The darker side of Asia- Arab
Arab. The glorious place where the religion of Islam was born. The home to the holy land of Mecca where Muslims all over the world pine to touch their feet at least once in their lifetime. The same place that is a paradise due to all the oil reserves is a living hell for millions. To be polite- well, almost.
Now we all know that the Arab countries i.e. the countries in west Asia and east Africa adjoining the Red sea mainly comprise of religious fanatics. While many may want to liken the unjust practices to brainwashing and illiteracy, the fact goes that the literacy rate is actually high in these countries. Take the example of one of the most prosperous and strict country- Saudi Arabia. It has 84% male and 70% female literacy. In spite of all the overtly hunky dory feel, shit happens. Lets take a look at the main problems plaguing the oppressed class- women and deviant-sexuals here.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM):
One of the problems, better call it sins, I came across while researching for this article was that of FGM. As the term suggests, the FGM concerns the removal of external female genitalia for cultural, religious or non therapeutic reasons. To put it in simple terms, screw with the vagina because religion says so, while not caring about the health and consequences of women. It is generally performed in the childhood. One main reason is to deprive women of sexual pleasure. In countries like Sudan and Egypt, this practice is almost 100% prevalent.
The picture I put up may be disturbing, but that's just to give you an idea how gruesome the practice is-
The FGM has been foolishly described to be for hygienic purposes when the fact goes that it causes many a urinary and reproductive tract infections, infertility and complications during birth. Another ludicrous reason cited is it supposedly cures psychological diseases like kleptomania (neurosis of stealing), insanity and hysteria. There was a point when it was justified as that would make the females not able to masturbate and thus remaining unpolluted. Kurdish advocates of FGM justify it by propounding that it makes a girl spiritually clean so that others can eat the meals she prepares. In some places, FGC has been prohibited which has only led it to go underground. In such cases, this is conducted by non professionals who perform it without anesthesia or sterilization, sometimes not even using surgical instruments.
Woman’s rights, or the lack of it:
Women in Arab are like gold fish in a pot, except that they don’t have a memory of less than 10 seconds. Discrimination almost effectively a part of curriculum. Males and females have separate gender specific educational institutions. A woman can’t teach in a male university and vice versa. The schools have gender specific curriculum too. While those of men concentrate on physical and technical skills, the women are taught to brace for the future that is of a housewife and a mother. Higher education also involves gender segregation. Women are excluded from studying engineering, pharmacy, architecture, law and other subjects that are officially to be reserved for men.
Child Marriage is legally allowed and there have been instances where a child as young as 8 were married off and when divorce was sought, it was held off by saying that it could be filed only after the girl attaining puberty. According to Saudi law, intercourse wasn’t permitted till the age of 9 but kissing, rubbing amongst other activities involving foreplay amounted to no objection, thus in a way encouraging pedophilia. What’s more- polygamy is legal too and a man is allowed to carry up to 4 wives (There are, of course, exceptions). A woman has no right to have any say in her own marriage.
It is important to note that many countries have not recognized a women’s right to vote and stand for elections. These include Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Women’s mobility is strongly limited in Saudi Arabia. They are not supposed to leave their houses or their local neighborhood without the company of their mahram (close male relative), nor shall they be in contact with unrelated males. Furthermore, mosques, most ministries and public streets are reserved for men. Similarly, women do not have access to most of the parks, museums and libraries.
Domestic violence is almost a petty incident. There are no laws addressing it. What is propounded here is the girl is an ‘honor’ to the man and it’s the duty of the man to protect his ‘honor’. In pursuit of this protection, the man is allowed to ‘discipline’ the lady. ‘Honor killings’ over reasons like bringing shame to the family name are therefore not an eye-brow raiser.
Qatif girl rape case:
Some of you must be familiar with the incident that still gives feminists a chill in their spine- an 18 year old Qatif girl, a province of Saudi Arabia, being gang raped by locals. It so happened that the girl was blackmailed into meeting a man whom she had shared only phone relations with. The two of them were travelling in a car when the locals discovered that the girl was travelling with a man she was not related to. Seven of them stalled the car, dragged her out and rape her successively. As the victim herself puts in a heart tugging account,
They took me out to a dark area and forced me to take off my clothes. The first man with the knife raped me. He destroyed me. I thought about running away but where could I go to looking like this? Another man came in and did the same. I was about to faint. For more than two hours I asked them to leave me alone, I begged them. The third man was violent and the fourth almost strangled me. The fifth and sixth were even more brutal. When the seventh man finished I couldn't feel myself anymore. He was so fat I couldn't breathe. Then they all did it again. When they dropped me home I couldn't walk, my mom opened the door and said I looked sick. I couldn't tell anyone and for a whole week I couldn't eat, but later I went to the hospital.
But oh no, the story doesn’t end there. The girl was sentenced to 50 lashes herself for ‘being with a man she wasn’t related to’, which is a crime according to Saudi laws. Moreover, the culprits were awarded sentences ranging only from 2-9 years which is shocking considering that the stringent laws grant the rape offender a death sentence. The license of the lawyer fighting the case for the victim was suspended for approaching the media and ‘contempt of court’ which is just another way of saying being sensible and holding his ground.
Right for Privacy:
Right for Privacy is not recognized by the government. So they can anytime intrude in your personal space, search homes, business place, tap your communication and censor the content they find objectionable. The Bloggers over the world are incensed over the censorship of Arab bloggers.
Mutaween:
We, in spite of being moderates, have our own notorious Shri Ram Sene so how can Arab be left behind? In fact they are miles ahead of us as far as ‘preserving morality’ is concerned. They have Mutaween, a government recognized body of religious police. The powers of Mutaween include arresting members of opposite sex not related to each other socializing, banning prostitution and homosexuality,enforcing Islamic dress codes amongst others.
The Mutaweens have been panned on a large scale for flogging the violators, banning of Valentine’s day, arresting priests for performing Mass and for comprising of, as it is put, “ex-convicts whose only job qualification was that they had memorized the Quran in order to reduce their sentences.”
The most enraging time came when the Mutaweens prohibited schoolgirls from escaping a burning school just because they weren’t wearing headscarves. 15 girls were burnt alive while over 50 were injured in this incident.
LGBT Rights:
Nope, nothing.
There is no representation for these rights in the Arab world. These ‘acts’ are supposed to be immoral and hence are criminalized.
Concluding, there’s a dark, sadist dimension of the world where murkiness and sadism form the culture. A bunch of pre-historic beliefs rule, enlightenment is curbed and reasoning is frowned upon.
Indeed, it’s a unpleasantly quirky life out there.
Arab. The glorious place where the religion of Islam was born. The home to the holy land of Mecca where Muslims all over the world pine to touch their feet at least once in their lifetime. The same place that is a paradise due to all the oil reserves is a living hell for millions. To be polite- well, almost.
Now we all know that the Arab countries i.e. the countries in west Asia and east Africa adjoining the Red sea mainly comprise of religious fanatics. While many may want to liken the unjust practices to brainwashing and illiteracy, the fact goes that the literacy rate is actually high in these countries. Take the example of one of the most prosperous and strict country- Saudi Arabia. It has 84% male and 70% female literacy. In spite of all the overtly hunky dory feel, shit happens. Lets take a look at the main problems plaguing the oppressed class- women and deviant-sexuals here.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM):
One of the problems, better call it sins, I came across while researching for this article was that of FGM. As the term suggests, the FGM concerns the removal of external female genitalia for cultural, religious or non therapeutic reasons. To put it in simple terms, screw with the vagina because religion says so, while not caring about the health and consequences of women. It is generally performed in the childhood. One main reason is to deprive women of sexual pleasure. In countries like Sudan and Egypt, this practice is almost 100% prevalent.
The picture I put up may be disturbing, but that's just to give you an idea how gruesome the practice is-
- Spoiler:
The FGM has been foolishly described to be for hygienic purposes when the fact goes that it causes many a urinary and reproductive tract infections, infertility and complications during birth. Another ludicrous reason cited is it supposedly cures psychological diseases like kleptomania (neurosis of stealing), insanity and hysteria. There was a point when it was justified as that would make the females not able to masturbate and thus remaining unpolluted. Kurdish advocates of FGM justify it by propounding that it makes a girl spiritually clean so that others can eat the meals she prepares. In some places, FGC has been prohibited which has only led it to go underground. In such cases, this is conducted by non professionals who perform it without anesthesia or sterilization, sometimes not even using surgical instruments.
Woman’s rights, or the lack of it:
Women in Arab are like gold fish in a pot, except that they don’t have a memory of less than 10 seconds. Discrimination almost effectively a part of curriculum. Males and females have separate gender specific educational institutions. A woman can’t teach in a male university and vice versa. The schools have gender specific curriculum too. While those of men concentrate on physical and technical skills, the women are taught to brace for the future that is of a housewife and a mother. Higher education also involves gender segregation. Women are excluded from studying engineering, pharmacy, architecture, law and other subjects that are officially to be reserved for men.
Child Marriage is legally allowed and there have been instances where a child as young as 8 were married off and when divorce was sought, it was held off by saying that it could be filed only after the girl attaining puberty. According to Saudi law, intercourse wasn’t permitted till the age of 9 but kissing, rubbing amongst other activities involving foreplay amounted to no objection, thus in a way encouraging pedophilia. What’s more- polygamy is legal too and a man is allowed to carry up to 4 wives (There are, of course, exceptions). A woman has no right to have any say in her own marriage.
It is important to note that many countries have not recognized a women’s right to vote and stand for elections. These include Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Women’s mobility is strongly limited in Saudi Arabia. They are not supposed to leave their houses or their local neighborhood without the company of their mahram (close male relative), nor shall they be in contact with unrelated males. Furthermore, mosques, most ministries and public streets are reserved for men. Similarly, women do not have access to most of the parks, museums and libraries.
Domestic violence is almost a petty incident. There are no laws addressing it. What is propounded here is the girl is an ‘honor’ to the man and it’s the duty of the man to protect his ‘honor’. In pursuit of this protection, the man is allowed to ‘discipline’ the lady. ‘Honor killings’ over reasons like bringing shame to the family name are therefore not an eye-brow raiser.
Qatif girl rape case:
Some of you must be familiar with the incident that still gives feminists a chill in their spine- an 18 year old Qatif girl, a province of Saudi Arabia, being gang raped by locals. It so happened that the girl was blackmailed into meeting a man whom she had shared only phone relations with. The two of them were travelling in a car when the locals discovered that the girl was travelling with a man she was not related to. Seven of them stalled the car, dragged her out and rape her successively. As the victim herself puts in a heart tugging account,
They took me out to a dark area and forced me to take off my clothes. The first man with the knife raped me. He destroyed me. I thought about running away but where could I go to looking like this? Another man came in and did the same. I was about to faint. For more than two hours I asked them to leave me alone, I begged them. The third man was violent and the fourth almost strangled me. The fifth and sixth were even more brutal. When the seventh man finished I couldn't feel myself anymore. He was so fat I couldn't breathe. Then they all did it again. When they dropped me home I couldn't walk, my mom opened the door and said I looked sick. I couldn't tell anyone and for a whole week I couldn't eat, but later I went to the hospital.
But oh no, the story doesn’t end there. The girl was sentenced to 50 lashes herself for ‘being with a man she wasn’t related to’, which is a crime according to Saudi laws. Moreover, the culprits were awarded sentences ranging only from 2-9 years which is shocking considering that the stringent laws grant the rape offender a death sentence. The license of the lawyer fighting the case for the victim was suspended for approaching the media and ‘contempt of court’ which is just another way of saying being sensible and holding his ground.
Right for Privacy:
Right for Privacy is not recognized by the government. So they can anytime intrude in your personal space, search homes, business place, tap your communication and censor the content they find objectionable. The Bloggers over the world are incensed over the censorship of Arab bloggers.
Mutaween:
We, in spite of being moderates, have our own notorious Shri Ram Sene so how can Arab be left behind? In fact they are miles ahead of us as far as ‘preserving morality’ is concerned. They have Mutaween, a government recognized body of religious police. The powers of Mutaween include arresting members of opposite sex not related to each other socializing, banning prostitution and homosexuality,enforcing Islamic dress codes amongst others.
The Mutaweens have been panned on a large scale for flogging the violators, banning of Valentine’s day, arresting priests for performing Mass and for comprising of, as it is put, “ex-convicts whose only job qualification was that they had memorized the Quran in order to reduce their sentences.”
The most enraging time came when the Mutaweens prohibited schoolgirls from escaping a burning school just because they weren’t wearing headscarves. 15 girls were burnt alive while over 50 were injured in this incident.
LGBT Rights:
Nope, nothing.
There is no representation for these rights in the Arab world. These ‘acts’ are supposed to be immoral and hence are criminalized.
Concluding, there’s a dark, sadist dimension of the world where murkiness and sadism form the culture. A bunch of pre-historic beliefs rule, enlightenment is curbed and reasoning is frowned upon.
Indeed, it’s a unpleasantly quirky life out there.
Last edited by omkardaone on Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:13 pm; edited 1 time in total
Apne hi pairon pe kulhadi maar rahe ho yaar.
