by Phyllis Chesler

Brave Saudi women drove their cars in public in Riyadh, the capital city, to demand their right to drive. They were quickly detained, their passports were confiscated, and they were fired from their jobs. On the 19th anniversary of this event, Saudi women activists, led by prominent Saudi activist and journalist Wajeha al Huwaider, are launching the Black Ribbons Campaign. They want to move about in the world freely, without a male minder. Al Huwaider has called for the abolition of the mahram (“guardian”) law which requires women to obtain the approval of a male relative for nearly any move they make in their lives. She is also demanding that Saudi women be treated as a citizens, just like their male counterparts, and that they be allowed to travel, drive, gain custody of their children, work, study, etc., just like their male counterparts. The Saudi women will not “untie their ribbons until Saudi women enjoy their rights as adult citizens.”

Read the complete original version of this item…

Princess - Jean Sasson

It is difficult to appreciate the privileges that we have until we acknowledge the cruelty around the world. I am ashamed to say that i never understood the terror anyone went through until reading this book.

Princess by Jean Sasson – This book is one of the most compelling books that has been released so far… This is based on a true story of a Saudi princess who has been hiding under the veil her whole life and finally decided the world had to know the pain and agony the women in Saudi go through. When you read through the book there are times where a normal human being who has been sheilded by such horrific stories would look up in horror.. do things like this happen in this world? Alas it is true.. this book is quite a old book… when i was in school Princess was my first book in this genre. I read it and was immediately swept away by the attrocities that surround most women. Rich they are but money comes with a price to pay. The way the author portrays each character and the way she unfolds the story will keep anyone captivated and make it a point to follow princess sultanas life..

Its hard for me to imagine that men like that exist in this world.. but the more i educate myself on this i realise that most men of that religion.. most men who live in countries and believe women should hide behind a veil.. women are only good to make children and do their bidding and give them sex,.. are just pathetic animals.. They are the same kind that hide behind God and justify each and every one of their actions as sacred. They should be firstly tested. I recently read a paper article of a 8 year old girl who was amrried off to a 60 year old man… and the thing was the socienty in Saudi agreed to that marriage.. and the courts refused to let them divorce no matter who appealed.. thanks to international intervention they were divorced.. and good riddance to bad rubbish i say…. These are the kinds of stories the author highlights in all her books… speacially in the Princess trilogy… so i would recommend anyone to buy this book and read it…. it will be a definite eye opener..

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-05-12/the-saudi-bitch-slap/

URL: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-0

Judge Hamad Al-Razine advised men to slap their wives at a recent seminar in Saudi Arabia on domestic violence. Here’s what he said:

If a person gives SR 1,200 [$320] to his wife and she spends 900 riyals [$240] to purchase an abaya [the black cover that women in Saudi Arabia must wear] from a brand shop and if her husband slaps her on the face as a reaction to her action, she deserves that punishment.

Credit: AFP Getty Images

Women in the audience booed…and rightly so. Arab News, which reported this, said that Al-Razine was trying to explain why domestic violence has increased recently when he made the comments. Al-Razine said that women and men shared responsibility, but also said that “nobody puts even a fraction of blame on women.” 

According to Arab News, Al-Razine: 

…also pointed out that women’s indecent behavior and use of offensive words against their husbands were some of the reasons for domestic violence in the country.

I lived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for 14 months many years ago. Every time I see stories like this, it makes me angry. This is yet another example of men…and this time validated by a judge…using violence to subjugate women. Women have little opportunity to be indecent in this country. They wear veils everywhere they go. They cannot socialize, attend classes, work, or even be seen with a man who is not their husband. When friends come to visit in homes, men socialize with the men in one room and women visit with the women in another room.

It’s a religion that men use to repress women and attitudes like the one this judge displayed…and at a seminar on domestic violence…that keep Saudi women from gaining basic rights and being free from domestic violence.

It’s never okay to slap a woman. NEVER.

If by an act of God, a miracle happened, and I woke up to find out that a royal decree has been issued to allow women to drive in Saudi… my wife would not like to drive, at least not straight away, even though she is a Saudi woman that knows how to drive, and holds an official drivers license from one of the countries that allows women to drive… oh wait… they all do…

Why? well, she was with me a couple of times when I was pulled over and given a ticket for speeding, while I was not speeding, and she is with me when I lose my temper while driving on our lovely streets, and she was with me when this guy crashed into us in a roundabout, and we had to wait for the police to show up in the scorching sun of Saudi at 12 noon, and then we were told to go to the police station to fill out a report so the officer over there can determine who caused the accident. She was also with me when a guy wedged his car to get in front of us at a red light, and once the light turned green took off, only to be side swept by a speeding car that did not stop at its red light… which had been red for at least five seconds… she cried when she saw that, I was just thankful, but my heart was beating so fast it was skipping beats.

Before they allow women to drive, many things need to be introduced… like traffic rules that are obeyed… by ALL, maybe even female police officers… oh wait, most of the lingerie shops don’t even have a female working there… see why I think it would be a miracle?

My brother once heard a lady telling a couple of our finest in uniform that her son is lost and she needs their help to find him, they took his descriptions, and as she walked away they looked at each other, one of them telling the other “She had some nice eyes on her”. My brother did not wait to see if they actually looked for the kid or not, I just imagined how they would give a a lady a ticket.

I love my country, with all my heart, and I hope to see things change… for the better.

While a princes says she is ready to drive, and her husband says that he would be the “first to let his wife and daughter drive if the ban was lifted”… the rest of the country, while willing and able, might see a different picture.

A friend of mine that lives inside the Saudi Aramco camp in Dhaharan told me that when a Saudi woman gets in an accident inside the camp (it is a huge camp, and women can drive there) she just opens the door, and walks away… and leaves the car with everything in it… talk about leaving the scene of the accident.

Not to mention the taxi drivers that try to kidnap women, or those that offer to pimp them out, or house drivers that use the cars as taxi’s for their own benefit, or those that… in the middle of the highway start talking $hit and stop the car, open the door, and walk away… all of which had happened to women I know.

I would love for women to drive… but I am sure you all see the picture, its not as simple as a simple ok… I wish it were that simple.

Over time, women’s rights have grown, spread and developed. Yet, in Saudi Arabia women’s rights are seemingly shrinking.

Saudi clerics recently condemned on-camera and photographed women as “growing deviant thought”

In prior days, Saudi print and television had increasingly featured women. Make-up was becoming easily accessible in the country.

But hard-line Saudi clerics claimed that the actions were, “religiously impermissible.”

Young Saudi women also face arranged marriages to much older men.

Saudi women might even lose access to their private sports clubs and gyms. The government threatens to license them to men only. This news came as women might be able to vote in the upcoming election (yet still cannot hold office). Women’s gyms are unlicensed and are regarded to as illegal.

One can hope that this is propaganda to discourage women from pushing for their vote and place in office. This reversal of women’s rights is an outrage.

• Story Highlights
• Saudi newspaper says religious officer found two men in Syrian woman’s house
• Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi said she breast-fed one of men when he was infant
• Sawadi argues that under Islamic tradition, that makes man related to her
• Men to receives lashes, too; case sparks outrage in conservative Saudi Arabia

(CNN) — A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

According to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan, troubles for the woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, began last year when a member of the religious police entered her house in the city of Al-Chamli and found her with two unrelated men, “Fahd” and “Hadian.”

Fahd told the policeman he had the right to be there, because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam, according to Al-Watan. Fahd, 24, added that his friend Hadian was escorting him as he delivered bread for the elderly woman. The policeman then arrested both men.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam called Wahhabism and punishes unrelated men and women who are caught mingling.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, feared by many Saudis, is made up of several thousand religious policemen charged with duties such as enforcing dress codes, prayer times and segregation of the sexes. Under Saudi law, women face many restrictions, including a strict dress code and a ban on driving. Women also need to have a man’s permission to travel.

Al Watan obtained the court’s verdict and reported it was partly based on the testimony of the religious police. In his ruling, the judge said it was proved that Fahd is not Sawadi’s son through breastfeeding.

The court also doled out punishment to the two men. Fahd was sentenced to four months in prison and 40 lashes; Hadian was sentenced to six months in prison and 60 lashes. In a phone call with Al Watan, the judge declined to comment and suggested the newspaper review the case with the Ministry of Justice. Sawadi told the newspaper that she will appeal, adding that Fahd is indeed her son through breastfeeding.

A top Saudi human rights lawyer, Abdulrahman Al-Lahem, volunteered to defend the woman and the two men and has been given power of attorney by them. He told CNN he plans to file an appeal in the case next week.

Efforts to reach Saudi officials at the Justice Ministry, religious police and other agencies were unsuccessful. A spokesman for the Saudi embassy in Washington said he had no details on the case.

The case sparked anger in Saudi Arabia.

“It’s made everybody angry because this is like a grandmother,” Saudi women’s rights activist Wajeha Al-Huwaider told CNN. “Forty lashes — how can she handle that pain? You cannot justify it.”

This is not the first Saudi court case to cause controversy.

In 2007, a 19-year-old gang-rape victim in the Saudi city of Qatif was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison for meeting with an unrelated male. The seven rapists, who abducted the woman and man, received sentences ranging from 10 months to five years in prison.

The case sparked international outrage and Saudi King Abdullah subsequently pardoned the “Qatif Girl” and the unrelated male.

Al-Lahem, who has taken on many high-profile cases in recent years, represented the girl and received an award from Human Rights Watch last year. However, a travel ban issued by Saudi authorities kept him from traveling to London, England, to receive it.

Many Saudis hope the Ministry of Justice will be reformed. Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz announced in February a major Cabinet reshuffling in which many hard-line conservatives, including the head of the commission, were dismissed and replaced with younger, more moderate members.

The new appointments represented the largest shakeup since King Abdullah took power in 2005 and were welcomed in Saudi Arabia as progressive moves on the part of the king, whom many see as a reformer. Among ministers who’ve been replaced is the minister of justice.

The actions of the religious police have come under increased scrutiny in Saudi Arabia recently, as more and more Saudis urge that the commission’s powers be limited. Last week, the religious police detained two male novelists for questioning after they tried to get the autograph of a female writer, Halima Muzfar, at a book fair in Riyadh, the capital of the kingdom.

“This is the problem with the religious police,” added Al-Huwaider, “watching people and thinking they’re bad all the time. It has nothing to do with religion. It’s all about control. And the more you spread fear among people, the more you control them. It’s giving a bad reputation to the country.”

The Best of Both Worlds, Perhaps?

Twenty years ago, handfuls Saudi university students started graduating with a B.S. in  Medical Technology. They came to KFSH for their clinical internship, and I was fortunate to have initiated a few of them into the practice of analytical laboratory testing.

One student,  a woman who covered her face, except for her eyes, became a friend, of sorts. After I got over the uneasiness of not seeing her face, and after she lifted her veil in the women’s cafeteria a few times, I relaxed, and we started to compare notes regarding our lives, experiences, and goals, etc.

She told me she was a third wife. She already had a daughter from a previous  marriage, in which she was a second wife. The divorce bothered her not because of polygyny, but because the first husband did not want her to complete her education and work. She, on the other hand, had developed a passion and a talent for her field, and with a strong personality, was not about to give it up.

The current husband, who had two other wives, was fine with her career, and she was fine with the other wives. They all had separate villas, small but comfortable, and this woman lived with her mother and still small daughter.

I was dying to know about the sleeping arrangements, but could not ask directly, of course, so I ventured to ask, “Where does your husband live?”

“With ME!” came her indignant response. At that moment, I wished my own face were covered to hide the redness of embarrassment. I never asked again, sensing that I’d hit a raw nerve.  She never elaborated, except to complain a few times that he had mixed up the nights, and inconvenienced her.

This woman had her cake and ate it, too.

I had a wonderful month-long vacation in Dubai for the Holidays.  I was impressed with Dubai’s stunningly modern cityscape and infrastructure and the cosmopolitan lifestyle that has made Dubai a true melting pot of  the Middle East.

Because of this, I saw a country of contradictions.  Where else can one see skimpily clad women alongside heavily veiled ones?

This juxtaposition had me intrigued.  I have often wondered then how veiled women or those who have to wear abaayas feel or think about those who never wear them.

So, I just had to buy this book which narrates the true-to-life story of a Saudi princess—a fascinating perspective as it comes from a an Arab woman of note.

Author              :  Jean Sasson

First Release   :  September 1992

Publisher (this edition)        :  Bantam Books  (1993)

No. of pages     :  303

This is the true story of Princess Sultana (fictitious name) of the royal house of  Al Sa’ud, the current ruling clan of  Saudi Arabia.  She tells of her privileged life of mind-boggling riches and of her real life as a woman pinioned by cultural fetters of gender prejudice.

Princess Sultana is a feminist, a woman who feels deeply about the indignity and the precarious  situation of women in Saudi Arabia whose laws and fanatic customs demean, denigrate, and threaten their very lives.  In the milieu of extreme patriarchy where severe punishment is meted for breaking social and religious laws, she is a rare voice, a courageous one, as she has risked her life to tell her story, anonymously, through the author, Jean Sasson.

She recounts her life—how it is like to grow up as a Saudi princess, what incidents she had witnessed and heard of— grave injustices,  appalling torture and punishment done to women, some of whose only sins were falling in love with a non-Muslim or being unfortunate enough to have been raped.

If I was hoping to find some answer to my question on how veiled women feel about thier abaayas,  I did get her opinion.  Of course, this is only one opinion. There should be several, supporting or opposing ones.  I’d love to hear about opposing ones.

Princess Sultana narrates that at the first moments of the first veiling were exciting.  Veiling signifies a child’s transition to womanhood and is practiced as soon as the child reaches menarche.

“For a moment, I felt myself a thing of beauty, a work so lovely that I must be covered to protect men from their uncontrollable desires.”– p.111

But in the next instant, she envies the freedom of those only partially veiled.  (She has to wear a full veil covering her entire face.  I’ve seen women veiled this way in Dubai and frankly, the sight of a heavily veiled woman, who looks like a walking death shroud, did creep me out a bit).

“The novelty of wearing the veil and abaaya was fleeting, though.  When we walked out…I gasped for breath and sucked furiously through the sheer black fabric.  The air tasted stale and dry as it filtered through the gauzy cloth.  I had purchased the sheerest veil available, and yet I was seeing life through a thick screen.  How could one woman see through veils made of thicker fabric?  … my heart plunged to my stomach when I realized that, from that moment, outside my own home I would not experience life as it really is in all its colour…”

“I stumbled over  several children of a bedouin woman, and looked in envy at the freedom of the veil.  Bedouin women wear veils that fell across their noses, leaving their eyes free to examine their surroundings.  Oh how I wished to be a bedouin!  I would cover my face gladly if I could only leave my eyes free to see the inifinite changes of life around me.” — p. 111

Perhaps then, veiled women do feel a certain envy toward those who never have to wear them.  The object of envy would be freedom—freedom to express one’s individuality through their own choices of make-up and fashion; freedom from restrictive clothing;  freedom to revel and have confidence in one’s own body.  These are little freedoms which most women take for granted.   I have sensed sometimes these women’s longing to have the social confidence Western and most Asian women have, an inherited assurance owing to totally different cultural views.

However, I am straying from the subject —which is a review of this book.

Princess is indeed all of these — shocking, fascinating, heart-breaking, outrageous, thought-provoking, unbelievable.  It is mind-boggling to think how ideas and acts, presumed to be medieval, be alive and and accepted in this day and age — the age of information.  The book is simply written, far from being a literary work of note in terms of writing style; but Sasson does convey the story coherently and sequentially well.

For Filipinos, it would be  of interest to know that Princess Sultana makes a lot of references to our “kabayans”, overseas workers who form a significant part of the labor force in Saudi Arabia.

This book is so interesting that it may spur one to read Jean Sasson’s other novels, all of which deal with women in the Arab world.

My Mark :  Outstanding

A U.A.E.-based newspaper, The National, published a story yesterday about increasing numbers of Saudi women entering the workplace (read here). While this isn’t the first story written about Saudi women in the workforce, it is one of the best written ones I’ve seen. There is no presumption of Western superiority in regards to women in the workplace, something seen far too often in stories about women in the Muslim world, and cultural attitudes aren’t confused with Islamic norms, something also seen in many stories about Muslim women.

Ayat Ahmad and her husband, Emad Qanaq. Image via Hassan Amar, AP.

The author, Caryle Murphy, does a great job of covering various angles of the story. She looks at Saudi women who work, as well as their families. Some of the women, such as Ayat Ahmed, a hearing and speech pathologist, and Maram Al Fouzan, a doctor, are middle- and upper class; others, such as Wafa al Khudairi, who works in an assembly line, are working class. It’s great that Murphy focused on women from various classes in Saudi society, since the need and desire to work would affect women from all socio-economic classes.

Murphy looks at the women’s reasons for wanting to work, as well as the socioeconomic reasons that are driving more Saudi women into the workplace. From the interviewees’ answers, we get a sense that the women want to work for a variety of reasons: independence, adding to family income, and the desire to pursue their own dreams. Both the women interviewed for the article, as well as the author herself, point to changing societal attitudes as being part of the reason why more Saudi women are in the workforce.

But it is also true that acceptance of women in the workforce – something the government is encouraging – is gaining ground among the kingdom’s younger generation.

“Before, people didn’t like their wives working outside the home,” said Hassan al Humaidi, 32, an engineer whose wife, Maram Al Fouzan, 28, is pursuing her residency in family medicine at National Guard Hospital.

“Nowadays, me and my friends see that it’s no problem, and maybe this is better.
“You have a wife, she has principles, and she’s got a certificate, which she uses in a good way to work for example, in banks, hospitals, schools. So I feel proud that my wife works.”

They all discuss the growing acceptance of women’s education, as well as women having careers. This acceptance is discussed without having to compare Saudi Arabia to other societies, which I thought was great and refreshing. Murphy adequately focuses on changing societal norms without having to compare Saudi Arabia to Western nations and without having to credit other societies for the change.

While Murphy looked at changing attitudes and changing economic situations, she also wrote about the challenges that working Saudi women still face, as well as the fact that not all Saudis support women being in the workplace. She quotes a sobering statistic:

It is especially revolutionary for Saudi Arabia because of its unique place among nations, ranked lowest out of 128 – in terms of female “labour force participation” – by the 2007 World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. Saudi officials say women make up only four per cent of the country’s workforce.

The women interviewed also discuss the opposition they receive from some Saudis, such as being given pamphlets by male colleagues that state that Islam favors stay-at-home moms, or being looked down upon for having to collaborate with male colleagues. Murphy discusses the opposition that working Saudi women face without demonizing Saudi culture or Saudi men. Reading the article, I got the sense that the women interviewed were happy working but also aware of the challenges they faced. I felt that they were proud of the work they’re doing, and had a sense that the work they do is serving a bigger societal purpose:

“There will be more women and I think they’ll be stronger because the new generation working right now, they’re very strong, they don’t care about what other people think,” she replied. “They just want to prove themselves.”

She added that the attitude of such women was: “I’m working, I’m not doing anything wrong … I’m doing something that’s natural, something that’s normal. I don’t care if you judge me. But I know what I’m doing. I’m well-raised.”-Razan al Bakr

The National’s article was a well-balanced article that served to highlight the gains and challenges of working Saudi women, without resorting to Orientalist stereotypes about Saudi women or Saudi society. It was great to read an article about Muslim women that did not make assumptions about Islam, Muslim women and oppression nor was overly apologetic in nature. We need more articles like that.

THIS IS A WONDERFUL VIDEO THAT TAKES US INTO THE LIVES OF A FEW SAUDI WOMEN AT WORK AND HOW THEY DEAL WITH THEIR DAILY ROUTINES. IT IS QUITE AN EYE OPENER AND SHOWS US THAT MANY MYTHS THE MEDIA PROCLAIM AGAINS ISLAM ARE INCORRECT. 

So this is old. 2005 old. But I just saw it so I’m writing.

I’m not the biggest fan of animated cartoon series like South Park, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad. Mainly because I believe that there are so many underlying messages that you don’t notice you’re exposed to because they’re packaged in this cutesy way that makes you let down your guard and get sucked in. They perpetuate ideologies and modes of thinking according to the whims of the scriptwriters—whether they be supremacist, Orientalist, anti-fat, etc. Intentional or not, it happens.

(And this is true even if you go way back to Disney when messages weren’t as overt. The Little Mermaid? Disobey your parents [while of course having impossible body proportions]: you’ll still get the person you love and your parents will eventually come around to your way of thinking. Aladdin? A thief. Etc., etc.).
So let me demonstrate this reality using the episode of American Dad I happened to watch while waiting for iftar with baited breath: “Stan of Arabia.”

The title itself should have given me fair warning that this wasn’t going to be a mindless piece of entertainment (It’s a spin off of Lawrence of Arabia).

American Dad revolves around Stan Smith, a CIA agent who is constantly on the alert for terrorist activity to protect his beloved America. He’s a titular giant-jawed all American super-patriot with a blonde wife (Francine) and two kids: a surly feminist teenage daughter and a dorky pre-teen son. And for some reason there’s an alien (Roger) living with them in the house.

You can watch the part 1 of the episode here and part two here. Or you can just read the synopsis here.
But basically, the story is that Stan gets his boss mad and is sent to Saudi Arabia as punishment.

Since our job here is to critique portrayals of Muslim women, I won’t really get into the way Saudi Arabia itself is portrayed. I’ll just list some of the many horrendous generalizations and messages that made me gnash my teeth:

• The first clip we see is sand and desert, of course.
• In the airport Stan says “Quick cover your mouths, that’s how they [Saudi Arabians] enter your body and lay their eggs.”
• Stan locks the doors “so [Francine] won’t get beheaded when I’m out.”
• Everyone rides camels (you can even pack them onto the plane, haha).
• Everyone has a gun: the Smith family hears them in the car, a little boy has guns in his room, and the men have guns slung over their shoulders.
• Houses are castles straight out of Aladdin.
• The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice carry swords and run after ‘whores’ and ‘harlots.’ They shoot you for singing in public.
• Jews are horrible and Saudis hate them.
• Infidels are stoned in a big coliseum-type stadium, with people watching while wearing foam fingers. The stoning is shown on TV.
• Hypocrisy abounds: a Saudi man seduces Stan’s daughter by telling her he was a terrorist; alcohol is available in certain homes, R-rated movies are sold in the bazaar, etc.
• The bazaar sells: guns, chickens, watermelons, carpets etc. The typical bazaar image. There’s even a moustache shop. And background music is always Oriental music (you know what I’m talking about).
• A woman was in jail for 23 years for stealing a candy bar. And her left hand was cut off.

Oops, that was a long list. But now on to the meaty stuff: women.

Saudi Arabia, I’m sure we all know, is a restrictive country when it comes to women. As pops up in almost any news story about Saudi women: Saudi Arabia is a patriarchal country where women have to abide by a dress code, need a male escort for many things, and can’t drive. Though they can, of course, leave the house without a male escort.

But the way women are portrayed in this episode is just… there are no words. This clip of Francine complaining of what she doesn’t like about Saudi Arabia will give you a small idea of what the episode is like:

(Particularly horrendous for me are the men portrayed with their feet on women’s head, and the man asking ‘what’s a clitoris?’ i.e. an allusion to circumcision/ clitoridectomy, which doesn’t even exist in Saudi Arabia).

First off, the episode turns all women into a homogenous bunch, with no character or individual personalities. They all exist to serve men, and what’s more, they’re happy doing so. Stan’s wife visits her neighbours, and all three women get up immediately as soon as “husband is home,” the first asking him how was his day, the second if he wants a snack, and the third saying she will draw him a bath, with the latter two actually carrying him into the house on their shoulders.

And the men of course tell Stan “what do you mean you asked your wife and she said no? You mean you told her and she obeyed.” Stan is ecstatic, because of course that’s the dream of every man: that his wife obeys his every word (Stan actually sings “I don’t want a partner, I want a wife” early on in the episode). Women in Saudi Arabia are also portrayed as property—the police who bring back Francine at knife point when she goes out alone ask Stan, “This belongs to you?”

Later on in the episode, Stan marries a Saudi woman as a second wife. She of course has a husky come-hither voice; arched eyebrows plucked to within an inch of their lives; Bratz doll eyes (huge eyes with long eyelashes) and is wearing green eyeshadow.

Because even though she’s this oppressed woman having to cover her face and hair, well, she still must be exotic and sexual. Who cares if that’s a dichotomy? And since she’s Saudi of course she’s just a mindless drone—”I will serve husband in this life and the next” she intones. She cooks, she actually bows (!) when handing Stan a sandwich, and is seen by him as a maid to help Francine around the house. He can’t pronounce her name so he calls her Thundercat (a reference to the animated TV series perhaps? Cat-like humanoid aliens?) She’s just a Saudi woman after all; she doesn’t really need an identity right?

Dress-wise, all the women are portrayed as wearing abayas, headscarves, and face veils (never mind that face veils are not mandatory in Saudi Arabia, nor are headscarves). The alien Roger is ’sold’ to a fat old Saudi ruler who lives in palace where alcohol flows freely and the women there (of course) live in a harem-type setting, all in bikinis (but with their faces and hair covered), swimming in the pool, being fed grapes, getting massaged and fanned.

The first problem I see with an episode like this is that it selectively chooses the worse aspect of the culture to portray. Not to mention introducing things that are blatantly untrue. And not only that, but it takes truths and twists them or portrays them in a way to make them seem so much worse than they really are (for example, if you do go out alone, you’ll immediately be trailed by men with swords who will chase you). It makes a mockery of aspects of Arab culture and reinforces all the stereotypes the ‘West’ has of Arab women: oppressed sexual beings.

The message here is clear: by going to Saudi Arabia, the fundamentalist Islamic state, the Smith family gets to see how much they appreciate America (in fact, while almost getting stoned for being infidels Stan fantasies about President Bush showing up to save them, bringing democracy, Bibles, and jeans to Saudi Arabia. Now that’s a whole different post).

Popular culture is so much stronger than many people give it credit for. “It’s just a cartoon” some people will say, “it’s meant to be humorous and of course we know that it’s not really like that—you’re not really going to be killed for singing or held at sword point for flashing your ankles.”

But visual ‘input’ is rarely forgotten. Think of any movie you’ve seen. Can you visualize at least one scene? Chances are, you will. (And this is real by the way, research it online).

Not to mention that for those who don’t really know anything about Saudi Arabia, chances are they’re not going to watch this episode and then immediately go and research the country and its culture and norms. And even if they do, what’s going to be more memorable? A broadly stereotyped nightmare of the Middle East which made them laugh, or the Girls of Riyadh?

And just like this article mentions,

“Stereotypes brought to the public through media as overtly innocent as animated cartoons might be more effective than actual news broadcasts. The stereotypes of Saudis promulgated in “Stan of Arabia” are probably therefore extremely effective and penetrating.”

Portraying Saudis as woman-hating murders and thugs (and would-be terrorists at one point) may make for entertainment, but it’s wrong on so many levels. It’s demeaning and downright insulting to Saudi Arabians to have them portrayed like this. It’s bad enough that we as Muslims or Arabs have to deal with all the negative media now (we’re terrorists, we hate America, yada, yada). Why dredge up misconceptions that we’ve more or less dealt with (I really do hope no one still thinks I live in a pyramid and take a camel to university).

According to the Fox Network, the original broadcast of Stan of Arabia brought in approximately 7.3 million viewers. That’s not counting the millions who have watched it since.

I think the only part of the episode I laughed at was Stan staying: America doesn’t want to enslave all Arabs. Just the ones with oil.

So I have a twisted sense of humor.

First, Ramadan mubarak to all MMW readers! I know that Fatemeh said that already, but I wanted to wish you a happy Ramadan myself too : )

We’re about a month late on this, but I wanted to cover an interview with Muna Abu Sulayman that was aired on One on One with Riz Khan. Abu Sulayman is a Saudi woman and one of the hosts of the show Kalam Nawaem, which is apparently similar to the American show The View, but airs in Arabic and is focused on social issues in the Middle East. She also works as executive director for the Kingdom Foundation, and has been designated as a Global Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme. In addition to all this, she is also a mother of two daughters.

The interview, which you can see in the clips above and below, was generally quite interesting. I appreciated how Abu Sulayman was very conscious of the way that people come to see her as a representative of her country, or of Saudi women, and her acknowledgement of the responsibility that this brings. (Whether or not she should have this burden of representing her country, her sex, or her religion every time she opens her mouth, is another story, but it’s worth at least being aware that it is how she’s seen.)

It was also refreshing, in a world where Muslims are often assumed either to have to completely reject their religion/culture or to stand up and defend all aspects of it, to see her speak from a perspective that directly challenges stereotypes that people might have of Saudi Arabia and of Saudi women (or Muslim women), while simultaneously talking about the obstacles that women do face in her country. Yes, it is possible to do both! She came across as confident in her Saudi identity, without seeming as if she was ignorant of (or an apologist for) oppression that might occur in her country. On the other hand, in the discussions of barriers that women may or may not face, it would have been nice to see some consideration of the role of economic or educational privilege, since Abu Sulayman certainly comes from a background where certain privileges have likely mitigated the gender-related obstacles that she could have encountered.

Although the interviewer was generally fairly good, I did find him patronising at times. He seemed to focus on the challenges Abu Sulayman had come up against, particularly as a woman, which didn’t seem like it was her first priority to discuss. Most annoying was his (repeated) use of the word “impose” when asking about the religious guidance that Abu Sulayman received from each of her parents. The implication that her religious practice was something forced on her was somewhat offensive, given that this woman is clearly very accomplished and probably able to think for herself, even when it comes to religion!

This is my second time posting on something Saudi-related, and as with the first time, I’m sure there’s a lot that I’m missing! So I’ll stop here and open it up to all of you. I’d love to hear thoughts on the interview or on Muna Abu Sulayman and her role as a media presence from any of you who have come across her elsewhere! I’m also interested in reflections from any of you who have seen her show, Kalam Nawaem.

Muslimah Media Watch thanks Jana for the tip!

Riyadh – Saudi women are prevented by male guardians from enjoying their basic rights, including travelling, working and getting married, the Human Rights Watch group said Monday.

“Saudi women often must obtain permission from a guardian (a father, husband, or even a son) to work, travel, study, marry or even access health care,” the New York-based group said.

A report, entitled Perpetual Minors: Human Rights Abuses Stemming from Male Guardianship and Sex Segregation in Saudi Arabia, draws on over 100 interviews with Saudi women to document the effect of discriminatory policies on women’s basic rights.

“The authorities essentially treat adult women like legal minors who are not entitled to authority over their lives and well-being,” the 50-page report said.

Saudi women are denied the right to access government agencies that have no female sections unless they have a male representative.

“The need to establish separate office spaces for women is a disincentive to hiring female employees, and female students are often relegated to unequal facilities with unequal academic opportunities,” the human rights group said.

In cases where permission of a male guardian is not required, government officials often ask for it.

Airport officials, for example, ask women over 45 for written permission from their guardians allowing them to travel despite a recent government’s exemption from this requirement.

A 40-year-old Saudi woman, whose name was given as Fatma A., told the group that she cannot board a plane without written permission from her son, who is her legal guardian.

“My son is 23 years old and has to come all the way from the Eastern Province to give me permission to leave the country,” Fatma said.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that enforces a ban on women’s driving.

Women in the conservative kingdom have severely restricted access to justice and have difficulty filing a court case or testifying in court without a legal guardian.

Paradoxically, Saudi women have only limited rights to make decision for themselves but are held criminally “responsible for their actions at puberty,” the report said.

“For Saudi women, reaching adulthood brings no rights, only responsibilities,” said Farida Deif, women’s rights researcher for the Middle East at Human Rights Watch. (dpa)

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