The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a mysterious nation, and it is shrouded in tradition and mystery. Even by Islamic standards, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is quite strict. It's known as the place ruled by strict Sharia Law, where women cannot drive, and people get their hands cut off for stealing. According to the West, that's the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a veritable nutshell...
What an idiotic and simplistic way of looking at an entire nation, seriously. There's much more to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia than religiosity gone amok and strict rules, and no nation can rise higher than its women. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does have a way to go when it comes to gender issues and human rights as a whole, but like any nation, they must be allowed to develop at their own rate.
Westerners who look at themselves and their supposedly progressive nations and compare themselves to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia need not be smug. Only a few generations ago, the idea of racial and gender equality was laughable in Western culture, and many men in those days scoffed at the idea of women becoming soldiers, doctors, police officers, politicians, or anything other than homemakers.
Let us imagine what the reaction would be if a Muslim visitor described North American society as a land full of sex-crazed and sports-obsessed drunkards with no morals or values. There would be something of an outcry. Any society composed of human beings will have certain elements such as the separation of public life and private life, and a balance of power between different elements of its population. This is simply what human societies are made of...
Let us look at Saudi Arabia as a society inhabited by actual human beings. It's a place where men and women live, and as such, they have to get along and make their relationships work. This involves negotiations and understanding. If they didn't have such an understanding, there would be no society. A war between the sexes benefits no one. Ever.
Western society stereotypes Saudi Arabians and does so in predictable ways. To them, Saudi men are brutes and control freaks. Saudi women are pious, subservient and weak, designed to do the will of Saudi men and bear their offspring. What a load of crock. Saudi Arabian men are human beings, and they are capable of intelligence, independent thought and flexibility, rather than being machine-like puppets of religiosity and strict politics.
Saudi women are as feisty and strong-minded as any women to be found in Western society. Why? Simply because Saudi Arabian women are human. Western feminists don't hold the monopoly on female empowerment. A Muslim woman who wears the Hijab isn't automatically the slave of every random Muslim man. Not by a long shot.
In Saudi Arabian society, being male doesn't equal master and being female doesn't equal slave. This is a dangerous oversimplification and a xenophobic statement which disparages an entire society and a beautiful religion. Westerners must try to keep an open mind. After all, Western women were marching for equal work and equal pay not too long ago all over Europe and North America, if memory serves...
The future of Saudi Arabian society rests upon the shoulders of Saudi Arabian women. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has recently begun to invest in the future of its women, and endeavors to make them the most educated women in their corner of the Muslim world. This is a multi-billion dollar endeavor, but a worthwhile one. Simply think of the benefits for the Saudi society of tomorrow...
The Royal Family of Saudi Arabia now sends scores of young Saudi Arabian Muslim women to study abroad, in places like the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. What happens to these young Saudi Muslim women at these places? The result is something that most reasonable people can predict, and which would anger strict Saudi clerics if they knew about it...
Meet Dalal Al-Moumen and Nasrin Youssef, a couple of young Saudi Arabian Muslim female students living in the City of Ottawa, Ontario. They're originally from Dammam, in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and came to Canada as international students. It was an experience which would forever change the two young ladies. While attending Carleton University for electrical engineering studies, Dalal and Nasrin lead a life like no other...
"Nasrin, I know it's haram but I'm curious about Black men, the ones in Canada are so different from the ones in Saudi Arabia," Dalal said wistfully. The tall, curvaceous, bronze-skinned and raven-haired young Saudi woman leaned back on the couch, and she sighed before taking a hit of shisha. I wouldn't mind a roll in the hay with a fine Black man, Dalal thought, smiling.
"Habibti, I totally agree, I have a thing for Black men myself, especially Thurgood from my philosophy class," Nasrin replied, and Dalal nodded in agreement. The two young Arab women exchanged a look of understanding. Like any young women the world over, Nasrin and Dalal are curious about things like sex, romance and relationships. Nature must take its course, religious rules be simply damned...
"When we return to Saudi Arabia, we will be married off to men who will most likely not appreciate us, let us live it off and have fun now," Dalal said, and with that, she and Nasrin exchanged a high-five. They went on Facebook and reached out to their dear ones, insisting on discretion and safety above all else. Discretion is simply a must when it comes to sexual matters in the Muslim world...
Nasrin and Dalal have a lot in common, from a shared belief that sexual experimentation is okay for young Muslim women, to a fondness for men of African descent. In Saudi Arabia, people of African descent are treated poorly, to put it mildly. The two young women were thrilled to meet Black men in North America who carry themselves like kings instead of being brow-beaten like the ones back in their homeland. They became fascinated by such men...
