Even those Bedouin women who are not rich don't care. Many were employed at the hospital as khademas. They would remove the robe when indoors, but they never removed the scarf and face covering. It would be like working naked to them. Same for the patients. In the hospital, they slept with the face covering on.
Yeah and according to Islamic law black dogs should be killed, what your point? Of course their traditional in outlook, if I was raised in a society that told me I could neither drive, walking in public without escort or even show my face, I would come to rationalize it as a good thing: "I don't need to work, I don't need independents, if my husband bets me it my fault, I'm just a girl, tehehe." Even rich women work, women like humans in general seek fulfillment in life.
How do you know? Yeah, in sand storms maybe but: A) You dont wear it yourself B) You dont want someone to force you to wear one C) You agree with forcing others to wear them. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Its all relative and I realised it only one day, when a Bedouin woman who was cleaning up a patient turned around and told me [I think she was quite fed up with my lectures]: you're so liberated, so modern. So, take off your shirt and do your job. Its only boobs, everyone has seen them, go ahead, lets see you do it. I think till that point, I did not understand what she meant, but she was a wise old coot.
Like I said, its all relative, lets see you go to work naked tomorrow. Tell me how it went. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I had three very expensive very stylish abayas for the duration that I worked in Saudi Arabia, I used it [abaya] for my travels. No one ever forced me to cover my face, but I did it anyway, I wanted to experience the way they lived. I never felt oppressed, it's quite liberating not to have to worry about your appearance. At work I wore Indian clothes similar to those worn by the Iranian woman in my first post in this thread, a salwar kameez, my standard dress in India. No one ever said anything to me about my dress. I wore a lab coat over my clothes in the kitchen and a head scarf, but I would have to do that in India too, its standard practice in an institutional kitchen. I did not cover my face at work or while shopping locally [I wanted to take advantage of all the people who knew me. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!] For all other occasions, travel etc, I dressed in full Arab clothing, bought from Jeddah or Riyadh, I kept only one skirt set and gave away everything else before I left.
There are limits to personal freedom, I can't walk naked in public by law, I can't take a shit on the sidewalk by law... unless I was in amsterdam. Even so relativity does not change the nature of equal rights or how many rights are available to you, a Saudi women have far less rights and choices available to her than a Saudi man, Saudis in general have far less rights available to them than I most secular countries. Someone would have if you had not actually covered your face. You could say "oh I went into the women only segregated section, no one forced me" is equal to saying "I did not go into the men only segregated section to see if I woudl be forced out"
Now you sound like an oppressed woman. All these laws preventing you from freedom. Shouldn't you be campaigning to be on the same level as Amsterdam? Or Africa? All those women in Amsterdam and Africa are so lucky to be able to walk around naked. Doesn't it make you feel like your society is so dipshit for restricting all these desirable freedoms from you? Imagine! If you were in Amsterdam, you could go to work naked and no one would care!
Why\how would they force you to do something you were already doing? Do women over there go into restaurants and eat?
Of course. Their eating places are not like the ones you see in other places. They don't give you a table, they give you a room [with carpet, pillows, hookah, a bathroom and a washstand]. There are western style eating places and fast food sandwich stalls but Arabs like to lie down and take their time, so most people prefer the room style restaurant.
I do actually! Civil right, Equal Rights, Working standards, etc did not happen because people said, "Oh well we are not a free as other nations but we got some things going for us" You describing my greatest dreams! Walking around naked smoking a joint, fuck I could die happy!!! You forgot to mention they are segregated.
Wow, thats must be what they call progress.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I don't like to remove my bra in public. They don't like to remove their nosepiece in public. If you come across people you know you can sit with them. I sat with my driver all the time.
Dam straight! I'm glad we agree. Its not a matter of like, its a matter of CAN YOU! If your caught siting with a man that not your relative in Saudi Arabia you could get arrested.
It is. It was quite strange the first time. I was very suspicious of the "perverted" Arabs and our driver chatted non stop for 3 hours on our trip to the city. Then he pulled over into what looked like a house. Me and one other girl were his passengers. Both of us had dire visions of being raped and dismembered and thrown into the desert. Ah, the prejudice! He was such a nice guy, he took us to an Afghani restaurant. Got a room for us, told us to lie down as we must be tired from the drive, left his mobile number in case we needed him. He went to the steward, got food and drink for us. Bukhari rice and chicken, enough for 6 people at least. We were so ashamed. We had to beg and plead so he would eat with us. And he paid for everything because we were his "guests". Can you? I bet if you try to walk into the lab naked tomorrow, you'll get arrested. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
That not equivalent to being arrest for sitting next to a man. Might as well claim that not having the right to murder anyone I want thus makes it Ok for Saudi women to be impression for showing her face in public, these are not equivalent, relativity does not count, we are not talking about social norms we are talking laws!
Its relative, you could be "free" in Africa. Roam naked smoke pot whatever. Legally, no fundie restrictions on clothes and pot.
No its not relative, We are measure standard of personal freedom, So in this case Saudi Arabia is has a much lower standards than secularized countries, certainly far less then in "The bush" of africa, but then there no government control at all in the bush. Saudi women are more restricted than saudi men, by law, this is sexist and oppressive, nothing relative about that.
