30 September 2000 Welcome everyone to my little undercover webpage here dealing with the very interesting topic of Saudi women in the public realm. Now keep in mind while reading through this page that the stories contained herein are completely subjective and anecdotal and in no way shape or form do I profess to being an expert on the issue of women and Islam, although I have consulted one woman who is and will add some of her observations and remarks on this page as well. Therefore, this page simply exists to show people who have never been to Saudi Arabia what it's like to have fifty percent of the population around you wearing black and to share some of the reasons culturally why this is so. In addition, do not assume that the opinions expressed on this page are necessarily mine, since I am using this journal entry as a conduit for those things which I have heard from various people I have communicated with since landing here - both Saudi and non-Saudi. So if you dislike or disagree with anything you find on this page, well, you have that right. Preface: before reading any further I request that you try to put aside any preexisting negative stereotypes of Islam and the Middle East and understand that, in fact, not all people in the world want to have societies like those found throughout the Western World. Not all people around the world believe in the separation of church (religion) and state and not all people believe that women should be treated equally as men. Now think about that. Really think about that. "Women should not be treated equally as men." Let me ask you, when you think about some of the less savory ways men have treated each other throughout the millennia, what images or thoughts might come into mind? Aggression perhaps? Conflict maybe? Possibly one might think of the wars and battles fought throughout history in which entire civilizations where slaughtered and whole nations laid to waste. I need not refresh anyone's memory of the history of human conflict as we have all spent our lives reading, studying and hearing about it. But the one interesting common variable in nearly all these famous conflicts in history is man. In particular: men. In all of history, what percentage of the raping, pillaging and plundering would you suggest was orchestrated by women? Of the enslavement, violence and murder perpetrated over time, what percentage do you *really* think was carried out by women? All things considered, probably not a whole lot. And in light of this, from what I have heard from a few Saudis over the last four weeks, should women really want to be treated as men have treated themselves? Now, you can answer that question any way you like. I am simply phrasing the issue the way it has been put to me. I have gotten the feeling that this rather negative view of men, in part, serves as one of the cornerstones as to why women and men are not regarded as equal here. As one of my male students said to me, "Why should we bring women down to a man's level? Are women not worthy of more respect than that?" And now, a few pictures:

Word to any would-be censors or mutawwa religious police: the images of women on this page were taken not to sexually exploit women, but rather to inform non-Saudis about the not-bad status of women in Saudi Arabia and Islam and the only truly effective way to do this is to actually show people that Saudi women do in fact participate in daily life in Saudi Arabia and are not the sheltered and locked-up creatures many in the west would believe they are. Word about the pictures themselves: as you will quickly notice, most of the pictures on this page are either partially blurry or taken at strange angles. The main reason for this is that photographing people here is not always an easy thing to do - as pulling out your camera and just flashing everyone is considered a bit strange (as it is nearly everywhere else in the world) - and in order to get a few shots of women in the public realm, i.e. in the malls or shopping centers, I had to be a bit crafty in my approach. Now, let's discuss the pictures! Take a quick look at the two pictures above. For most of you, this will be the first time ever seeing Islamic/Saudi women in a medium other than the nightly news. It will most likely be the first time ever seeing Islamic/Saudi women just going about their daily business. And if you're anything like I was when I first landed here, you're probably having a mini-freak out right now - or at least some sort of knee-jerk reaction. "Oh, this is so awful! Oh, women there are so oppressed! Oh! Oh! Oh! . . ." And as always, you are welcome to your own opinions. God knows I was having a MAJOR DRAMA FEST the first time I went into town and went shopping in a sea of women in black! As a matter of fact, I could barely contain myself as any of you who read my "Shopping in Safeway" story a few weeks back should know. But believe it or not, eventually this sort of thing becomes totally normal and it no longer phases me. The pictures above were taken at the ritzy new al-Faisaliya Mall downtown where one of my co-workers and I seem to hang out nearly every Wednesday night (the beginning of the weekend here, equivalent to a Friday night in the West). This particular image was taken during the Isha' Prayer time (around 7:40 p.m.) during which all the shops were closed for approximately 20 to 30 minutes. As mentioned before, these prayers happen five times a day, and five times a day ALL business must close down and all commercial transactions must stop. Therefore, during these prayer times there is an abundance of women and shop employees standing around in the middle of the mall outside of the stores. In this picture, I was particularly lucky to get a pretty good shot with a few women standing around in close proximity, hence the ritzy zoom-in job to the right! The thing I like about this picture is that you can see the woman is covered completely from head to toe, with just a little slit for her eyes, but you can also see that she is just chillin' out with some random blue purse slung around her shoulder. This is not necessarily the image of oppressed, locked up chattel we often have in the West. "But what about the fact that none of the other men in the picture have to wear black robes, or, "abaiya"? Well, most likely, none of the men you are seeing is Saudi. And as I mentioned on my "Riyadh by Night" webpage, foreigners are not expected to cover up in the same way that native Saudis are and despite the fact that it was probably 100F/38C outside when I took this picture, ALL the men are wearing pants and their legs are not exposed. "Well, there can't possibly be THAT many foreigners in Saudi Arabia!?!" Actually, there are. The population of Saudi Arabia is approximately 25% foreign laborers which means that the vast majority (i.e., nearly all) physical labor is performed by foreigners while Saudis sit back and own the businesses and making all the money. Which is * exactly * what I am voluntarily doing here myself. . .

And so the men you see in the above image are most likely all mall employees who are there to service the women as they shop. To the left you can see a picture of a Saudi man and two women. I this picture you will also notice that BOTH SEXES are wearing non-fitting long robes to make their bodies appear as unappealing as possible. "But why do the women have to wear black and the men get to wear white?" This is a question I have heard before and often find myself pondering. But perhaps the more important question to ask is, why does my mind (and other people's minds as well) automatically associate the color black with being bad and the color white with being good? Is there anything inherently superior about the color white over the color black? Should the color either sex wears matter when both are required to be covered? Personally, I'd almost even rather the men wear BLACK since there are a lot of unsightly buffalos tromping around Saudi Arabia in white who should really be wearing any other color but!

Regarding the degree to which women in the Islamic world must cover themselves, here is a little information sent to me by the professor of a friend of mine in the USA, the professor having lived for several years in Islamic eastern Africa (Zanzibar, Tanzania). Sidenote: the following has not been added for the appearance of either supporting or contradicting anything I've written on this page. I add it simply because it's pertinent and interesting: "Do keep in mind that ancient tribal practices in the Middle East and Africa overlap with Islamic ones and change or shape how Islam is practiced from one place to the other. That is, the Qur'an itself [the Islamic holy book] does not dictate how 'covered' a 'covered' female is. Nor do the hadith (stories about the Prophet, recorded by his companions and set down from the 600s to the 900s CE [A.D.].) So Moslem women in other parts of the world do not carry on this veiling thing to the extent that the Saudis do. Women in Zanzibar wear their black buibuis, as they are called, only over the backs of their heads (from about the crown back) and over their dresses. Their faces are there for all to see. Their black robes stop at about the mid calf. I have also heard that under those black robes in Saudi there are lots of 'modern' thinking young women in Nike T-shirts and Levis. Here is some food for thought, a bit harder to explain. I went to a Moslem area as a feminist fully expecting to see women 'oppressed' and I found that they were but no more so than my North American sisters, only in different ways." ". . . Moslem women have had the right to inherit and own property since the mid-7th century; it's in the Qur'an. European and American women got this right in the 20th century. The separation of the sexes is something I initially understood in exactly the way you did. Cover up these women and keep these lustful men away from them. But I found it illuminating when I learned that in the Islamic world view, this lust is a 2 way street. You see, in the Western Judeo-Christian culture we have this Temptress/tempted dichotomy, AND the whole whore/Madonna [. . . the singer . . .] thing and women my age (50) were schooled to believe that men had sexual needs that women didn't have and men could not control themselves. BUT in Moslem East Africa (and I am not certain that this operates in Saudi but I suspect it might) women are considered to have sexual needs and drives that are the equal of men's. Men are enjoined to be modest too. They just don't have to cover as much but you won't see them in short pants, nor will you see their chests exposed. And, of course, they do cover their heads in mosque. So there is no weaker sex, no evil temptress, no lustful irrational uncontrollable male. Everyone is enjoined to be careful. Similarly, and a concept I felt was quite liberating, is the Islamic idea that follows that within sanctioned marital unions women have a right to equal sexual pleasure. (In fact part of what governs whether a man can take more than one wife, as Islam allows, is whether he can 'please' her and legally this is generally interpreted as satisfy her sexually.) In fact the Qur'an says that sexual ecstasy is what Allah allows humans so that they will have an idea of how sweet Paradise might be." ". . .Another thing I found liberating that didn't really strike me until I returned home is that when in a Moslem state I WAS NOT CONSTANTLY BOMBARDED with pictures of women's bodies. Our advertising features so very much of this, we use breasts and bellies to sell everything from pick-up trucks to pepsi, that we eventually don't notice it. But when you are away and then return it may shock you. I don't know a thing about Riyadh, but I do know that I never feared walking alone at night in Zanzibar. I was no longer in a rape culture that controls women via fear nor makes a commodity capitalism based on FRAGMENTED images of our bodies."

Interesting, eh? Now on the the remaining pictures on this page! The picture to the left was taken in a mid-sized Riyadh grocery store named Al-Jazir (or is it Al-Jarir? or Al-Rijaz???) on a very busy Wednesday night, sometime around 10:30 p.m. As stated earlier, Riyadh is a very lively city come the weekend and this appears to be Saudi women's favorite time to go shopping! Just like women everywhere else in the world, they meander up and down the aisles perusing various products, comparing prices and hunting for sales as they gab with their family and friends.

This picture was taken at the same grocery store as the one above. As you can see, everyone is just running around shopping as people do everywhere else in the world, despite the difference in clothing. In the background you see a woman whose face is not covered (most likely a non-Saudi Arab Muslim), a Saudi man wearing a white robe with a red and white draping head/neck covering, my co-worker on the left (wearing potentially troublesome short pants. . . depending on the mood of the religious police at any particular moment) and in the upper left corner you can see my knee. At the time I took the picture I was kneeling down feigning the appearance of looking at Gillette shaving gel and anti-perspirant so I had to do some real fancy finger work to get this shot aimed and focused just right!

And here you see a family standing at the check-out counter. The kiddies and the parents chit chat together, just like families everywhere else, and also just like everywhere else, you can see the kids trying to secretly stuff the shopping cart full with all sorts of goodies, candies, cookies and toys and the parents must then reach into the basket and put everything right back up on the shelf where it came from! So perhaps we're not so different after all?

And as always, what would a webpage of mine be without a somewhat random out-of-left field off-topic picture or two? These pictures here are just a couple I snapped at some of the local shopping malls to show you what modern consumerism looks like in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The above mall (I forget the name) is pretty ritzy and impressive, but has a definite late '80s feel to it. As my coworker Jeff and I were walking around we couldn't help but think what a cool dance club this place would be if they dimmed the white lights, installed some flashy disco lighting, cranked up some thumping club music and packed it full of Middle Eastern youth. They could even call it "Club Arabtronic" or something catchy like that. Alas, bars and clubs are illegal here so it shall just have to remain a dream!

And this last, random picture is of the newest mall in Riyadh (yet again, name unknown) which is barely even open - some stores are open for business while others are still being completed. This particular mall is right next to Masmak Fortress and Chop Chop Square and showcases some interesting modern Saudi/Islamic architectural themes. The road here cuts the mall in half and is perfectly placed for loading and unloading of passengers underneath the expansive arching canopy above to protect guests from the strong Saudi sun. In any case, once the mall opens completely, I shall have to come back and photograph it during the day!