example of women being made resonsible for the violence that is perpetrated against them.

Inshallah, we will not die.

2008-02-23T23:39:00.004-05:00

When I was going to high-school I lived with my family in Saudi Arabia and commuted across the King Fahd Causeway everyday to my school in Bahrain. I had to have a driver take me back and forth because, of course, women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. So, me and 3 friends would be picked up at 6am every morning and spend the next 1 1/2 hours on the causeway, filling out immigration cards, having our passports scrutinized and our car and belongings searched by customs officials. And then, 9 hours later, when the schoolday was over, we did it all over again in reverse. 5 days a week, 9 months a year, for 2 years. And I loved every minute of it.

Except the parts where I was completely convinced I was going to die.

My driver's name was Rashid, he was from Pakistan and he wore his pants pulled up to precisely one inch below his nipples. His thick black hair was always immaculately sculpted into a glorious pompadour and neither his eyes nor his voice ever betrayed any emotion other than supreme boredom.

Rashid had been driving back and forth across the causeway everyday for the past 15 years and he knew everything there was to know about it. He knew which immigration officers to go to when we were in a real hurry and he knew which ones to go to when one of us kids had annoyed him and he wanted us to sit through a 2 hour car inspection in 120 degree heat.

Rashid, with his dull whisper and heavy lidded eyes had a classic case of passive-agressive behaviour, which, as you can imagine, always made for an interesting commute.

Every so often when the schoolday was over we would beg Rashid to take us to a fast food restaurant so we could get some snacks to eat on the way home. Sometimes he would drop us off and we would hop out, telling him that we would be ready to leave in half an hour. No sooner were the words out of our mouths than he would have floored the accelorator and tires squealing and exhaust billowing he would peel out of the parking lot and race off into the distance. Four hours later, us kids would be slumped over in our booth, greasy fleuorescent lights flickering overhead, the remnants of our meal, now cold and congealed, scattered around us as we waited....and waited.....for Rashid to return.

Other times we would tell him we would be ready to leave in half an hour and no sooner would we step into the restaurant than Rashid would lean on the horn, not letting up until we were all back in the car headed back to across the causeway, dreams of fast food abandoned.

Now back to the fearing for my life part.

Rashid, who barely ever spoke, and never spoke above a mumble, who sat perfectly still and never smiled and barely opened his heavy eyes, drove like a suicidal bat out of hell.

He didn't just drive so fast that my eyeballs rolled back in my skull but he was also very innovative in his creation of alternative roadways. For example, the causeay, a towering bridge yawning over the glittering ocean, has two lanes going each way and is girded by the flimsiest white fence I have ever seen. Whenever Rashid would roar up behind two cars, instead of waiting to pass, he would force our car, racing along at about 100mph, between the outside car and the tiny fence, transforming the narrow breakdown lane into his own personal Autoban. I can't even imagine what we must have looked like to the driver we were passing. In the driver seat, he would have seen a Pakistani man on the verge of a coma, passively staring straight ahead, eyes drooping, facial muscles slack, and four white kids in the back, eyes wide with terror mouthing the words 'help me!' to every passing motorist.

Oh, who am I kidding? We were going to fast he couldn't have seen anything but the gleam of a giant pompadour.

Every so often, when our will to live asserted itself, one of us kids would mention to Rashid maybe possibly sort of considering slowing down.

Inevitably, without taking his glazed eyes off the road, Rashid would spitefully urge the car even faster and murmur "Inshallah (God willing), we will not die."

We would then sit back in our seats, eyes squeezed shut to block out the images of cars nearly clipped, walls nearly smashed and people nearly flattened, and clutched each other's hands, fervently praying that we would live to see another day.

Rashid wasn't just a devout Muslim with faith in God's will, he seemed to actively taunt fate and flaunt his disregard for his own personal safety. Not to mention the safety of the four petrified children he had been entrusted to care for.

Not only did Rashid routinely travel at more than 4 times the speed limit and brazenly create 'alternative' roads for himself, he also never wore his seatbelt or deigned to put more than one finger on the steering wheel.

But the only words he would ever say when we would plead with him to 'slow down, we didn't want to meet our Maker' were "Inshallah, we will not die."

For anyone who has ever spent anytime in the Middle East, 'Inshallah' will be a familiar refrain. Inshallah means 'God Willing' and it is the most commonly uttered phrase in the entire country of Bahrain and it covers everything and anything.

If someone invites you to attend a party you don't really want to go to, just shrug and say 'Inshallah, I will be there.'

Not sure if you can finish that last minute request from your client? Just nod and tell them 'Inshallah, it will be done on time.'

Not really sure if you ever want to do anything, go anywhere, or be a responsible adult ever again? Just smile and say 'Inshallah....."

Ooooh!

2008-02-21T12:12:00.004-05:00

I'm sitting here at the Costa Coffee in Seef Mall cursing this island's painfully slow internet and wishing people would respect the recent smoking ban when all of the sudden I feel awestruck and slightly giddy! A comment was just made on my blog, this blog, yes, the very one you are reading right now, by Daisy from Saudi Stepford Wife! This is so cool! I absolutely love her blog. In fact on the first day I ever discovered it I read nearly every single one of her posts! She is witty and funny and ridiculously sharp. Oooooh! I think I might swoon!

First Film Festival in Saudi Arabia

2008-02-20T05:07:00.002-05:00

It's articles like these that give me a bit of hope. Granted, it is a very tiny thing, especially when compared to the protests, demonstrations, art festivals, music festivals and political rallies that are a routine part of life in other parts of the world. But in Saudi Arabia simple things like a film festival are absolutely unheard of, so this is definitely a step in the right direction. I wonder how many people will be absolutely outraged by this 'sinful, un-Islamic sign of western decadance' and how many people will publicly defend and support it? This promises to be interesting.

First Film Festival in Saudi Arabia

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Published: February 20, 2008

Saudi Arabia, where movie theaters are banned, has something new to look forward to, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the English-language newspaper Arab News: its first official film festival. On May 20 a five-day competition underwritten by the government will feature films from Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf and Arab states. Planned as an annual event and including the participation of film critics from the region for the first time, the festival will take place in the eastern city of Damman under the auspices of the Damman Literary Club and the Saudi Society of Arts and Culture. Films were exhibited in private clubs in Saudi Arabia until all public screenings were banned in the early 1980s on the ground that they contravened Islamic law. Nevertheless, cafes in main cities show films, sports and video clips on large-screen televisions.

"There is no fun in Islam.....or romance."

2008-02-18T02:49:00.002-05:00

Another ridiculous article.

But, let's not forget what the Ayatollah Khomeini said: "There is no fun in Islam."

Apparently no romance either.

*****

(CNN) -- Saudi Arabia has asked florists and gift shops to remove all red items until after Valentine's Day, calling the celebration of such a holiday a sin, local media reported Monday.

With a ban on red gift items over Valentine's Day in Saudi Arabia, a black market in red roses has flowered.

"As Muslims we shouldn't celebrate a non-Muslim celebration, especially this one that encourages immoral relations between unmarried men and women, " Sheikh Khaled Al-Dossari, a scholar in Islamic studies, told the Saudi Gazette, an English-language newspaper.

Every year, officials with the conservative Muslim kingdom's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice clamp down on shops a few days before February 14, instructing them to remove red roses, red wrapping paper, gift boxes and teddy bears. On the eve of the holiday, they raid stores and seize symbols of love. The virtue and vice squad is a police force of several thousand charged with, among other things, enforcing dress codes and segregating the sexes.

Saudi Arabia, which follows a strict interpretation of Islam called Wahhabism, punishes unrelated women and men who mingle in public.

Ahmed Al-Omran, a university student in Riyadh, told CNN that the government decision will give the international media another reason to make fun of the Saudis "but I think that we got used to that by now."

"I think what they are doing is ridiculous," said Al-Omran, who maintains the blog 'Saudi Jeans.'

"What the conservatives in this country need to learn is something called 'tolerance.' If they don't see the permissibility of celebrating such an occasion, then fine -- they should not celebrate it. But they have to know they have no right to impose their point of view on others."

Because of the ban on red roses, a black market has flowered ahead of Valentine's Day. Roses that normally go for five Saudi riyal ($1.30) fetch up to 30 riyal ($8) on February 14, the Saudi Gazette said.

"Sometimes we deliver the bouquets in the middle of the night or early morning, to avoid suspicion," one florist told the paper.

Saudi Arabia has often come under criticism for its treatment of women, most recently in a United Nations report that blasted the kingdom for widespread discrimination.

Under Saudi law, women are subject to numerous restrictions, including a prohibition against driving and a requirement that they get a man's permission to travel or have surgery.

A businesswoman told the Times of London this month that she was detained and strip-searched by the religious police for holding a meeting in a coffee shop with male colleagues.

Two years ago, a teenager was raped by seven men who found her alone with a man unrelated to her. The government sentenced the 19-year-old woman to 200 lashes and six months in prison for being in the company of a man who wasn't a family member or her husband. She was later pardoned. The seven rapists were sentenced to two to nine years in prison.

Home Sweet Home?

2008-02-18T01:40:00.003-05:00

From Bahrain's Newspaper, the Gulf Daily News:

Gays to face new clamp

By MOHAMMED AL A'ALIA

NATIONWIDE crackdown on homosexuals could be launched in Bahrain, including tougher immigration checks to stop foreign gays entering the country.

It would include a study to determine how widespread homosexuality is in Bahrain.

Parliament's foreign affairs, defence and national security committee has already backed the proposal, which would force the government to carry out the study.

The proposal was submitted by MPs belonging to the Al Menbar parliamentary bloc. It is in response to what MPs see as Bahrain's growing gay problem and foreigners found to be gay face deportation, said committee secretary Jalal Fairooz.

He said the study was being carried out despite the fact that the Education Ministry claims there are no homosexuals in schools.

However, Mr Fairooz had no suggestions on how such a study could be carried out, saying it would be up to the government to decide.

"The Interior Ministry has told us that it already bans suspected homosexuals as they try entering the country from Bahrain International Airport," said committee secretary Jalal Fairooz.

However, he claimed the ministry said homosexuals pretend not to be gay by posing "manly" until they make it past immigration.

"They look manly as they come to the airport, but when they get in they return back to their unaccepted homosexual attitude," said Mr Fairooz.

"Homosexuals are found in huge numbers at hairdressing salons and beauty and massage spas, which the ministry regularly inspects."

However, he said many homosexuals were slipping through the net because the ministry was having problems determining if they were gay or not.

"Those who look homosexual or offer customers personal services are being caught by police and taken to the Public Prosecution," he said.

He described gays as "dangerous" and a "threat to our society and Islamic values".

"That's why the proposal asks the government to come up with a study on the problem and eliminate it before it increases and becomes hard to control, as more gays enter the country," he added.

MPs have approached the ministries of Information, Health and Industry and Commerce, along with the Labour Market Regulatory Authority, for their feedback.

However, they have said the issue was not in their remit. The proposal will now be listed for discussion by parliament's general-secretariat.

*****

When I read this article my first instinct was to giggle. Could a country like Bahrain, a developed, modern nation actually have articles like this in their main English language newspaper? Would they really publish something like this in a serious manner, in a sincere effort to report the news? I couldn’t believe it.

It reads like something from the satirical publication The Onion, it is ludicrous and absurd. Especially ridiculous is the claim from the committee secretary describing the ‘masculine posturing adopted by gays’ so they can sneak into the country! Is this man for real?

Yes. Unfortunately he is.

When this fact sunk in I couldn’t keep giggling.

Especially disturbing is the quote at the end of the article where Fairooz says that the 'governement needs to come up with a study on the problem and eliminate it....'

When you begin dehumanizing certain groups or sections of people, denying them even the title of person or human being and begin to refer to them as an it, then you are taking the first step down a very horrifying road.

Problem? Eliminate it? We are talking about human beings.

I have to face the sobering fact that I am now living in a country with a government that can find widespread support and encouragement among their populace when they decide to launch a nation wide man-hunt to deport homosexuals.

Will there be any protests in the streets, riots or denunciations over this latest violation of human rights?

I doubt it.

Home Sweet Home!

2008-02-17T06:12:00.003-05:00

YAY! I'm writing this post from Bahrain! 4 months ago DC and I were both offered amazing jobs here in Bahrain so we packed up our 3 dogs, said good-bye to Texas and hopped on the nearest plane and here we are! Now we have a lovely villa, an extra dog and more Indian food than we can fit in our fridge!

It is seriously, truly, amazingly wonderful to be back in the M.E. After years stuck in the states going to school and finishing our degrees it is nice to be LIVING. Nothing ever felt REAL to me in the states, it is only once I'm here, back in the world, that things start to become clear and tangible again. Oh, not to mention completely crazy.

Bahrain is even more chaotic than I remember it. The driving, the construction, the riots, everything seems to have taken a huge dose of speed since the last time I was here a few years ago. But, it is still home and I am still happy.

I have much to say, many things to post and a lot to talk about. So, keep coming back!

Wish You Were Here.

2007-04-15T21:35:00.001-04:00

Texas is beautiful in the Springtime.

After the Storm

2007-03-26T20:22:00.000-04:00

Rainy Day Rumi Ruminations

2007-03-26T17:37:00.000-04:00

More Range

We're friends with the one who kills us,
who gives us to the ocean waves. We

love this death. Only ingorance says,
Put if off a while, day after tomorrow.

Don't avoid the knife. This friend
only seems fierce, bringing your soul

more range, perching your falcon on a
cliff of the wind. Jesus on his cross,

Hallaj on his-those absurd killings
hold a secret. Cautious cynics know

what they're doing every moment and why.
Submit to love without thinking, as

the sun this morning rose recklessly
extinguishing our star-candle minds.

Rumi

Rain, Rain Go Away!

2007-03-26T14:04:00.000-04:00

Sigh. I had so many plans today. I lie awake in bed at night, my little brain full and jangling with ideas of what exciting things I can get done the next day. The possibility of self transformation or at least a cleaner house seems so very attainable.
However, I woke up too late, the house filled with the smell of my darling fiance DC fixing red beans and rice, and discovered to my horror that it is raining outside.
This is Texas. It's not supposed to rain this much. The one thing I've always loved about Texas is how closely the weather approximates the weather back home in Saudi: sunshine and heat. Lots of heat.
But, this past week or so has been very Seattle/London/Hell like. Granted, it's nice and warm but it's also rainy every day.
I wanted to mountain bike today, I wanted to go shopping today, things were going to happen today! And now....I'm probably going to watch tv and spend too much time on myspace. Damn this rain!

Marhaba!

2007-03-24T13:00:00.000-04:00

Whew! So, I've finally done it! I'm officially a blogger. Now that I can actually post anything I want on the internet the task is looming large and I feel a bit intimidated. It was one thing to imagine it in my feverish fantasies of world wide web domination, but now....I just don't know what to say. I'm struck dumb and believe me, that doesn't happen very often.

For now, I'll keep it short and sweet with the promise of writing more later. Welcome to my blog, I hope you enjoy.