Posted on 07/27/2006 9:52:03 AM PDT by sully777
RIYADH (Reuters) - Sitting in the reception area of a Saudi newspaper office, we do nothing more damning than talk about the weather and the local press.
The security guards eye us suspiciously -- so much so that I avoid crossing my legs to escape the impression of being overly casual with my female interlocutor.
In almost any other country it would be a routine exchange. In Saudi Arabia, a public meeting like this between a man and a woman could ruin her reputation and besmirch a family's honor.
The young woman explains in almost a whisper that we are lucky we can even talk here. Hotel lobbies are a non-starter, she says, since women have been hauled off by the Islamic religious police for talking like this to strange men.
Fortunately, the space we occupied was not so public that the vice squad could barge in on our professional conversation. And the management had been informed in advance of our not-so-dangerous liaison.
But the experience brought home to me one of the most striking of this country's many singularities -- that half the population is off-limits to men for the kind of day-to-day contact of most other places in the world.
A modern city of four million, Riyadh has a cosmopolitan and sophisticated air, all the more resplendent for the billions of dollars flowing in from the oil price boom.
Its wide streets bulge with the latest sports cars and four-wheel-drives. Its vast shopping malls offer the latest fashions for the desert capital's jetset elites. Its numerous cafes -- the global brand names -- provide wireless Internet and young men sit there playing the stock market.
But the familiarity stops there, for beneath the surface a system of gender segregation is in force which rigorously separates men from women unless they are close relatives.
OUT OF SIGHT
Women are removed from the glare of strangers, whether behind the tinted windows of cars, the high walls of houses or the monotone black outfits called abayas which Saudi religion and tradition ordain should cover the face.
A male reporter cannot ask a woman in the street for directions, let alone approach her with questions about an issue of the day. Conferences about women's issues are often closed to male journalists.
Once I contacted a young novelist in her 20s, but she would converse with me only through email. When it comes to arranging meetings, always the same problem presents itself: Where?
The religious police consists of clerics or their students who roam the streets with normal police to ensure that the strict regulations of Saudi Islam are enforced.
Occasionally, men in more liberal parts of the country will make an effort to promote their wives' achievements.
A businessman in the Shi'ite Muslim town of Qatif once invited me to interview his wife, a writer and social activist.
The interview took place amid ritual and protocol reminiscent of scenes from the 1,001 Nights, when holy leaders and caliphs were separated from the world of impurity by curtains and screens.
The meeting occurred in the family's inner sanctum, the home. We could not shake hands, and men presided over the exchange since otherwise there could be a suggestion of impropriety and people would talk.
As a guest, I was being allowed to enter a roomful of women who had gathered in a private space precisely because they expected to be protected from the prying eyes of strange men and the scourge of rumor.
Even when speaking to me, the women held their veils tightly over the face and kept their eyes to the ground. I too averted my gaze, as uncomfortable as they were. Leaving was a relief.
Pinging the pings
What people don't understand is that in a primitive culture and savage civilization, they need this kind of "protection", otherwise these savages would rape any woman that id not protected by a male.
What people don't understand is that we are fighting SAVAGES!
What people don't understand is that in a primitive culture and savage civilization, they need this kind of "protection", otherwise these savages would rape any woman that id not protected by a male.
Evidently they love it.
This is sooo strange. It seems most Arab homes in the middle east contain at least ONE functioning and loaded AK47/74/Dragunov, yet this abuse continues and the women almost never leave.
It wouldn't work in a house with a Scots-Irish Celtic woman for sure, because the abuser wouldn't be living there that long. She'd wait until you were asleep, fill the back of your head with lead, and feed your corpse to the hogs. However, the middle east LACKS western, Christian based values due to the brainwashing and brain wasting effects of Islam, as well as readily available porcine feedlot operations to get rid of the evidence.
Muzzie men lack self confidence in matters with women, probably explains the love they have for camels, goats and sheep!
Really think these women like this assine treatment. Why isn't hillary clintoon outraged!
The way you put it, it sounds like filling someone's head with lead and feeding them to the hogs is a Christian-based value! LOL!!
bkepley states: Evidently they love it.
I'm confused about your point about "they" in "they love it." Are you referring to the retards, or the women they violently repress through their theocracy, such as the news reporter beaten to a bloody pulp for standing up?
Please explain yourself.
And if she did do as you say, what then? Where would she go?
susie
Truthfully,
The muzzie men love each other as much as they seem to love their animals.
We are fighting a radical off shoot of Islam called Wahabism. the similar radical sect Hizbullah and radical Shiites sponsored by the despotic mullahs who rule Iran.
All favor a brand of Islam that is fixed at a social development around the death of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.)in the western calendar year of 632. All favor the 19th century desire to recreate a powerful Islamic Caliphate or a take over of secular Mid-East countries as set out in the thoughts and actions of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh. Anti colonialism got the European powers out post WWII, but the Arab defeat of 1948 and creation of Israel along with the Palestinian situation caused the radicals to declare Jihad until the end of Western military power,capitalism, secularism, women's rights, plus the end of Israel and any non Muslims who do not accept their second class under Muslim rule.
All in all, it's us v. them and the winner is undeclared. The Bush Administration in the USA (along with Blair's UK, Australia and some half hearted help in Europe) is the only push so far to defend the West and Israel's existence.
It's a Western value, as in:
"Ah reckon some folks jest need killin'!"
True. ;^)
--I'm confused about your point about "they" in "they love it."--
I'm talking about the retards who urge their men and children to become suicide bombers for the cause of Islamic extremism as in the Canadian "ladies".
Thanks for the clarification. It is a world wholly foreign to me and my family.
A friend of mine in the oil well business meets regularly with mohammedans and says they're thrilled to be in the USA where the wife can be a human, the booze flows freely, and they can watch our decadent TV shows. But as soon as relative visit, it's back to the burka, two steps behind and so forth.
She'd probably be stoned to death. At least she could take the SOB with her, and maybe a few of the religious police. Better than suffering in silence and being slowly beaten to death.
I was pointing out cultural differences.
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