Saudi police outlaw Barbie- It is too Jewish

Saudi police outlaw Barbie
September 10, 2003
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/10/1062902076884.html

Saudi Arabia's religious police have declared Barbie dolls a threat to morality, complaining that the revealing clothes of the "Jewish" toy - already banned in the kingdom - were offensive to Islam.

The Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, as the religious police are officially known, lists the dolls on a section of its website devoted to items deemed offensive to the conservative Saudi interpretation of Islam.

"Jewish Barbie dolls, with their revealing clothes and shameful postures, accessories and tools are a symbol of decadence to the perverted West. Let us beware of her dangers and be careful," said a poster on the site.

The poster, plastered with pictures of Barbie in short dresses and tight pants, and with a few of her accessories, reads: "A strange request. A little girl asks her mother: Mother, I want jeans, a low-cut shirt, and a swimsuit like Barbie."

Such posters are distributed to schools and hung in the streets by the religious police, or muttawa, an independent body affiliated with the office of the Prime Minister.


Vice police officials were not available for comment yesterday.

Sheik Abdulla al-Merdas, a preacher in a Riyadh mosque, said the muttawa take their anti-Barbie campaign to the shops, confiscating dolls from sellers and imposing a fine.

Although illegal, Barbies, the creation of California-based Mattel Inc., are found on the black market, where a contraband doll could cost 100 riyals ($A42) or more.

"It is no problem that little girls play with dolls. But these dolls should not have the developed body of a woman, and wear revealing clothes," al-Merdas said.

"These revealing clothes will be imprinted in their minds and they will refuse to wear the clothes we are used to as Muslims," the sheik said.

Women in Saudi Arabia must cover themselves from head to toe with a black cloak in public. They are not allowed to drive and cannot go out in public unaccompanied by a male family member.

Other items listed as violations on the site included Valentine's Day gifts, perfume bottles in the shape of women's bodies, clothing with logos that include a cross, and decorative copies of religious items - offensive because they could be damaged and thus insult Islam.

An exhibition of all the violating items is found in the holy city of Medina, and mobile tours visit schools and other public areas in the kingdom.

The muttawa act as a monitoring and punishing agency, propagating conservative Islamic beliefs according to the teachings of the puritan Wahhabi sect, adhered to in the kingdom since the 18th century, and enforcing strict moral code.

The muttawa patrol the streets of the kingdom, preventing men from mingling with women, enforcing strict Islamic dress for women, chasing worshippers late for prayers, and punishing shopkeepers who stay open during prayer hours. They sometimes work with a police officer who can enforce legal punishments on people deemed violators.

 

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And some people in the US get upset about a monument of the 10 Commandments. Sheesh!

 

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"it's more like she is too Viking with that blond hair"

Hehe, I can see it now, Valkyrie warrior barbie, with scanty armour and a chain mail g-string. You would think that with all the problems they have, they could come up with something better to do than stealing dolls from little girls and horse whipping women whose burkas are not long enough.

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That's their belief. Let it be.

 

for our values, a barbie is no big deal..
but to them it is. it's kind of stupid to call it "the jewish barbie" but the fact is that her revealing and tight clothes are upsetting their culture.

 

the problem isn't that they think barbie's too risque, it's that any time they see anything amoral they say it's jewish. it's racist.

 

Do they get to chose that belief? What if they want to change? What if one day a woman throughs off her burka and declares she is a Christian, does she have that right or choice? Their beliefs are chosen for them, they have little or no opportunity to find out different, let alone choose something different. Not to mention that many of them would like to force it down our throats, I have never seen Wahhabism described as peaceful coexistant Islam.

 

A culture that, whether you want to admit it or not, is propagated by enough violence, intrusiveness, and lack of civil and political freedoms to make the Inquisition blush.

We can all agree that they are welcome to have their own culture, but when it violates basic human rights, then something needs to be done. You know... unless they have oil.

 

very good point

 

Is that really the problem? Couldn't it be that they deny women the right to personal sovreignty that they give the men?

 

Yes. It's also my belief. Barbie was invented by a Jew and promoted by an industry that is interested in profit, not the right thing to do for kids.

Blogged:

(They're right. Industrial society is bigoted against childhood because it does not produce enough consumers. Therefore, it must sexualize its children, regardless of the misery it costs them and society as a whole as they age. Overly sexualized people tend to be empty of maternal and paternal function, thus making empty, brain-dead parents who churn out maladjusted kids because, in their selfishness, they can't afford to "miss out on the parenting experience." Saudi Arabia knows what it is doing here.)

http://www.anus.com/news/archives/00000175.html

 

We don't all agree on what "basic human rights" are or the concept of rights. You're attempting to take away their freedom to do as they see fit because of YOUR artificial morality.

Also, as noted, Barbie was invented by a Jew. It's racist to deny that.

 

Just be cause we don't agree on them doesn't mean they don't exist. The only thing the theocracy of Saudi Arabia truly believes in is their "fundamental right" to suppress the people. The fundamental right to be served hand and foot by the population. If tomorrow it was in their best interest to keep rule by allowing it, they would do it in a second. These people care little about the religion or the underlying philosophy of their religion, and more for their (relatively) comfortable lives on the backs of the people they ritually oppress. A government does not have the freedom to oppress its people, and many of the people were not given choices in how to live. They're not like the Amish. They're not allowed a year to experience what the rest of the world is like and make their own decisions.

Do you have any evidence for this? Or are you just going to rely on making unfounded and unattributed quotes?

 

Christian Sodomy:

Really? He's walking into Saudi Arabia with a cask of barbies and forcing them into children's hands?

Islam is a Judaic religion. It's stupid to deny that.

truth:

I think the Viking women had some musculature.

Riomacloud:

I thought you just claimed that the Saudis were being oppressed by their government.

 

Ok, 1, PLEASE spell my name right. riomacLEOD.

Getting that out of the way, 2, I think that it is simply a stereotype to think that viking women were all bulky she-warriors. They have the same amount of musculature as any other european women did.

3 I do claim that the Saudis are being oppressed by their government. Just because people or an organization doesn't have the right to do something doesn't mean they're incapable of it.

 

Riomacleod:

I did not say "bulky", I said that they had muscles. Barbie follows (and creates) the trend of a woman with stick-thin arms.

Obviously, the Viking women had to administer households, cure meats, work in the fields, cook, some fought....

Any other European woman of that time, unless she was perhaps the daughter or wife of someone very rich, would have had to do the same.

Barbie, like most modern men and women, has an utterly useless body. I won't illustrate the obvious conclusion.

 

no no no, you completly missed the point they banned it because it is too reavling

 

Oh I'm sure their bodies have got to be good for something if you get my meaning *wink wink*.

Honestly, though, did you read the complaint they had with the doll? They are afraid that it will make their children wish to dress like barbie. In other words they are worried that it will remind them that there are places in this world where the culture isn't so horably opressive, and if you want to dress like a slut then you are quite free to do so. It was a smart move on the Saudi's part, that doll would be a constant reminder of the freedom that their people COULD have, and start putting the idea into their minds that they are oppressed.

 

Waving your ass like a flag does not make you free.

 

And being stoned to death for letting your face show does? i dont know, i would call the place where you can hide your face or wave your ass like a flag as the freer place... now what place do i know where you can pick either...